Brady Sisters
Sirs:
Writing on behalf of Mrs. James C. Farrell, I wish to correct a misstatement in your issue of April 7, 1930 that Mrs. James C. Farrell and her two sisters sued their brothers, the late. Nicholas F. Brady and James Cox Brady, the executors and trustees of her father's estate, for mismanagement of funds of the estate. Mrs. Farrell never instituted any such proceeding. On the contrary, both Mrs. Farrell and her two adult children, Anthony Brady Farrell and Mrs. John P. Keresey, were perfectly satisfied with the administration of the trust estate, the principal of which had more than doubled in value as a result of the wise management by the trustees. At all times during the course of the proceedings before the Surrogate they vigorously and wholeheartedly supported the trustees and insisted that no claim for mismanagement could properly be maintained.
NEILE F. TOWNER
Albany, N. Y.
The only suing sisters were Mrs. Francis Patrick Garvan and Mrs. Carll Tucker.--ED.
Rin Tin Tin & Nanette
Sirs:
Mr. Coble's explanation of the name Rintintin in the issue of April 28 is true but not complete.
At 7:20 a. m. on March 23, 1918 the first shell from the German long range gun fell in Paris. By afternoon the French had reconstructed the shell from fragments, determined the bore and weight, of the shells and the line of fire. The sound ranging equipment on the front had learned the general location of the gun and had discovered that it took three minutes from the time of the suspected explosion to the arrival of the shell in Paris.
Before evening a telephone message was sent to Group Commander Stampfer (French) at Mont Notre Dame to detach a battery of 305 mm. or twelve-inch rifles on Batignolles railway carriages and send them north to Vailley where they were to set up and fire on the map coordinates 47-25 near Crepy.
The first shot was fired at the Paris gun at 12:30 Sunday the 24th, and the third shot wounded six of the German gun crew. Another gun went into action this same day.
Monday they made it so hot for the Germans that they had to move to another location nearby and incidentally the German number three gun blew up on the third attempt to fire. There were no shots fired at Paris on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday for one gun was demolished and one was being moved.
The French guns were named Rintintin and Nanette. I have a picture of them with the names painted on them but I can not find it. Naturally the people in Paris worshipped those guns and being unable to wear them they made the fetich referred to by Mr. Coble to wear in place of them. They also gave them to their men folks, for were they not protecting Paris from harm, and might they not protect the soldiers even if they were not in Paris? . . .
ALLEN D. RUSSELL
Assistant Treasurer Plymouth Savings Bank Plymouth, Mass.
Taste Test (Cont.)
Sirs:
Lyman Richards M.D. would test concert audiences' musical appreciation by seating "Kreisler, shabbily disguised, on a camp stool at a busy sidewalk corner. A 'Blind' sign above his dark glasses, let him draw his magic bow and play as only he can play it, the Caprice Viennois." (TIME, April 21.)
Let us pray that Dr. Richards' medical tests are directed more scientifically than this music test. Can he think that the noisy street is a proper laboratory for the sounding of the most exquisite notes played with the Kreisler spirit and finesse? Does he not realize that many of those walking along a side walk would not be guilty of sitting in a concert hall and have, therefore, nothing to do with the test?
Dr. Richards wishes to test the formula:
ME + Kcv = MA (Music Enthusiast + Kreisler's Caprice Viennois = Musical Appreciation).
How does he go about it? He exposes Kcv + Street Noises (an element as different from Kcv as H2O is from H2), to Public Intent On Business (which is as different from ME as carbon dioxide is from pure oxygen).
Let Dr. Richards eliminate some of the foreign elements in his test. (And by this I do NOT mean that he eliminate foreigners.)
If, however, Dr. Richards were able to try out this very experiment, he would discover the "blind" violinist surrounded by as many appreciative listeners as there would be room for within earshot of his G string.
ARTHUR SANDBORNE, ME
New York City
Sirs:
And after friend Kreisler has fiddled himself into a state of complete exhaustion, and total poverty, let me suggest that he hand his blue glasses to any musical genius from Italy, except Mussolini, with instructions to do his dangest with grand opera.
Then give the Solitaire cowboys a set of blue cheaters apiece and set them on an opposite corner with a stern admonition to bear down heavy on something with a tune to it.
I have a hunch that the crowd will be humming "When It's Springtime in the Rockies" long after our talented friend has sung himself into the same state, or county, with Kreisler. CAREY HOLBROOK
Albuquerque, N. Mex.
Heads Need Hair
Sirs:
Undersigned is no "Kreisler or other artist of rank," but TIME welcomes opinions, so:
Dr. Lyman Richards' conviction concerning music patrons is based on fact, but his proposed test is unfair to artist and patron due to conditions: "shabby disguise, busy sidewalk corner." (TIME, April 21).
For example:
Canvases require frames, heads need hair, trees look best in foliage. Appreciation of the arts depends as much on mood as on the action or product. A suggestive setting enables the audience to forget the mechanics. . . .
EDGAR WATSON
San Francisco, Calif.
Texas, Too
Sirs:
I see you have left Texas out of the list of States requiring an interval between the application for license and marriage [TIME, April 21].
As the author of the bill making that provision at the last session of the Legislature, I am glad to correct you and advise you that Texas went one better and required a certificate from the male applicant showing that he was free from venereal disease.
Might not this law entitle Texas, not only to mention in your honor list, but possibly to "first place?
JULIEN C. HYER
State Senator 28th District Austin, Texas
Cornell & Stanford
Sirs:
I have just read the letter from Mr. Curtice on the subject of "Cornell of the West," which appears in the April 28 issue.
For some time I have been subjected to boasts of "California Sunshine" and "California Athletes" and have become accustomed to limiting my expressions of disgust to sighs of pity. But it is asking too much to have me remain placid in the face of a statement that "Stanford so hopelessly outclasses Cornell that it is unfair to Stanford to be called a counterpart of that school," even under threat of apoplexy.
One may well imagine the task of Mr. David Starr Jordan among the heathen was not an easy one.
May I suggest to Mr. Curtice that it may be words like his which cause easterners to feel that far western colleges are "populated by a bunch of ignorant hayseeds."
WALTER A. BECK
Lansing, Mich. Sirs: True, Stanford once was proud to be "Cornell of the West." Forty years back, giants like Andrew D. White, Goldwin Smith, pushed the newborn Ithaca University ahead of older American colleges. Coeducational, nonsectarian, first to recognize the sciences and technologies, build laboratories, give "practical" courses, Cornell soon became model for the colleges then being founded in the West, among them Minnesota, Stanford. Then lusty young Cornell seemed to be eclipsing Harvard, Yale. Cornell students came from all over the world to sit at the feet of James Russell Lowell, Louis Agassiz, many another great one. Cornell scientists won international fame. Cornell coffers overflowed with the wealth of Hiram Sibley, Henry W. Sage. To Cornell Willard Fiske gave books, money, a building for a splendid library. Cornell teams were invincible. Year after year Cornell crews swept the river at Poughkeepsie. Then it was no slur to be called "Cornell of the West." Into the 20th Century, under able president Jacob Gould Schurman, Cornell vigor continued unabated, Cornell reputation high.
Since the War, since the appointment of suave, handsome, slightly dull Livingston Farrand as president, Cornell vitality has ebbed. What new ideas American education has today come elsewhere than from Cornell. Cornell's great scientists have gone. One of the last was famed "structuralist," psychologist, Edward Bradford Titchener (died 1927). Students from Europe, the Orient, the 48 States, no longer seek Cornell. Now many of those from outside New York State come as sons of loyal old graduates. Hiram Sibley's grandson is a Harvard sophomore. Cornell never drew young socialites from smart Eastern schools. Once it did draw serious young men in search of a thorough, modern education Now it has little to offer. Its teachers, sadly underpaid, are at best average. Its library, once unequalled, still boasting great collections (Dante, Petrarch, Icelandic) is slowly decaying in Willard Fiske's old building. Lack of funds prevents the erection of a new one; prevents the purchase of enough new books; limits the staff to a few hardworked, underpaid librarians. No gymnasium has Cornell; nor has it a swimming pool. It has few dormitories. More than half its students live in boarding houses. Architects' plans for a gymnasium, a swimming pool, a College of Fine Arts, new dormitories, have mouldered for years in Livingston Farrand's desk. Life only clings to the State-supported School of Agriculture: to the Medical College, which is planning a huge new structure in New York; to the Engineering School, where able Dean Dexter S. Kitnball, Stanford classmate and close friend of Herbert Hoover, struggles manfully against lack of funds. Cornell crews no longer win at Poughkeepsie. Cornell football teams, miscoached by "Gloomy Gil" Dobie, have lost frequently to weak opponents; have played light schedules and been unsuccessful. The name of Cornell appears infrequently in metropolitan papers. Reasons: Cornell employed no press agent until two years ago; then hired not a professional but an inexperienced, inefficient Cornell graduate.
Well may. Stanford now object to being called "Cornell of the West." No doddard, Stanford continues to grow and to be talked of; has not outlived its vigor.
LESTER MAYO
Elmira, N. Y.
Jamieson and Jameson Sirs:
. . . I beg to advise you that my surname is not Jameson, but is Jamieson, and that my full name is not Edwin Cornell Jameson, but Edward C. Jamieson.
In short, this picture published in TIME, April 28, was wrong, and I am sending this information pursuant to your telegram in order that you make due apology and correction on TIME'S letter page.
E. C. JAMIESON
Philadelphia, Pa.
To Photographers Blank & Stoller a thoroughgoing reprimand for embarrassing TIME and Edward C. Jamieson of Philadelphia by supplying a picture of the latter instead of a picture of Edwin C. Jameson of Manhattan. To Messrs. Jameson and Jamieson, apologies.--ED.
Gay & Pleasant
Sirs:
In the city of Rocky Mount, N. C. two of our oldest and best known undertaking establishments are run under the names of "Gay's Funeral Parlor" and "Pleasant's Funeral Parlor.'' Gay and Pleasant. Let the town of Abilene, Texas look to its laurels. . . .
D. WORTH JOYNER
Rocky Mount, N. C.
Slaughter
Sirs:
Please refer to your undertaking correspondence regarding "Doom Brothers," "Laughter Undertaking Company," etc., be advised that Cleveland boasts of "Slaughter Brothers, Undertakers," who from the name will evidently handle the entire proceeding.
PHIL FLATTERY
Cleveland, Ohio
Popsie's Party
Sirs:
Your April 14 issue is a capital one. Dr. Welch on your cover surely will quiet the worries of some of your recent correspondents. The Patriarch's Party also is well written. As a matter of fact it is the most interesting of a multitude of articles which have been written in the last few weeks about "Popsie." . . .
DR. ALFREDO U. WYSS
Port Washington, L. I.
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