as if the gruesome rhyme were in a way intended as a sort of refrain for the entire story? When we were younger we undoubtedly speculated on the amazing capacity of this particular dead man's chest, and we gloated over the uncanny wickedness of the whole affair. The verse, however, turns out to be one of those curiosities of literature which is unearthed every now and then by some industrious contributor to the "Query Page" of THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW. In this number of the latter the entire song or "chantey" is given, copied from an old scrapbook, and while it can hardly be recommended as a delectable piece of literature, in any sense, it is interesting, aside from its Stevensonian connection, as a bit of rough, unstudied sailor's jingle, the very authorship of which is long since forgotten. And the youthful myth of the Dead Man's Chest--that, too, it appears, is not at all the thing that fancy painted it. The real Dead Man's Chest, however, as "W. L." explains it, is quite as alluring as the imaginary one and will appeal to the student of geographical peculiarities in the West Indies. * * * * * _October 4, 1914._ "FIFTEEN MEN ON THE DEAD MAN'S CHEST" _New York Times Review of Books_: The fine old sea poem, "Fifteen Men on the Dead Man's Chest," recently quoted in your columns, was written by Younge E. Allison. I have raked through various biographical dictionaries trying to discover who Younge E. Allison was, but without results. The man who wrote such a poem should not be unknelled, unhonored, and unsung. In your editorial touching the rhyme I don't think you do it justice. You describe it as "a rough, unstudied sailor's jingle," whereas it is a work of art. Some of the lines are tremendous, and the whole poem has a haunting quality that never yet distinguished a mere jingle. I never weary of repeating some of its sonorous lines. WALT MASON. Emporia, Kan., Sept. 24. EDITORIAL NOTE.--We have received several other letters in which the authorship of the lines is credited to Mr. Allison, who is a resident of Louisville, Ky., and the editor of The Insurance Field of that city. Mr. Allison was at one time a correspondent of THE NEW YORK TIMES and also has written several books of fiction, including "The Passing of Major Galbraith." It is not likely, however, that he wrote the famous old chanty. One of our correspondents writes that Mr. Allison "reconstructed" the song some years ago on the first four lines which are quoted in Stevenson's "Treasure Island."