"Empyreumatical Mackerel"

Sirs:

In his remark about the empyreumatical mackerel (TIME, May 26), Mr. Fly was on the right scent, but he failed to tell us anything about his authority for the quotation. Crabbed, although highly interesting, John Randolph of Roanoke shot it at Henry ("Mill-boy of the Slashes") Clay. His exact language seems to be in dispute. Bartlett puts it: "So brilliant, yet so corrupt, which, like a rotten mackerel by moonlight, shines and stinks." Personally one better likes the version employed in the life of Randolph, in The American Statesmen series of biographies: "Like a mackerel in the moonlight, he shined and stank."

Timely, this--in the House on March 5, 1806, Randolph affirmed that "the surest way to prevent war is not to fear it." Q.E.D., maybe.

ROBERT HAMMOND MURRAY

Cranford, NJ.

> Stung by Randolph's crack. Henry Clay challenged him to a duel. Clay's second bullet made a hole in Randolph's white flannel wrapper, whereupon Randolph gallantly waived his own second shot, offered to shake hands. Clay shook.--ED.

Reconfirmed Believer

Sirs:

Your comparison of the Neutrality Act with the 18th Amendment (TIME, June 2) is a master stroke.

Having read Fletcher Dobyns' Amazing Story of Repeal, and in the light of it TIME'S comment on the Neutrality Act, I am a reconfirmed believer in the perspicuity of at least some of TIME'S editors.

ARTHUR J. WILLETT

Amherst, Wis.

Time-Honored Prayer

Sirs:

At this time of "unlimited emergency" is the Protestant Episcopal Church anti-Roosevelt?

I have attended services at many Episcopal churches, particularly in New York and Pittsburgh. At every service, the rector has made use of the prayer to give the President "wisdom" instead of the time-honored prayer to "behold and bless thy servant the President of the United States" which was part of the morning service from 1789 until the revision of the prayer book in 1929, when as an alternative the "wisdom" prayer was added. . . .

For several years I have carried a $5 bill to be laid upon the collection plate at any service where the time-honored "bless" prayer was used. It was only last Sunday at our local church that I parted with my bill. Our new rector told me afterwards that it had not been a mistake but intentional. . . .

It seems appropriate at this time of peril that we return to the only prayer that was used for every President from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge.

OLIVER W. GILPIN

Kittanning, Pa.

> Excerpt from the "bless" prayer: "O Lord, our heavenly Father, the high and mighty Ruler of the universe, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth; Most heartily we beseech thee, with thy favor to behold and bless thy servant THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, and all others in authority. . ."

Excerpt from the "wisdom" prayer: "O Lord our Governor, whose glory is in all the world; We commend this nation to thy merciful care, that being guided by thy Providence, we may dwell secure in thy peace. Grant to THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, and to all in authority, wisdom and strength to know and to do thy will. . . ."--ED.

Painful Education

Sirs:

TIME is, and always has been, a newsmagazine for readers of discriminating tastes --to the older readers, a source of news analysis and comment, and to the students, a source of painless education in matters of current interest. Above all, however, I believe that TIME is a public service, which is why I write this particular letter to you.

I am a normal, fun-loving teenster with an abnormal capacity for mischief and for sometimes saying and doing things I shouldn't. My parents, are the finest in the world without a doubt. They remember their own youth and are kind, tolerant and understanding, but firm in the dispensing of parental authority. However, when I'm really in the wrong and deserve to be punished, I get it: said "it" being 48 sound whacks across my bare bottom with Dad's hand.

I know that, at times, I am stubborn and refuse to listen to reason, that I am impertinent, and that I deliberately disobey simply because I resent the authority which imposes the rules, regulations, and minor penalties upon me. However, there must be other effective means of punishment than making me down my pants and cross the parental knee. After all, a 15-year-old girl is too old to spank, is she not?

JANET A. MILLER

Oak Park, Ill.

> It depends on how old she acts.--ED.

Battle of Diplomats

Sirs:

I am an American citizen and have lived in South America for a year, part of the time in Brazil and the other part in Argentina. I have Brazilian, Argentine, American, English, German, Italian, Hungarian and French friends, pro-Axis and anti-Axis friends, and because of this have been able to observe a great deal in regard to the political and economic situation between South America and other nations. There is a lot of palaver about the "Good Neighbor Policy." . . . Great Britain and the U.S. are very eager to entice all the South American nations on their side. The Axis powers are very busy also. Well, the first thing the Anglo-American Governments should do is to send the right kind of diplomats and businessmen to these countries, men who can speak Spanish and Portuguese not only fairly well but without an offensive accent. The U.S. and Great Britain have plenty of money to flash in the faces of the South Americans, but money or no money, they are constantly making themselves disliked by their arrogant and aggressive and superior attitude and also they unconsciously insult all the South Americans by their stupid rendition of the language. The behavior of the American men and women in the shops, hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and in all public places is far beneath the quality of the English, and the behavior of the English is at least 40DEG below the behavior of the people from the European countries. And the Nazis and the Fascists are the best behaved and the smartest of them all in all their dealings with the South Americans in business, politics and diplomacy. . . .

When . . . these blatant mistakes have been rectified, then talk about the "Good Neighbor Policy."

L. B. MALLISON

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Rapturous Cussing

Sirs:

After the President's speech (TIME, June 9), college men living here were nervous but relieved. They laughed, smoked, decided to fall in line. Drafted or not, most wondered which was safest, Army, Navy, Air Corps; speculated on how many times they could get drunk before putting on the uniform. Rapturously, they cussed everything.

With examinations in progress, nobody studied--they didn't give a damn.

JIM SANDERS

Washington University

St. Louis, Mo.

Not Entirely Lost

Sirs:

Howard W. Anderson's letter, "Can an America of cocktails, cigarets, wisecracks and sex ... stop the Hitler military machine?" makes me a little ill. As far as the cigarets and cocktails go, we'd better get them while we can, because we certainly won't be able to afford them when we buckle down to paying off the debts our oldsters have saddled us with; as to the wisecracks, no nation that can wisecrack is entirely lost; and as far as sex is concerned, I'd like to ask Mr. Anderson where we would be without it, especially if we are going to have to produce enough men every 20 years to fight for democracy. Personally, I think we could make short work of the Hitler machine.

EDWARD PARTON

Schenectady, N.Y.

No Squeeze

Sirs:

Re: Connie Mack Day [TIME, May 26].

Ha--a muff down my alley. Could it be that 15,000 fans "squeezed" into Shibe Park in Philadelphia? I'm almost sure that twice that number have been in the park many times.

Just checking back I see that in the World Series of 1929 there were 29,991 paid admissions. . . .

W. T. BELL

Philadelphia, Pa.

> "Streamed" would have been a better word than "squeezed" for 15,000 fans entering roomy Shibe Park (capacity 33,000).--ED.

Short of Backslapping

Sirs:

Thanks from a subscriber to you and to the author of the letter that you published . . . the one that ended "What this country needs is a good five-cent psychiatrist." I might add that, prior to the psychiatrist, we could also stand a little realistic reviewing of European History. . . . And thanks to TIME, also, for its renewed vigor in something short of.backslapping with regard to the Administration. If ever this country needed true reporting and honest criticism of those in high places, and a little debunking of their policies, when these can be honestly determined, this country and this people of ours need these now. Let us hope that TIME folds not up! So many of us depend on you for so much.

WARREN P. UPHAM

Orono, Me.

To Mr. Shaw

Inspired by G. B. Shaw's complaints about the inadequacies of English spelling (TIME, May 12):

To Mr. Shaw--pshaw.

J. E. KAUFFMAN

Veterans Hospital

Bay Pines, Fla.

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