{"product_id":"2940013343313","title":"Splores Of A Halloween, Twenty Years Ago","description":"PREFACE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe following verses were sent to compete for the prize offered in\u003cbr\u003eOctober last, by the Montreal Caledonian Society, for the \"best poem on\u003cbr\u003eHalloween.\" They were not successful; and some may be ready to ask, \"Why\u003cbr\u003ethen publish them?\" It may be sufficient to reply, \"I choose to do so;\"\u003cbr\u003e\"I choose to appeal from the award of the Judges to the decision of the\u003cbr\u003epublic.\" A single sentence will explain why I make such an appeal. The\u003cbr\u003egentlemen appointed to act as judges based their decision, according to\u003cbr\u003etheir published statement, as much upon \"suitability for recitation at a\u003cbr\u003epublic festival,\" as upon \"literary merit.\" Had this been stated in the\u003cbr\u003eadvertisement inviting competition it would have been all right. But it\u003cbr\u003eis very evident that all poems which might be judged unsuitable for such\u003cbr\u003erecitation, would necessarily be excluded from competition, whatever\u003cbr\u003emight be their \"literary merits,\" and the successful production could\u003cbr\u003eonly be that which among the \"suitable\" was regarded as possessing the\u003cbr\u003egreatest literary excellence. It is on this ground--and not because I\u003cbr\u003ecould be so vain as to think that my production _ought_ to have received\u003cbr\u003ethe prize, while I was altogether unacquainted with not a few others\u003cbr\u003ewhich may have been rejected on the same principle--that I complain of\u003cbr\u003ethe award of the Judges, and that I now appeal from that award by this\u003cbr\u003epublication.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA poem may be very well suited for recitation at a public festival, and\u003cbr\u003epossess very slight claims to any literary merit, while another\u003cbr\u003eindefinitely superior might not in such circumstances be suitable for\u003cbr\u003erecitation at all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the public I now leave the decision, and shall cheerfully acquiesce\u003cbr\u003ein its award whether favourable or the reverse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e                                                               A. D.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Woodstock, C. W., Jan., 1867.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47073610268912,"sku":"2940013343313","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013343313_p0.jpg?v=1763579649","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013343313","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}