Terry's Children

Sirs:

Thanks for the pleasure of TIME which is the only magazine I subscribe to but--please be more careful of statements if you must make them in place of queries. In this week's July 30 notice of Miss Terry are two errors. I. You will find that the father of her children was not Charles Wardell if you care to enquire. II. She did not '"detest" American audiences but adored them and they her. Henry Irving was more appreciated here even than in England therefore there is no base for such an assertion. Both Miss Terry and Irving deplored the fact that England did not appreciate Booth and when he failed there most pathetically, Irving made Booth act in his theatre and share his honors as the great artist and gentleman he was. This as a beau jeste to Americans whom he was most grateful to and has never tired of acknowledging that same great debt. No! No! No! Ellen Terry did not "detest" American audiences. It is sacrilege to say so.

ARTHUR WILLIAM Row Manhattan

It is stated by Forrest Izzard in Heroines of the Modern Stage that the father of Gordon Craig and Ailsa Craig, borne by Actress Ellen Terry, was Charles Wardell. Others have made this statement; many persons credit it. Let Arthur William Row name the father of Ellen Terry's children, if he can. If it is difficult to name the father of a lady's children, it is equally difficult to estimate posthumously her detestations. It is certain that Ellen Terry, toward the end of her life, sent messages of felicitation to U. S. admirers. Those, however, who knew her well acknowledge that she cherished a perhaps well-merited resentment against U. S. theatre-goers. This resentment has been recorded in journals or elsewhere.--ED.

Egypt for Revenue

Sirs: In your otherwise accurate article on Egypt (TIME, July 30, p. 13) occurs the following: "If Great Britain abandoned them to true independence, they would again fall prey to some other Power--which Power would then control the Suez Canal. . . . For this reason the British Foreign Office has honestly and without hypocrisy proclaimed that control of Egypt is, for the British Empire, a measure of self defense." Five years' residence in Cairo, and conversations with British officials in many Departments prove to me that you credit them with a candor which they are far from claiming themselves. The Suez Canal is a mere pretext, and is so admitted by British officials. Nothing would be easier than to fortify a zone on either side of the canal, instead of garrisoning the whole Nile Valley for two thousand miles. No other Power could possibly interfere. With its Mediterranean Base at Malta, the British Navy always has, and always will, control the sea, and would have no difficulty in maintaining a Monroe Doctrine for Egypt. On both sides Egypt is flanked by a limitless desert which no army could cross. . . . The British rule Egypt well; make no mistake about that. But it is for Empire revenue, not for self-defense. Even the Egyptians are beginning to see the military absurdity of the plea that it is necessary to occupy Khartoum in order to keep Mussolini out of Alexandria.

WILLIAM A. EDDY American University, Cairo, Egypt

Ben Boswell

Sirs: I have received and have read through with a great deal of pleasure the three books which I ordered from TIME on the recommendation of your Mr. Ben Boswell. Will you please tell me more about this gentleman? My tastes and his seem to be very similar, and my curiosity is aroused. May I ask his age, if that is not too personal. And is he a descendant of the great James Boswell, the disciple of Dr. Samuel Johnson? When my brother and I are in New York, next November, I would like Mr. Boswell to come and dine with us.

MARJORY BAILEY Minneapolis, Minn.

P.S. Is it too much to ask what are Mr. Boswell's hobbies?

TIME must continue to defer to the longstanding wish of Benjamin F. Boswell that he, his sanctum and his bookish hobbies shall not be made the subject of publicity. --ED.

"Britishmen"

Sirs: I heartily approve of your use of "Chinaman" and "Chinamen." But "Britishmen" (TIME, Aug. 13) is different. I am a Canadian and have no personal interest in the matter; but my wife's brother is one of King George's famous "Coldstream Guards," and I would not like to think of such a fine young fellow as a "Britishman." I realize that "Englishman" is too narrow a term, and "Briton" is as bad as writing "Frenchie" instead of "Frenchman." Still I believe that a better word than "Britishman" can be coined. What is really needed, however, is some word which will describe we citizens of the Dominions who are not Britishmen, at all. We "Canadians" are fortunate in our name, and so are the "Australians"; but "New Zealanders" is awkward, and "South Africans" sounds as though one meant the blacks. It's all quite a problem. Personally I am still "Englishman" enough to be glad that my father was "a soldier of the Queen," though I would hate to have to fight for the present Prince of Wales, if he ever becomes King. Not but what I like him, personally; but Canada drifts further away from England every day.

GEO. KING Ottawa, Canada

Defender

Sirs: The scurrilous, malicious and vicious attacks of correspondents Oftedal and Schiorring on unfortunate explorer Nobile are a product of stupidity, ignorance and immaturity. . . . We of Italian blood admire Amundsen as we admire all brave men. We regret his predicament as we regret the predicament of the "Italia" which has cost Italy the lives of several equally as brave if not as renowned men, but we must insist that Nobile is in no way responsible for Amundsen's predicament. . . . In view of such dirigible disasters as the Shenandoah. the Dismeale, the Roma and the R34 and especially the ZR-2, it is a wonder and marvel that the "Italia" stood up as it did buffeted by Arctic cyclones and blizzards.

GINO JOHN SIMI, Defender Washington, D. C.

Putnam in Jail?

Sirs: My own little son David likes to have read to him the stories and tales written by little David Binney Putnam, but now what do I find in TIME [July 2 ] ? Are you sure that David Binney Putnam's grandfather, Major George Haven Putnam, was in jail during the election of Abraham Lincoln as President? If this is true, I will at once send all the little David books back to Putnam's and request my money. In the meantime, I shall certainly not read them to my own David. Are you quite sure?

MARY MORRIS (Mrs. I. Morris) Brooklyn, N. Y.

Let Subscriberess Morris keep her David books. Although Major Putnam was incarcerated for military reasons in Libby Prison, he was never vulgarly or culpably "in jail." And let Subscriberess Morris not speak of "little" David Putnam. Aged 14, he measures 6 ft. 1 in., weighs 158 lbs-- ED.

Pipisti & Pussisti

Sirs: As an American citizen of Italian descent, I object very strongly to the statement made by Dr. Charles Fama of the Bronx N. Y. in your number dated July 23. ... Dr. Fama . . . charges that "secret orders" are coming from Italy instructing U. S. Fascisti to vote for Smith. . , . The charge that "secret orders" are coming from the Fascisti Government instructing the Italian Americans how to vote, is simply ridiculous. Mussolini asked few days ago to a distinguished American visitor "Who is Smith, who is Hoover, who is the Republican, who is the Democrat." So little he knows about our domestic political situation. Are the American politicians interested in the "Pipisti" or in the "Pussisti" which are two important Italian political parties? To the same extent the politicians in Italy are interested in our elections.

GEORGE GAZZERA Howe, Snow & Co. Philadelphia, Pa.

Rightly do U. S. politicians deem uninteresting both the Pipisti (Catholic Populists) and Pussisti (Socialists) since these parties have been suppressed in Italy by the Fascisti. Wrongly does. Subscriber Gazzera suppose that Signor Benito Mussolini has only recently learned to distinguish between two interesting and unsuppressed U. S. parties: Democratic and Republican. The visitor to Il Duce whom Subscriber Gazzera calls "distinguished" was one Milan Lusk, Chicago fiddler, who recently performed at Signor Mussolini's home. Next day, certain senseless and inane remarks were attributed to Italy's sensible and vigorous Prime Minister by Fiddler Lusk, who told: 1) That when he changed a broken violin string Il Duce cried, "Nothing like having a spare tire!" and 2) that just as champagne was being served the Dictator asked: "Who is Smith and who is Hoover? "Which is dry and which is wet?" The last two questions would ring true and typical if attributed to an ordinary reader of Italian newspapers--most of which are incurably provincial and keep their customers uninformed or misinformed about U. S. events.--ED.