Herewith are excerpts from letters come to the desks of the editors during the past week. They are selected primarily for the information they contain either supplementary to, or corrective of, news previously published in TIME.
Washerwoman Duchess
TIME New York, N.Y.,
New York, N.Y. April 27, 1925.
Gentlemen:
I have taken part in many heated discussions about Madame Sans Gene and, knowing you have put many minds at ease in the past, I trust you will be able to enlighten me on this subject. Is there any accent on the last "e" in Gene? And did such a person ever exist or was she merely a fictitious character? I have digested dictionaries. Lives of Napoleon" and Encyclopedias and still remain in total darkness.
SHEILA O CONNELL.
Madame Sans Gene (pronounced san-Gene) was a play written in 1893 by Victorien Sardou, based on a well-known story of the Napoleonic period about Sergeant Pierre null Joseph Lefebvre (later made general, marshal. Duke of Danzig) who married a blan-chisseuse (washerwoman) to the French guards. She, Catharine Hubscher, never varnishing over her early manners, acquired the nickname Madame Sans Gene, rather freely translated as Mrs. Uncouth.-ED.
Non-canceling Criticism
TIME Cambridge, Mass.
New York, N.Y. Apr. 24, 1925.
Gentlemen:
May I take an Original Subscriber's privilege and write to you about your review of the parody Lampoon (TIME, Apr. 27, Page 18), which I have just read? I think you ought to let someone else from Harvard, if not myself, tell your readers that the issue did not deserve all the hard words you wrote about it; there was much of it that was quite honestly funny, and the whole of it was done in a free-hearted spirit not always appreciated by those who, like your reviewer, take this world very seriously. After all, why look for blasphemies and insults to good people in an undergraduate prank?
My dear Mr. Editor, I do not cancel my subscription; I shall renew it next February, for I like TIME and appreciate the service it gives and the lively way in which it is run.
KENNETH CONANT.
Shivering Trousers
TIME San Francisco, Calif.
New York, N.Y. Apr. 27, 1925.
Gentlemen:
On Page 16 in the Apr. 20 issue of TIME, you refer to "Getting the wind up" as puzzling to the lexicographers. I think 1 can throw some light upon the origin of the term, for it is part of a story that went around, especially in the ranks of the Royal Fusiliers. The story is somewhat as fellows:
A recruit being detailed for some rather hazardous undertaking was reprimanded by a non-commissioned officer for allowing his knees; to shake; the inference being that he was trembling with fright. But the recruit repudiated the idea and countered with the statement that the wind got up his trouser legs.
I remember the story very well for it caused much merriment.
J. W. NASH
Credit Due
TIME Chicago, Ill.
New York, N.Y. Apr. 28, 1925.
Gentlemen:
As President of the Woman's world null I would like to correct the impression which you have given (in the issue of Apr. 27, Page 5), that Mrs. Edith Rockefeller McCormick was the originator of the Woman's World Fair.
The idea of the Fair originated with Miss Helen Bennett, who afterwards became the Managing Director of the Fair. She gave the idea to a number of women, who incorporated. I was made President of the Fair and Mrs. Edith Rockefeller McCormick was made one of the members of the Board. She had nothing whatever to do with organizing the Fair nor was she its "Prophetess."
The Fair was closed on Saturday by the Vice President of the United States and was a tremendous success.
LOUISE DE KOVEN BOWEN,
(Mrs. Joseph T. Bowen).
Realtor
TIME Lansing, Mich.
New York, N.Y. Apr. 27, 1925.
Gentlemen:
In your issue of Apr. 27, Page 16, second column, you speak of "circumventing Carthaginian realtors."
May I call your attention to the fact that the only person eligible to the use of the term "realtor" must be a member in good standing of a local real estate board which, in turn, is a member of the National Association of Real Estate Boards. This ruling has been upheld by many courts. A few of the cases are: St. Louis Court, Mar. 17, this year; the Circuit Court of the City of Norfolk, Va., June 16, 1924; District Court of Weber County, Utah, July 2, 1924; Circuit Court of Wayne County, Mich., Nov. 3, 1924.
Each local board and each member thereof in joining the National Association must subscribe to the National Code of Ethics, which code is based on the Golden Rule.
It is not very probable that there is a Real Estate Board in the Carthage that you mention. There may be real estate men or brokers in Carthage but no "realtors."
E. M. HOUGH.
Error
TIME Washington, D.C.
New York, N.Y. Apr. 24, 1925.
Gentlemen:
. . . on Page 3 of TIME, April 27, in the article entitled, "Three Oracles, Nine Priests," under the general head SUPREME COURT, . . . you state that, in arriving at a decision of the Court, "each Justice, beginning with the senior, gives his opinion in turn." My opinion had always been that to relieve the junior members of the embarrassment and unintentional intellectual intimidation which would be consequent upon a practice such as you mention, the exact reverse is followed and the opinion of the junior members of the Court is first taken. I am, this morning, in formed by the Office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court that there has been no change in the former practice and that this latter procedure is, as far as he knows, still the rule.
In citing this possibly inconsequential error, I do it in good nature and wish to add my congratulations upon the exceedingly high character of your publication and my personal appreciation of its value to me.
ERNEST H. VAN FOSSAN.
Attorney at Law.
Subscriber Van Fossan is entirely right.--ED.
Hedges
TIME Lacon, Ill.
New York, N.Y. Apr. 28, 1925.
Gentlemen:
You mention fossils of mid-Pleistocene creatures, mastodon tusks and dinosaurs' shoulder blades while 10,000 readers are disappointed: Because your wonderful publication pauses not to mention (or at least we haven't noticed it), drops not a single tear at the passing of that sublime character, your own townsman, Job E. Hedges.
HENRY E. JACOBS.
Job Elmer Hedges, native of Elizabeth, N. J., was graduated from Princeton and took a law degree from Columbia University. He entered politics, where his good stories, his oratory, his wit, his common sense and his legal ability won him popularity and admiration in New York. He ran for Governor of that state in 1912 on the Republican ticket when the party was split, and he had no chance of victory. He took his defeat philosophically, humorously. In 1922, he married for the first time. On Feb. 22, last, at the age of 62, he died of angina pectoris.
Subscriber Jacobs errs in describing Mr. Hedges as a townsman of TIME, which is townless. --ED.
Lost Dividends
TIME St. Thomas, V.I.
New York, N.Y. Apr. 4, 1925.
Gentlemen:
Could you in some way, in any form you may see fit, introduce the following matter in your columns?
The following is the text of the matter, and my wife and I are the sufferers:
An elderly couple (combined ages 142) owned stock in the Fitchburg & Lowell R. R. In July, 1920, the Boston & Maine R. R. absorbed these stocks which were paying good dividends. Since that time not one cent has been paid the stockholders; and as the dividends comprised one-half the income of these people, it is of course a serious matter to them. It seems some way should be found to reimburse those stockholders who had their perfectly good investment, paying regular dividends, ruthlessly snatched from them.
I am much interested in your valuable News-Magazine and am doing quite a little (the best I can) in obtaining subscribers in these Islands; and shall esteem it a great favor if you can see your way to help us get back our lost dividends.
ROBERT STRIDE.