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Though 73 years old, Henry Beetle Hough, dean of country-editors, still has a clear eye for whimsy and a delicate needle for his brethren in the publishing world. Witness the letter-to-the-editor that Hough recently offered readers of his Vineyard Gazette on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Mass.: "Now I have a real problem. McCall's Magazine advised my wife that 1,992 'lively' women in the Chilmark area are receiving a copy of McCall's every month and would she become number 1,993? The latest census of Chilmark shows a total of 300 souls, of which 160 are female ranging from 1 to 101. Now, dear Oracle, that means 1,832 women are running loose and reading McCall's someplace in Chilmark. Where do you suggest we find the 1,832 women, or should the 140 men run for their lives?" Signed: Joseph G. Kraetzer (male).