There are thousands of persons to-day starving to death with a steel pen in their hand.

The story of Grub street and poets living on thin soup is being repeated all over this land, although the modern cases are not so conspicuous.

Poverty is no more agreeable because classical and set in hexameters.

The hungry author cannot breakfast on "odes to summer." On this, cold day how many of the literati are shivering! Martyrs have perished in the fire, but more persons have perished for lack of fire.

Let no editor through hypercriticism of contributed articles add to this educated suffering.
What is that we hear in the next room?
It is the roar of a big fire as it consumes unavailable literary material--epics, sonnets, homilies, tractates, compilations, circulars, dissertations.