After Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, was secured last week, LIFE Photographer Hank Walker headed for the Russian embassy. There, to his surprise, he found two complete periodical files --of Pravda and TIME.

The TIME file, consisting of our U.S. editions only, was complete through the middle of August. It was well-thumbed. On a desk in the room lay a copy of the May 29 issue with IndoChina's Bao Dai, emperor of Vietnam, on the cover. Near it was a copy of the Aug. 7 Pacific* edition (Formosa's Governor K. C. Wu on the cover) stamped "U.S. Diplomatic Service."

How the latter got into the Russian embassy at Pyongyang might make a good cloak & dagger story. As for the copies of our U.S. edition, they might have been mailed direct from the U.S. or been part of the bulk subscription order we deliver each week to the Russian embassy in Washington. (In the Soviet Union, 13 copies of our Atlantic edition go to newspapers, libraries, government bureaus and officials.)

An amusing sidelight to a recent survey of TIME readers is this incidental intelligence about your interests and possessions. Most of you, unsurprisingly, are enthusiastic pet owners--especially of dogs and cats. But, surprisingly, you also say your households include alligators, ants, lovebirds, opossums, lambs, lizards, palomino horses, peacocks, salamanders and snakes. Far & away the most popular dogs are cocker spaniels with collies, shepherds and setters next in line. One dog enthusiast, who owns 13 Afghans, four Doberman pinschers, two salukis, a St. Bernard and a miniature poodle, says their upkeep costs him a whacking $1,500 to $2,500 a year. Among the forty-odd thoroughbreds listed (from Chihuahua to Newfoundland), a goodly number admitted theirs was "just dog."

And of all the cats you own (they are of every stripe), one had the distinction of being born in a Royal Palace. Aside from the expected accouterments, these pampered pets were the lucky (or puzzled) possessors of such assorted items as: boots, bells, catnip trees, ear protectors, goggles, nail clippers, pajamas, raincoats and traveling cases.

The Oct. 9 cover story on Poet Robert Frost moved many of you to write to us, and some of your letters appeared in last week's Letters department. Here is another, expressing the viewpoint of a French reader:

"The Robert Frost story makes us remember--if we had forgotten it--that there live in the United States, close beside famed businessmen, generals and cinema actors, men who are still able to enjoy woods and grey, snowy skies."

Reporter Eldon Griffiths, of our Los Angeles bureau, saw the Sadler's Wells Ballet production of Swan Lake in Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium last week, and wrote: "From the muffled whispers in the row behind me, I gathered that four elderly ladies, sitting together, were experts on the whole performance. They chatted knowingly about Ninette de Valois' discovery of Ballerina Margot Fonteyn, discussed the merits of Karsavina, Pavlova, Markova, noted the fact that Danseur Michael Somes had spent four years in the British army during the war. During the intermission, I turned round, curious to see these well-informed critics. They looked as if they might have been schoolteachers, and they were huddled over a red-bordered magazine. It was TIME'S Nov. 14, 1949 edition, with Margot Fonteyn on the cover, 'kept for the occasion.' "

Cordially yours,

* Printed in Tokyo for swifter delivery to Far East readers, but identical in editorial content with the U.S. edition.

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