Presidential Couplets
Sir:
Some rhymester, unknown to me, got a 35-year drop on Ogden Nash (who lately jingled the list of U.S. Presidents--TIME, June 14). We eighth-graders in San Francisco's Madison Grammar School were obliged to chant in unison:
Washington first--he arranged the finance;
Then came John Adams, who quarreled with France.
Thomas Jefferson third--Lou'siana he bought;
Then Madison, under whom England was fought . . .
It pains me to confess to Miss Dora Plagemann, the handsomest teacher in San Francisco in my day, that for the order between Madison and Taft I must now take recourse to the World Almanac.
ALBERT L. FURTH
Chappaqua, N.Y.
Friendly Link
Sir:
. . . I was deeply touched the morning I opened TIME and saw my letter published [TIME, May 24] . . .
Friends of mine, who are living in Switzerland, the U.S. and Argentina, and with whom I was not in contact for years, wrote and congratulated me . . . Which proves that people are really reading TIME all around the world, and that TIME is a link, not only between reader and world news, but also between a wide spiritual community of people . . .
SERGIO TOLENTINO
Trieste
A Hell of a Town
Sir:
Your reference to New York City as "a hell of a town," and placing that label on the cover of TIME [June 7] under the picture of the Honorable William O'Dwyer, is in very bad taste.
MARY A. CLARK
New York City
Sir:
No geography ever painted a picture of the spectacular peculiarities of American metropolitan complexity as adequately . . .
Such material contributes much to understanding America today . . . The separation of one age group of our society (youth) from the realities of current American life by undue confinement to a curriculum that tends to be static may account for the inability of many adults to cope with current conditions . . .
C. DELMAR GRAY
District Superintendent
Escondido Union Schools
Escondido, Calif.
Sir:
The piece on New York is superb as the city itself . . .
CHARLES N. LISCHKA
Loyola College
Baltimore, Md.
Sir:
. . . A grotesque and vicious caricature. TIME'S New York is one which dwells pointedly on its noise, crowding, aggressiveness, hellish glare at night, marijuana, cockroach-infested kitchens, tigerish and provocative women, obsession with the present, propensity to sneer at Philadelphia and jeer at Boston, and coolness to visitors . . .
There is no visible place in TIME'S picture of New York for wholesome American living or normal American people . . . The article passes over New York's true importance in the national scene, allowing only an incidental word for the city as a port, a marketplace, a tourist center, as a "fountain spout" of culture, finding time for no mention at all of its place as a national center of music, higher education, medical research, managerial leadership, publishing, or the American tradition of human rights . . .
As a native New Yorker, I find TIME'S article profoundly offensive as well as inaccurate as a portrait . . .
EDWARD G. BERNARD
New York City
Sir:
Congratulations . . . It comes as a welcome relief to find someone brave enough to suggest that with all its clamor and clangour there is possibly a word to be said for New York City.
EDWARD J. HANLON
New York City
Sir:
Many thanks for the colorful O'Dwyer saga. Again the ever-recurring Horatio Alger story dominates the American scene . . .
HELEN A. MCCARTHY
Groton, Mass.
Sir:
Bravo to Artist Artzybasheff for his excellent background for the O'Dwyer cover! And a big Bronx Cheer to whoever penned the cover story. He should go back to Lower Slobovia!
HARRY J. WELLS
New York City
Playland
Sir:
As a native Long Islander, I resent your referring to New York's playground as "Long Guyland" [TIME, June 7] . . .
J. F. TEPRAN
Astoria, L.I.
Sir:
Long Island is pronounced Lawn Gylan . . .
SEYMOUR AXELROD
Long Island, N.Y.
Plain & Dowdy?
Sir:
TIME, May 31, reported on the International Rotary Convention at Rio. Enclosed please find photo of two of the many plain and dowdy women about whom you reported. Most all Rotarians traveled to Rio by boat. Could it be possible that your reporter missed the boat?
MAYOR H. McKINLEY
N. Hollywood, Calif.
P: Yes, he went by air.--ED.
Aid for War Children
Sir:
The picture of the little eight-year-old Italian boy learning to read Braille with his nose and lips [TIME, June 7] should help to rouse fortunate Americans to their duty to send aid to the children of Europe . . .
Could you find the address to which money could be sent to this Foster Parents' Plan for War Children?
ELINOR H. DEAL Wellesley, Mass.
P: 55 West 42nd Street, N.Y.C.--ED.
Sir:
The picture . . . not only touches my heart but stirs an impulse to want to assist. While what I can do to help may be small, still I should like to do what I can . . .
CHAD DUNSTAN
Honolulu, Hawaii
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