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This is to express my gratitude for a beautiful piece of writing—the review of Death of a Man. It is more than a review. It is a brilliant indictment of a hollow, barren approach to courage. I have reread it until I am convinced that it is perfect
BETTE CONROY Park Forest, Ill.
Switched Figures
Sir:
Your April 8 Press section refers to the "Seattle Times (circ. 190,789) and Hearst's Post-Intelligencer (circ. 208,224)." A bit of checking will reveal that you have switched the circulation figures. Come now, you know that the Times is Seattle's leading daily.
JOHN A. BLETHEN Vice President Seattle Times Seattle, Wash.
Help for Hildy
Sir:
Massachusetts, with its current persecution of the Ellises, is back in the Middle Ages. This kind and loving couple are threatened like ordinary criminals because they are Jews and had the temerity to adopt (in good faith) the child of an unwed Roman Catholic mother. Are we really in America, or is the ghost of Hitler now dominating the state's legal and ecclesiastical counsels?
LEONARD MONZERT West Newton, Mass.
Sir:
There are many Jewish orphans looking for a home. When people marry or adopt children, they should stick to their own religion.
EDWARD L. CLARKE The Bronx, N.Y.
Sir:
I trust Marjorie McCoy was as particular in asking the religion of Hildy's father. She should thank her God, whom I hope she will permit the Ellises to worship, that Hildy was lucky enough to be raised by two human beings who know what the word parent means.
PAT KELLOGG Los Angeles
Sir:
As a classmate of Marjorie McCoy, I am shocked and disgusted at her actions to take Hildy away from the Ellises.
M. N. SCOTT Santa Clara, Calif.
Sir:
As a parent of an adopted daughter the same age as Hildy, I cannot conceive of any law which could properly justify removing this child from the custody of the people who are as much her parents as they would be had she been born of their own flesh. If the authorities are serious about their responsibility to place a child with persons whose faith is the same as that of the natural mother, then they should know that the opportunity to do so in this case is past.
GEORGE D. ALLEY Minister Suffolk Christian Church Suffolk, Va.
Sir:
May I express the hope—which I know is shared by many others—that the Florida courts will help Mr. & Mrs. Ellis to keep the little girl Hildy. This child's life might easily be ruined if she is taken away from these people who love her, and whom she loves.
MADOLIN CERVANTES New York City
Thou Shalt Not
Sir:
Your April 1 article on the Rev. Robert Gingery, the Methodist minister who killed the bank robber, says he "made his peace with God and with the Fifth Commandment." I think you have your commandments mixed, as the Fifth is "Honor thy father and thy mother." I think you should have said Sixth, which says "Thou shalt not kill."
MARION RICHARDS Liberty Hill, S.C.