Dark McGuffey Sirs: I have read with interest in your Aug. 3 issue your account of the recent meeting of the Federated McGuffey Societies at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the publication of the McGuffey Readers.

Dr. McGuffey was my maternal grandfather, and I am writing to ask if you will correct an error in your description of his personal appearance? Your account refers to him as "the sobersided, carrot-topped young teacher." As a matter of fact, Dr. McGuffey had heavy black hair, and was of dark complexion. I have this information from my mother, Mary McGuffey Stewart, who was a close associate of her father and who told me many things about him. Then, too, earlier in my own life I knew many people who were his close friends, and I visited in the home of Dr. McGuffey's second wife, who survived him many years, and I never heard any mention of red hair. I am calling your attention to this mistake in the interest of accuracy, as my grandfather now seems on the way to become a historic character of our pioneer days.

KATHERINE W. STEWART Dayton, Ohio

"Real American"

Sirs: As a result of reading your article on Charles Phelps Taft [TIME, Aug. 3];, may we be among the first to cast two votes of admiration for a real American--who keeps both feet on the ground, and through clear thinking and action has brought about a greater measure of right and justice for people and institutions within his sphere of influence.

Our nominee for President for 1940-- Charles Phelps Taft II.

DAVID GESMER J. H. QUINN Chicago, Ill.

Mysterious Marshal

Sirs:

In your July 20 issue you had an article regarding the exhumation of the body of Peter Stuart Ney, which lies buried in the graveyard of the Third Creek Presbyterian Church two miles from Cleveland, N. C. You stated that the body was dug up in 1887, a skull found, and a plaster cast made of same, which has since disappeared. I wish to inform you that two weeks ago the daughter of Dr. P. A. Laugenour, who made this plaster cast, located the same in the attic of his widow. She presented the same to the writer, and it has been placed in a handsome plate-glass case, and is on display in the office of Frank N. Littlejohn, chief of detectives here in Charlotte. As soon as we finish our exhaustive investigation, we plan to give this to the Charlotte Mint Museum. This plaster cast of the skull measures 24 inches around the base and shows evidence of having been scarred by bullets and swords, and possibly trepanned.

You stated in your article that the Duchess of Elchingen, at No. 20 Rue Quentin-Bauchart, relict of Michel Ney. who died in 1931, vigorously denied that her husband's ancestor was buried in the U. S. . . . This beautiful lady, who married a blood relation of Marshal Ney, is sadly mistaken. In 1902 Rev. W. A. Sadtier published a book, Under Two Captains in which he gave the biography of a general who fought under Marshal Ney, and later escaped execution, came to America, and was an honored Lutheran minister in the State of Indiana. He stated that Marshal Ney was not executed, but taught school in Rowan County, N. C., and lies buried at the above mentioned place. He also said that, during his lifetime, he visited Peter Stuart Ney in North Carolina. My father was pastor of the Third Creek Church, and, as a child, I knew intimately several people who were pupils of Mr. Ney. Dr. Woods, who was our family doctor, was also associated with Dr. Locke, who was at Key's bedside when he died, and Dr. Locke stated that, just before he breathed his last, Ney stated that he was the Marshal Ney of France.

It is inconceivable to my mind that anyone who wishes to believe the truth will not believe the statements of such people as the above mentioned minister and doctor. Peter Stuart Ney was a school teacher at Mocksville, N. C. and boarded at the same house with my mother's father, who was also a school teacher in the same neighborhood. ... I have copies of Peter Stuart Ney's own handwriting, and we have coming to us from Paris copies of Marshal Ney's handwriting, which we plan to have compared by the modern handwriting experts in Washington. Several books on this subject have been written by ministers and doctors, but I feel that this is a mystery to be solved by a detective, and this is why I secured permission from the Session of the Third Creek Presbyterian Church to again exhume the body of Peter Stuart Ney, and we propose to sift the earth in an endeavor to locate a silver plate which was thought to have been worn in Ney's head, and also a bullet that was supposed to have been in the calf of his leg. I have associated with me Frank N. Littlejohn, chief of detectives, who is today one of the outstanding men in his profession in the U. S., and when we finish our scientific and thorough investigation, we feel that the truth will come out in such shape that there will be no doubt as to the identity of the man who died in 1846 and stated on his death bed that he was the Marshal of France. CHARLES W. ALLISON

Charlotte, N. C.

Harvard's Magnet

Sirs:

Your Art article [TIME, Aug. 10] about Harvard's model forest says that the leaves were "etched out of paper-thin sheets of copper picked up with a magnet."

Sez you! Or am I that far behind in popular news of the world of science that men have learned to attract copper with magnets and I never heard of it. ...

C. M. PLUMMER

Bolivar, Tenn.

Neither Harvard nor anyone else has a magnet which attracts non-ferrous metal.

The tiny copper leaves are picked up by magnet because they are soldered on steel wire.--ED.

Young's Young

Sirs:

TIME errs again. On p. 53 of your issue of Aug. 3, under Milestones, you state that the late Brigham Young had 19 wives. You do him an injustice. He was a faithful husband to 27 wives, according to Brigham Young by M. R. Werner (p. 333). As a strictly gentile historian I might also point out that his 56 children were born to him by 16 wives, that eleven of his wives had no children.

A. A. O'KEEFFE Chicago, Ill.

Correct is Reader O'Keeffe. Of Patriarch Young's 27 wives, he married 19 in five years. On more than one occasion he married two on the same day and on Jan. 21, 1846, wed four, one pair before lunch, one pair after. Mormon Young's original favorite wife, Emmeline Free Young, bore him ten children. In the Young menage, three children were once born the same month, two the same day.--ED.

Probably Third

Sirs:

I was very much interested in reading your account of the Music Industries' Convention held in Chicago (TIME, Aug. 10). As far as I recall you have never reported the meetings we have held in the past.

There are several statements made in your write-up which place a somewhat faulty emphasis on certain units in the Industry.

You state, for instance, that the Wurlitzer Grand Piano Company is trailing the five leaders. You do not state whether this trailing is in volume of dollar sales or in volume of unit sales. As a matter of fact, this information is not available to you, inasmuch as you have not asked us for it, and there is no other source through which you can secure it. Obviously, you were guessing. . . .

I happen to be a member of the ninth successive generation of Wurlitzers engaged in the music business. The Wurlitzer Company is not only the oldest, but also the world's largest music house, having more employes engaged in building and selling musical instruments than any other single organization in America. . . .

We feel quite certain that Wurlitzer is not sixth in volume of piano sales, but probably third. . . .

CYRIL FARNY

Vice President and General Manager Wurlitzer Grand Piano Co. De Kalb, Ill.

Topflight

Sirs:

I am confident that I express the opinion of thousands of alert readers and writers who have long been aware of John Dos Passes' excellent work when I send along my congratulations for TIME'S topflight review of The Big Money in the Aug. 10 issue. An able, critical estimate of which TIME'S Books editor may well be proud. AUGUST W. DERLETH

Sauk City, Wis.

Spirit of Voltaire

Sirs:

In the July 27 issue of your valued publication there appeared a double-page advertisement of the Scripps-Howard newspapers, in which the spirit of Voltaire is portrayed as speaking through a village grocer in defense of liberty of expression: "I wholly disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death, your right to say it."

In the extensive research which I have conducted on the historical aspects of the freedom of the press and which I am still conducting, I have often run across this quotation, attributed to Voltaire. As a matter of interesting fact, however, this sentence is not to be found in any of that great Frenchman's writings.

Mr. Burton E. Stevenson, author of the Home Book of Quotations, now being prepared for a new edition, says that the quotation was first attributed to Voltaire by S. G. Tallentyre (E. Beatrice Hall), an English writer, in her book The Friends of Voltaire (p. 199), published in England in 1906, where it was quoted as having been written in a letter to Claude Adrien Helvetius, with reference to his book, De l'Esprit. When Miss Hall was asked m 1935 for the source of the quotation, she wrote, quite naively, "I did not intend to imply that Voltaire used these words verbatim and should be surprised if they are found in any of his works. They are rather a paraphrase of Voltaire s words in the essay on Tolerance: 'Think for yourselves, and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too.' "

EBERHARD P. DEUTSCH

Counsellor at Law

New Orleans, La.

To Lawyer Deutsch, thanks for an interesting piece of research. Less meticulous Scripps-Howard's unyielding copywriters say that they "found statement attributed to Voltaire in many books and articles and also recorded in speeches in the Congressional Record," that "whereas it has not been definitely proved that Voltaire literally made the statement, neither has anyone proved that Voltaire did not make such a statement"

--ED.

March of Time Sirs:

"Hymen Harvest," p. 23 of TIME, Aug. 10, is typically TIME-worthy.

However, it must take a powerful moon and the sunshine of Sunny Italy to rush the March of Time so that children conceived in the first week of August may be born in March. Is Mussolini responsible for that change also? HUGH H. HOFFMAN

Dayton, Ohio

Sixteen other readers could count on their fingers better than TIME'S careless checker.--ED.

Impossible

Sirs:

I see by your issue of Aug. 3 where the electrified young farm gent cut himself on an electric razor. Forward my Congrats. Really I don't see how he did it. It took me six weeks to cut a whisker and I'm not down to the hide yet. I think he got the one meant for the cow.

JIM MONTGOMERY

Longmont, Colo.

Sirs:

...I've used a Schick Shaver for nearly three years now, and not only find it impossible to cut myself with it while shaving, but even when deliberately experimenting with it in every conceivable way, find that it simply will not cut anything but the whiskers. . . .

Having put in a couple of years with FERA, I am not unfamiliar with the ability of governmental purchasing agents to buy up some awful monstrosities on perfectly normal purchase orders. In fact, if TIME will take the trouble to find out, we might discover that Farmer Hughes's son is using a small electric lamb-shearer for a razor. . . .

CARL L. LEATHERS New Castle, Pa.

Change

Sirs:

From p. 42, TIME, Aug. 10: "Two athletes who recently competed in European track events as women were later transformed into men by sex operations." Do you really enjoy being inexact, indefinite and absurd all in one sentence?

J. W. MASON

New York City

For an exact account of the medical procedure which changes the sexual status of the subject, see p. 33.--ED.

Second Best Sirs:

Nominee for second best head of the year to date "Horses & Courses" [TIME, Aug. 3]. A close second to TIME'S alltime best, "Foxx to Sox" [TIME, Dec. 23], a nose ahead of long ago but still outstanding, "Braid for Slade" onetime U. S. Naval Academy footballer, big gun in an Army-Navy battle.

MILLARD L. WINTERS

Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Unpublished Thesis

Sirs:

Re Transport and the "Four Frictions" (TIME, Aug. 3):

From my unpublished thesis on bicycle accidents I give the following digest. There are five principal kinds: vectorial (when two vehicles coming from different directions alter each other's subsequent position); intervenient (sudden appearance of immovable obstacles); interplanetary (leaving the road, as when riding off a bridge or an embankment); subcutaneous (loss of concentration caused by bees, dogs, etc.); and exhibitionist (passenger on handle bars, standing on head, etc). Consequently, build one-way, one-wheel, walled-in alleyways for one cyclist at a time: when he exits, green light flashes, and entrance gates admit cyclist No. 2, etc. Please to give me an honorary LL. D. and two columns in TIME (with cut). . . .

PHILIP B. GOVE New York City

No Earthly Language

Sirs: On reading your article "After Death" [TIME, Aug. 3] I feel myself bound to comment on Mr. Brandon's contacts with the spirit world. For many years I have been in contact with the spirit world, and I have been led by them to a far different understanding of spirit existence than that which was accredited to Mr. Brandon's communications. The most directly I ever came to the discussion of spirit existence was during one of my earliest conversations with a spirit about 14 years ago. As I do not myself completely attempt to set understand forth all the that was told conversation as me, it I will took place verbally, and as I have it recorded in my "Spirit Notes": Spirit L. K., you have for some time been attempting to contact M. R. As this is impossible, I have been ordained to speak for him. Me: Why is this impossible? Spirit: M. R. be unable to "Abzurkish," and until "Moremile" he will be unable to communicate with earthly beings. Me: I'm afraid I don't understand the terms you use. Spirit-That is quite natural. There are certain evaluations that no earthly language will express and for which we have terms that only a person matured in spirit development can comprehend. This fact has proven true with me, for a great many of the terms used during my early contacts I can now comprehend: though many of them cannot even be attempted to be expressed by ordinary language.

Me: When will I ordinary be able to contact M.R.?

Spirit: It is not a question or "when," it is a matter of "Rohmez," out question of here there is no "time."...

As I mentioned before, I do not entirely understand the spirit world, though I have had many occasions to communicate with them.. LIONEL KENT

Boston, Mass.

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