the various authors who have contributed to the fame of our
Association, few can be compared in sustained ability and breadth of
interests to the late Helene Hoffman Cole. Represented in the press as a
poet, critic, essayist, and fiction-writer, Mrs. Cole achieved
distinction in all of these departments; rising during recent years to
an almost unique prominence in the field of book-reviewing. Her
compositions display a diversity of attainments and catholicity of taste
highly remarkable in one of so relatively slight an age, familiar
knowledge of foreign and archaic literature supplying a mature
background too seldom possessed by amateur authors.

It is as a poet that Mrs. Cole has been least known, since her verse was
not of frequent occurrence in the amateur press. A glance at the few
existing specimens, however, demonstrates conclusively that her poetical
gifts were by no means inconsiderable; and that had she chosen such a
course, she might easily have become one of the leading bards of the
United. Verse like the unnamed autumn pieces in =Leaflets= and =The
Hellenian= possess an aptness and cleverness of fancy which bespeak the
true poet despite trivial technical imperfections.

In fiction the extent of Mrs. Cole's genius was still further revealed,
nearly all her narratives moving along with impeccable grace and
fluency. Her plots were for the most part light and popular in nature,
and would have reflected credit on any professional writer of modern
magazine tales. Of her stories, "The Picture," appearing in =Leaflets=
for October, 1913, is an excellent example. More dramatic in quality is
"Her Wish," in the August, 1914, =Olympian=. This brief tragedy of a
Serbian and his bride is perhaps one of the very first tales written
around the World War.

But it is in the domain of the literary essay that this authoress rose
to loftiest altitude. Of wide and profound reading, and of keen and
discriminating mind, Mrs. Cole presented in a style of admirable grace
and lucidity her reactions to the best works of numerous standard
authors, ancient and modern, English and foreign. The value of such work
in amateurdom, extending the cultural outlook and displaying the outside
world as seen through the eyes of a gifted, respected, and
representative member, scarce needs the emphasis of the commentator. He
who can link the amateur and larger spheres in a pleasing and acceptable
fashion, deserves the highest approbation and panegyr