Hibben Flayed

Sirs:

I have not read Paxton Hibben's book on Henry Ward Beecher, nor do I intend to so waste my time after reading your review of it. But for the first time I am thoroughly disgusted with TIME. My first impulse, after reading page 48 of the Oct. 3rd issue, was to cancel my subscription. That page, with its rehashing of the foul Beecher scandal, would have a familiar setting in the Daily News or the Graphic. It is altogether out of place in TIME. For printing such a scurrilous attack upon one of the most gifted and cultured men who has appeared in the American pulpit you deserve to lose many subscribers. And you will. What I regret most is that to the man who doesn't know Beecher--and he is in the vast majority-- you give the impression that he was both a rogue and a fool. I wondered at times whether I was reading a review of Henry Ward Beecher or Elmer Gantry. You put them in the same class. "Uncouth. . . buffoon. . . pastor of a flock of golden sheep . . . women fainted when he shouted and roared. . . met charges with a stupid sarcasm." I say I have not read Hibben's book, but if you have reviewed it fairly it must be the most unsympathetic and prejudiced study of a man in the whole realm of biography.

I wonder if either the reviewer or Hibben has ever read Beecher's brilliant Yale lectures, or his marvelous sermons, replete with intellectual insight and humanity of feeling, or in fact anything that he ever wrote, with an open mind.

So Mr. Hibben thinks Beecher was guilty. Well, better men than he do not think so. His own church, after long and painstaking investigation, fully exonerated him. A jury failed to convict him. A congregational council of 200 earnest men acquitted him without a dissenting vote. His own wife knew him better than any scandalmongering writer, and she knew him to be guiltless.

Hibben is out of his element when he attempts to write a biography of Beecher. It has already been done so much better than he could ever hope to do it. He reminds one of a second-rate doctor who was called to prescribe for a sick child. His medicine was not beneficial and the child grew worse. Finally the family doctor, a first class physician, was called. He did not criticise the parents for calling the other. He simply said: "Dr. Jones knows something about the disease he thinks is afflicting little Freddie ; but he doesn't know Freddie." And Freddie was an important factor in the case. Honi soit qui mal y pense. Perhaps Mr. Hibben knows much, very much, about the weakness he ascribes to Henry Ward Beecher; he certainly does not know Mr. Beecher.

I would suggest that he take a walk around the Beecher statue in Brooklyn, and note that on the pedestal is the figure of a Negro girl raising a branch of palm to show the gratitude of her race. And perhaps, if the deep truth of that symbolism strikes home, he will doff his hat in salutation to a man the latchet of whose shoes he is unworthy to unloose.

HAROLD J. BORTLE

Red Creek, N. Y.

Beecher Defended

Sirs:

It seem's to me the criticism of Henry Ward Beecher in TIME, Oct. 3 is cruel and unjust, and in line with much news paper criticism of ministers these days "rejoicing in iniquity." I was a student in Union Theological Seminary in 1867-68. Quite a percent of the students were manly fellows who had been soldiers in the Civil War and they were rejoiced to hear Beecher and they noted in the great congregations a majority of men, yet you say Was "men there as a ever rule a did not manlier like thing him." than Beecher facing the English mobs and doing more for his country than any other individual by his speeches ? It can be said that some of the strongest and best men of our country, who made the closest study of the case, believe that Beecher was not guilty as to the immoral charges. DUNCAN C. MILNER

Mount Dora, Fla.

Gavit Praised

Sirs:

During several years constant, thorough and appreciative reading of your splendid newsmagazine, I have until now, resisted the oft-occuring temptation to write you in commendation of your policy in the set-up of your periodical, but since reading Mr. John Palmer Gavit's letter in TIME. Oct. 3, I want to say "Amen" to all that he said, and to add that his letter is by far the best one on the subject that I have seen, and I am confident of having read all of them to date.

If you have any medals for distribution as prizes for that particular kind of work, please send one of the best ones to Mr. Gavit.

JOHN MILWARD

John Milward Funeral Home Lexington, Ky.

"Neither is Either"

Sirs:

Upon what authority do you say that Mrs. Medill McCormick thought Mrs. Nicholas Longworth a "harurn scarum" and that Mrs. Longworth thought Mrs. McCormick a "prig" ?

Neither is either, I can assure you, nor ever was. It rather looks to me as though TIME is taking unwarranted liberties with these two distinguished women leaders.

GERTRUDE LYNCH

Washington, D. C.

Said Mrs. McCormick in an interview published in Ladies Home Journal last March: "I thought she [Alice] was a harum scarum. She thought I was a prig. She had burst upon the world as Princess Alice. I was a hardworking young woman in my father's office at the Senate. . . .--ED. Not Charles

Sirs:

I am wondering where you got the idea (TIME, Sept. 5, p.8) that the name of the Governor of California is Charles, and I am wondering still more why no loyal Californian has written to you as yet to tell you that his name is Clement.

A. H. ALLEN

Chicago, Ill.

The name of the Governor of California is Clement Calhoun Young.--ED.

Wants Backing

Sirs:

I am not a regular subscriber to TIME, money is top hard to get; but I read it very often in the libraries. I have read much of Mr. Epstein and his views of life. Last week I read his letter about golf; his answer to Mr. Blake who has never bowled but yet who challenges Mr. Epstein to a comparative contest in golf and bowling. Since Mr. Epstein has played golf and is therefore not eligible, I wonder if he would back me in the 810 wager against Mr. Blake. I have never played golf, but I have often read it is an old man's game. I am 61, but strong and hearty for my time of life. I have seen golf played once or twice and it does not seem a difficult game. I am five feet eight, can go upstairs quite fast without getting out of breath; and walk a good many miles every month looking for jobs. I haven't been able to find a job lately; and Mr. Blake's $10 would mean a lot. I am really very, very active. I am sure I could win. Will you tell Mr. Epstein? Tell him I will even split the winning with him; but I cannot split the loss.

SAMUEL MICHAEL ROARK

New York, N. Y.

Will Subscriber Epstein back Reader Roark against Subscriber Blake?--ED.

Wants Truth

Sirs:

Am I still to believe in the accuracy of TIME when I find it naming, among callers on the President, "Chief Justice Howard Taft of the U. S. Supreme Court, with the eight associate justices," when, of course, Chief Justice Taft's name is "William Howard" and when, as TIME must have known, Associate Justice Sutherland did not call with the rest? The truth lies in fine distinctions and from TIME I want nothing but the truth.

BUTLER T. HENNESSEY

Baltimore, Md.

To TIME'S proofreaders a thoroughgoing reprimand for omitting Mr. Chief Justice Taft's first name. To TIME'S Washington writer a reprimand for including Mr. Associate Justice Sutherland in the Supreme Court's formal call at the White House without counting noses to be sure that all nine members were there--ED.

Fortescue-Massie

Sirs:

I do not subscribe to TIME; I am what you term a newsstand buyer. I read TIME from cover to cover every week, and have only one criticism to make. May I ask why, although it was announced in the leading New York and Washington newspapers (not to speak of the Long Island papers) no mention was made in TIME of the engagement of Miss Thalia Fortescue to Ensign Thomas Massie? I do not know Miss Fortescue personally, but her family is among the most prominent of the summer residents of both Bayport and Sayville, while she herself is one of the leading members of the younger summer set of Long Island, and has an established position in both New York and Washington society. Major Granville Fortescue, her father, has a distinguished military record, was at one time aide at the White House, and is an author of repute. Miss Fortescue's grandfather is Charles J. Bell, president of the American Security and Trust Co. of Washington, D. C. The late Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, was her great-uncle. Among other of Miss Fortescue's distinguished relations, are the late President Theodore Roosevelt; A. T. Robinson, Assistant Secretary of Navigation and Gilbert Grosvenor, editor of the National Geographic Magazine, who are all her cousins. I have obtained these facts from Who's Who in America, and other sources. May I hope to see your omission rectified in the next issue of TIME?

I sincerely hope that your magazine will continue to live up to its previous standards. JOHN M. BUTLER

Bayport, L. I.

TIME regrets that the Fortescue-Massie engagement was overlooked, will make mention of the Fortescue-Massie wedding which is scheduled for Nov. 25 in Washington, D. C.--ED.

Dead "D"

Sirs:

In a footnote on your gymnastic and unfailingly interesting letters page in TIME, Sept. 26 you reprove/- Subscriber A. F. Higgins for inquiring about "Bernard" Macfadden. You point out that this publisher and physical culture bug spells his name "Bernarr." You know pretty nearly everything. Where did he get that nobby name?

DEAN SLADE MILES

New York, N. Y.

Bernarr Macfadden was christened Bernard A. He dropped the final "D" from his first name because "Bernarr," unusual, catches the curiosity of readers such as Dean Slade Miles. Many public folk, particularly actresses, alter names thus, on the theory that they stick easier in the public mind. --Eo.

La Dow Flayed

Sirs:

Supplementing Mr. J. E. La Dow's suggestion contained in his letter published in your issue No. 14 [TIME, Oct. 3], that Consul General Curtis be requested to resign in the absence of an explanation, satisfactory to Mr. La Dow, of why he permitted himself to be photographed in the vicinity of that dread beverage--beer, it would be splendid to appoint Mr. La Dow a censor of the habits and morals of Americans traveling abroad. In performing the pious functions of that position, meticulously as his intense but individual patriotism would dictate, he could incidentally be charged with the authority to summarily dismiss those representatives of our Government abroad whose conceptions of loyalty and patriotism might conflict with Mr. La Dow's, albeit such public servants, as has Consul General Curtis, may have labored faithfully in the best interests of their country during 20 years and have received in addition to the personal satisfaction of patriotic duty well done, compensation but a fraction of their unavoidable expenses as American representatives, and, fittingly, the wholesome gratitude of archpatriots from Mansfield, Ohio.

Mr. La Dow, in his honest and no doubt sincere zeal, would be interested probably to learn that Consul General Curtis never drinks beer, and mayhap was distinctly embarrassed by being pushed into the picture as a member of the Brock-Schlee reception committee in the interest of American aviation to view the stein-clicking proclivities of Messrs. Brock and Schlee who no doubt thoroughly enjoy beer-drinking in jurisdictions where it is not a crime. If an American representative abroad may not be permitted in the vicinity of alcoholic beverages nor witness drinking it would be necessary to withdraw all of our representatives, pending international prohibition, for alcohol and drinking are all about them and they should be removed from contamination. In going about Munich it would be necessary for Consul General Curtis to do a perpetual zigzag in dodging from one side of the street to the other to avoid proximity to the Hofbrau, the Kunstlerhaus, the Ratskeller and even the Staats Oper where villainous beer is imbibed without a permit from Mansfield. . . .

By all means hang, draw and quarter Mr. Curtis and preserve his remains in the Anti-Saloon League museum at Mansfield as another souvenir of our progress toward true liberty and patriotism, under the guidance of the Watch and Ward zealots. . . .

And I hope you will pardon this wail. I am indifferent whether you publish it now that I feel better for having said a word, probably crudely, in behalf of Curtis, one of your early subscribers who always boosts TIME and who introduced me to its delightful pages, who has since been promoted to Counselor of Embassy at Habana. DANIEL ROBERTS

Washington, D. C.

Thwack v. Whack

Sirs:

I clearly remember reading in TIME of about two months back, an editorial comment which spoke scornfully of "fancy spellings"; the examples you gave were, "favour, catalogue".

Now in TIME [Oct. 10] I am desecrated to read of an "octogenarian thwack." What is a thwack if it is not a "fancy spelling" of whack ?

CHARLES O. LONGSTRETH

Chicago, Ill.

No two words can be perfect synonyms. A "whack" is a blow delivered much in the same way as a "thwack," but it presupposes a certain capable nonchalance in the deliverer. A thwack is a blow delivered more clumsily, though with equal vigor, by some person not accustomed to administering physical violences; as a timid schoolboy, an enraged English butler, any octogenarian.--ED.

'Denny" Flayed

Sirs:

I am not ashamed, but proud of the school which I attend and therefore have written its name in bold letters. I suppose that this is but one of hundreds of letters that you are receiving from the students of Andover, Mercersburg, Pomfret, Choate, Groton, Lawrenceville, Exeter, Hill, St. Paul's, Taft and Hotchkiss in reference to "Denny's" letter, printed under EDUCATION in TIME, Sept. 26.

Why does not "Denny" honor us and his school by mentioning its name in his letter ? You doubtlessly have "spotted" his school by looking at the postmark on his letter. Perhaps he was wise enough to write during vacation.

Is this letter news? It is to me merely a selfish attempt to flay an established concern, and an attempt on the part of one who does not even mention his school so that one may form an unbiased opinion on the basis of actual comparison.

Until "Denny" publishes the name of his Alma Mater, De Pinna stands approved. The above institutions are the leading "prep" schools of America.

More business to De Pinna, and I trust the loss of "Denny's" trade will not force De Pinna to the wall!

I sign my name in sincerity but request that no more than my "nickname" be put in print. But don't omit "The Hill School."

BUD

The Hill School, Pottstown, Pa.

*An error. Theodore Douglas Robinson is Assistant Secretary of the Navy. -- ED. /-An error. TIME reproves no subscriber. -- ED. *A mistake. There is no Anti-Saloon League museum at Mansfield. The League's headquarters are at Westerville, Ohio.--Eu.

/-A mistake. TIME, June 6, gave as examples : catalogue, shoppe, favour.--ED.