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You speak of "wild rumors" of Queen Elizabeth's safety in Sydney caused by the enthusiasm of Australian crowds and say Australians dismissed them as "furphies" [TIME, Feb. 22]. In case you think the Aussies are speaking some brutish antipodean pidgin, I would like to point out that a furphy is the exact equivalent of the good U.S. Navy . . . word scuttlebutt, derived from the days when a sailor . . . found out what was what aboard ship by exchanging a judicious word or two at the fresh water barrel or butt . . . The Diggers have used the word furphy in the same sense since 1914. It reflects nothing on the garrulous Irish character, but refers to the fact that the contractor for field water barrels in the Australian Imperial Forces was a certain Furphy of Ballarat, Victoria, who caused his name to be cast into the metal . . .
CHARLES JAMES KERR New York City
Treasures of the Andes
SIR:
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR SPLENDID COVERAGE AND SUPERB REPRODUCTIONS OF THE EXHIBITION CALLED "ANCIENT ARTS OF THE ANDES" [TIME, FEB. 22] ORGANIZED BY THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART FOR THREE AMERICAN SHOWINGS OF EIGHT WEEKS EACH. FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR MILLIONS OF READERS . . . WE WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT THE EXHIBITION IN ITS ENTIRETY WILL BE SHOWN AT THE MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS FROM APRIL 14 THROUGH JUNE 6, AND THE CALIFORNIA PALACE OF THE LEGION OF HONOR IN SAN FRANCISCO FROM JUNE 29 THROUGH AUGUST 29.
RUSSELL A PLIMPTON THOMAS C. HOWE JR. DIRECTORS MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS CALIFORNIA PALACE OF THE LEGION OF HONOR
Grounds for Separation
Sir:
My attention has just been called to the anecdote concerning myself in your Feb. 8 issue. Too bad to spoil a good story,* but it didn't happen. You have failed to allow for the imagination of a poet, looking back on a time when he blundered badly and was trying to make the best of it and sell a book of memoirs.
When the lady who was then my wife decided to go away with the poet, she did not tell me of her intention, but said that she was going to ... visit her mother. So there were no intense emotions on the occasion. As she was leaving, I remembered her coffeepot, which was a special one; she used it, and I didn't, so I took it out to the carriage and gave it to her. I made no special speech, of anger, contempt, or anything else. I have never described coffee as a "poison"; when I have occasion to refer to it, I call it what it is, a narcotic, which produces a temporary effect of stimulation. Having been naturally stimulated all my life, I have never felt the need of any caffeine. I drink fruit juices . . . and if I am asked for my opinion, I give it, but otherwise not.
UPTON SINCLAIR Buckeye, Ariz.
Foam Rubber Note
Sir:
... I don't know how much reeling to the mohair couches the readers of Homes of the Brave [TIME, Feb. 22] are going to do. All I can tell you is that I am flat on my foam rubber. I don't want to sound boastful, but suppose nobody knows as well as an author if the essential essence of a book can be distilled into a column and a half. As the author of Homes of the Brave, I consider that your digest is flawless . . .
T. H. ROBSJOHN-GlBBINGS New York City
Abortions in Geneva
Sir: