S. ANDREW'S TOURNAMENT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2542, 25 October 1888, Page 2

S. ANDREW'S TOURNAMENT.

TO THK EDITOR Silt,—With reference to the resume - of the poetic tournament at S. Andrew's schoolroom last Tuesday, I should like to say a few words on behalf of the lady, the anonymous essayist, who had the courage to try and take up the gauntlet thrown down by ])r. Moon before his previous lecture. What blio did say was at least honest, and many of her arguments were not so shallow as the lecturer styled them. J am an admirer of Tennyson myself, but certainly not to the extent l>. Moon is, and I think it is a great deal in Longfellow's favour, that he is so much more widely known and read to what Tennyson is. Speaking of the round-about style of Tennyson's language sometimes, the anomymous essayist did not say or mean that she in particular had to re-read a sentence of his, &c, &c, but that people in general had, though Dr. Moon thought anyone who had passed the sixth standard ought to understand Tennyson ! Now Mr Stewart, it appears, did not trienn all he said, but what he did put forth in pulling Tennyson to pieces was so very severe and sarcastic that, coming from him, it was far more liable to have weight with the audience than the lady's poor little jokes about "puff paste" and " hay tea," which seem to rankle in Dr. Moon's mind dreadfully, and I think Mr Stewart's trade against Tennyson, though he didn't mean it, deserved more criticism, and he was better able to stand it than the anonymous essayist. Dr. Moon said he had intended to reply at greater length to Mr Stewart had he been present, but his lady opponent was not present either except for about ten minutes at first! Perhaps she may take it as a compliment that her paper was considered better worth criticising than the other speaker's, and the reporter also seems to havo thought it worth while to make a longer report than usual of the proceedings ; he too, delights in " hay-tea," for he entirely omits alluding to the few caustic remarks, including the anecdote of the Dove and the Carrion Crow which l>. Moon made abnut Mr Stewart. I hope the lady essayist will not be vexed with me for venturing to espouse her cause and end the tournament.—T am, &c, Finis.