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But I won't admit—in fact I protest—the "rumpled pants"! I've seen him nearly every day for the past three weeks . . . and not once with "rumpled pants." However, I am told he might have had "rumpled pants" one day, for during a downpour he took off his topcoat to put it around a young woman who had none. Perhaps that was the day. And for that act of chivalry you have publicly proclaimed him a wearer of "rumpled pants"! Tough on Ted 'cause it isn't true. He's most particular about his clothes.
Rescind the "rumpled pants," and I'll still be a TIME booster.
MARGARET RUSH
Portland, Ore.
Sirs:
Orchids to Ted Malone for his reputed defrosting of U. S. wives. It should be said, however, that to millions of American women Mr. Malone's lush whisperings are merely emetic.
KATE STERNE
Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Quietus
Sirs:
In TIME, Oct. 30, you quote the New York Times as saying: "Men and women in Salem, two centuries ago, were burned for witchcraft far less amazing. . . ." Cannot your magazine help to put the quietus on this old lie, which crops up periodically? No witches were ever burned in New England: a number were hanged and one was pressed to death—a record of which we are not proud, but at least we are not guilty of the more cruel accusation.
PHILIP H. COOK, M.D.
Worcester, Mass.
> Unburied, still restless is the antique lie about Salem witch-burning. Many a New England witch suspect was hanged; one (Giles Cory of Salem) was pressed to death; none was burned. —ED.
Quest for Certainty
Sirs:
My physics-teacher husband and I enjoyed your comment re John Dewey's magnificent unintelligibility (TIME, Oct. 30).
Here's our favorite. We copied it years ago from The Quest for Certainty. . . .
"When, on the other hand, it is seen that the object of knowledge is prospective and eventual, being the result of inferential or reflective operations which redispose what was antecedently existent, the subject matters called respectively sensible and conceptual are seen to be complementary in effective direction of inquiry to an intelligible conclusion."
MRS. DEWEY MINER
Kansas City, Mo.
Add Underscore
Sirs:
It is rare indeed the opportunity that one has of mentioning an error in your fine research staff. However, in the issue of Oct. 23, p. 30, there is the statement: "Although one old battleship, the Britannia, was downed by submarines two days before the Armistice in 1918, not a single capital ship (my underscore) of the Grand Fleet was torpedoed by a submarine during the whole of the War. . . ."
If my memory serves me, Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty (no kin, unfortunately) had as his flagship the Lion and was leading five battle cruisers just before the battle of Jutland, May 1916. At that time the Lion was torpedoed and put out of commission, and Admiral Beatty transferred his flag to another ship. . . .
CROOM BEATTY III
Hamden, Conn.
> To his own underscore, let Reader Beatty add another for TIME. Shellfire, not torpedoes, wrecked Lion at the Battle of Jutland (where no submarine action occurred).—ED.
Cliveden Set
Sirs: