THE
PETE RT'iE. Vol.. VI .
DECEMBER, 1884.
No . 48.
HE Editors feel bound to offer some explanation for the long-delayed appearance of the present number . As only two more were required to complete the full number for the year, it was thought advisable to publish only one during the Term, and to reserve the second till after the breaking up of the School, so that the close of the volume of the PETERITE might coincide with the close of the news for the year . They hope to bring the latter out by the end of December or in the beginning of January. They also venture to suggest another reason for the delay, and in doing so to make, at the same time, some answer to complaints that have been made against the magazine . Objections have been made that it is without interest or variety . This is, in their opinion, hardly to be wondered at when it is considered how the PETERITE is supported . No great variety can be expected, seeing that almost the whole task of making the material falls on the five Editors themselves . Considering the many other duties that fall upon them, much ought not to be required of them beyond the task of editing and the collecting of news ; yet these same five people are generally responsible for four-fifths at least of the rest of the contents . Surely it is they who rather have the right to complain that out of one hundred and fifty nominal subscribers (for many of the latter do not seem to understand that to be a subscriber entails a subscription) there cannot be found more than one, on an average, in six months to offer any
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