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FREDERIC A. GIBBS, M.D. Professor of Neurology Director, Division of Electroencephalography College of Medicine University of Illinois Chicago
Peace Corps Predecessor
Sir:
It seems you are spreading it on a bit too thick when you say that the Peace Corps [Dec. 29] is "doing what no other American has ever done." Christian missions have been doing for more than a hundred years what the Peace Corps is now trying to do.
I have eaten my share of roasted iguanas, even if I have never eaten a lechon. And I don't even count the times we have had dysentery.
Really now, do we need to teach people the twist? The best friends America has on foreign soil are the nationals who have been in touch with the missionaries.
QUENTIN SHORTES Guatemala
Sir:
As the Nigerians look upon whites who wear native dress with the same sort of horror that Scots reserve for a Sassenach in a kilt, I suggest that Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American be made compulsory reading for future Peace Corpsmen.
E. A. HARRINGTON Esher, Surrey, England
Sprinkle v. Pour
Sir:
I am quite sure that the Archbishop of Canterbury did not "sprinkle" Viscount Linley, infant son of Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon, when he christened him, as your report has him doing [Dec. 29].
The only two methods of administering baptism recognized in the English (as in the American) Book of Common Prayer are "dipping" the baby "discreetly" in water and "pouring" water upon the baby. Since "dipping" is all but obsolete in Anglican circles, I am certain that on this royal occasion the method used was "pouring," probably with a baptismal shell.
(THE REV.) FRANCIS C. LIGHTBOURN Milwaukee
∙ The Archbishop dipped his hand into a golden font, designed by Prince Albert, and gently poured water over Viscount Linley's head.—ED.
Who's Hoot
Sir:
Where has your MODERN LIVING writer been listening to folk singers [Jan. 5]? He is right in saying that the blues are being sung by guitar-twanging imitators of Josh White. He is also right when he says international songs are being sung. He is dead wrong in claiming that Scottish and Irish ballads are big today. Actually, the No. 1 trend in folksongs currently is "bluegrass," an attempt to re-create the songs of the Southern Appalachians circa 1925-35.
Finally, he couldn't be wronger when he says that labor union songs are in vogue. The whole social-protest balloon collapsed among folk singers in the middle 19505. In its place has risen a new craft—protest songs concerning integration, peace, and the H-bomb. Instead of The Rebel Girl, your writer today would most likely hear something like this at a hoot: *
What will we get from radiation? No neck, two necks or maybe three! Each one will have his own mutation— Nobody else will look like me! Strontium, strontium, strontium go, Fallout will get you, even underground, So if you want strontium, strontium go, There's plenty enough to go around!
ROBERT A. JURAN Hartsdale, N.Y.
*A hootenanny (hoot for short) is a gathering, usually pretty informal, of folk singers.