Mrs. Moore's Trek
Sirs:
The article "Tooks Takes a Trip" [TIMe,, June 9] interested me very much. This article concerned the trip made by Richard Tewkesbury through the Panama jungle to Colombia.
To quote the article--"There an engineer told him that the jungle section to the south had a reputation worse than any bush country in Africa; that a dozen explorers had tried, but none had gotten through. ..." I would like to correct part of this engineer's statement.
In April 1937, my husband, James A. Moore, my brother, Henry A. Dyer, "Jungle Jim" Price and myself crossed this jungle territory from Panama on the Pacific to Colombia on the Atlantic. . . .
Our route went up the Tuira River, branching off on the Pucro River. At the Indian village of Pucro we hired twelve packers and went by Indian trail to the Indian village of Paya. (It might be said here that I seemed to be quite a curiosity to the Indians, and was, apparently, the first white woman they had ever seen.) . . . Here our packers deserted us, making it necessary to dispose of a good part of our equipment. Two Indian boys on their way to visit the chief medicine man of their tribe in Colombia agreed to guide us. We followed a well-worn Indian trail over the range of mountains between Panama and Colombia, and after many hardships we reached the Indian village of Arquia in Colombia. . . .
Because I was the first white woman to have crossed this trail, the [Panama-Colombia] Boundary Commission was going to name the trail from Paya to Arquia in my honor by calling it El Camino de Alicia.
ALICE D. MOORE Norway, Me.
"All-Too-Human"
Sirs:
In your recent account (TIME, June 9) of the doings of the scholarly Institute for Propaganda Analysis, which was founded on the ivory tower principle of pure objectivity, you reported that the director, Dr. Clyde R. Miller, complained because his co-workers proved to be men of clay. "Everyone wants the other fellow's propaganda analyzed, but not his own," Dr. Miller is reported to have said. Then you added this apparently startling revelation: "Chief thing the row seemed to prove: every man is a propagandist, whether he knows it or not."
What! Does TIME then finally admit that its writers too propagandize, that its claim to impartiality, to unbiased reporting and news analyzing, is a claim blighted by the all-too-human nature of man, the essential propagandist? . . .
NATHANIEL FISCHLER Palmyra, N. J.
> TIME makes no claim of being unbiased and impartial. Its editors make no bones about their bias in favor of democracy and other prejudices which they share with their fellow Americans. But TIME does set as its goal to be fair in reporting and never to take sides in partisan affairs.--ED.
Politics & Prayers
Sirs:
May I assure Mr. Oliver W. Gilpin of Kittanning, Pa. [TIME, June 23] that the Episcopal Church has not gone anti-Roosevelt in the present "unlimited emergency"--in regard to the different prayer now being used quite widely for the President. It is merely that the new prayer for the President (which was inserted as an alternate in the revision of the Prayer Book in 1929) seems to have commended itself rather widely to the clergy and people of the Episcopal Church.
For myself, I like the new prayer, principally because I think it is more democratic than the old one. The new one prays for the people of the nation as well as for the President.
Since I was rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Kittanning, Pa. (1927-36) ... I take personal responsibility for having introduced the new prayer in Mr. Gilpin's home parish. But let Mr. Gilpin recall 1) that Mr. Hoover was President at that time, and 2) that I was a Democrat in politics in Kittanning at that time (as he is).
So I am sure that he will understand that what I did in 1929 was not something "anti-Roosevelt--"
Louis L. PERKINS Rector The Church of the Good Shepherd Shelton, Conn.
Sirs:
I'm only a poor Presbyterian pastor and none too familiar with Oliver W. Gilpin's Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. Frankly I do agree with him that I too prefer to have the President "blessed" rather than merely given "wisdom." We Presbyterians ask that God may "look (upon him) with favor . . . imbue (him) with the spirit of wisdom, goodness, and truth, etc."
I can easily see by examining the last financial report of my church that it certainly would be the smart thing for me to devise a few of these five-dollar prayers [TIME, June 23] for my congregation.
W. A. GUENTHER Bordentown, NJ.
Not Even Remotely
Sirs:
TIME for June 16 printed a letter from Charles Wallen Jr., quoting me in regard to the election of John Henry Eaton of Tennessee as the youngest man ever to hold a seat in the U.S. Senate.
TIME said: "TIME was technically correct in calling Rush Holt the youngest man ever 'elected' to the Senate, etc." TIME was riot even remotely "technically" correct. John H. Eaton was the youngest man to be elected or to serve in the U.S. Senate. . . . [After his original appointment] Eaton was elected by the legislature of Tennessee in January 1819, at which time he lacked almost 18 months of having reached the constitutional age of 30 years. . . .
E. E. PATTON Knoxville, Tenn.
> TIME yields to the gentleman from Tennessee, evidently a prodigious chronologist.--ED.
Pacifier
Sirs:
Please tell that 10-year-old Annie Gardner who thinks that she is TIME'S youngest reader that she is just a puddin'-head upstart.
My name is Jimmie Macdonald. I will be seven months old tomorrow. I don't claim to be TIME'S youngest reader, in fact I know I am not 'cause last night my baby sister who is three weeks old was crying and nobody in the cabin could sleep.
My big brother Bill who is eleven months old yells out, "Hey, Mom, for the love of Pete, give that brat some milk, how can we menfolk get our rest with all that catter-walling?"
Then Dad horns in and says, "Milk, hell, that kid is crying for TIME."
So Mom gives her a copy of TIME and all is quiet about the Ol' Cabin Home.
JIMMIE MACDONALD Princess Louisa Inlet, B.C. Canada
Cold & Clear
Sirs:
... I have read your newsmagazine for many years with pleasure and profit to myself and quoted it most annoyingly to my Insular friends.
Reading TIME has often enabled me to expect and be steeled to meet news of many unhappy British enterprises. You have reported British affairs more coldly and clearly than our own press--naturally, of course. I believe you to be sincerely desirous of reporting well-informed . . . truth. ... I only ask you now to continue fearlessly to present the truth to Britain and America. Let them not be deluded--without American goods, ships and men we cannot win the war. . . .
E. B. FAIL Morpeth, Northumberland England
One British Family
Sirs:
I enclose a letter from a friend of mine. The writer unconsciously provides the most vivid illustration I have yet seen of the Londoner's reaction to the Blitz.
A. B. PARR Evesham, Worcestershire England
Dear Charles:
I was very pleased to get your letter. It is surprising how news travels, even though it took three months to get to Evesham.
I suppose you heard that my poor mother was killed, and the only consolation we have is that, so far as we could tell, she did not suffer much. My sister came off worse than any of us. She was thrown against the fire and could not move until they got her out after two or three hours. Both legs were very badly burnt; one had to be amputated, but they are trying to save the other. The doctor told Dad it was getting on slowly but as the bone was burnt in one place, it would be a very long job. They are now talking of a skin-graft, so it sounds as though it is going to be saved after all. The doctor told Dad that her stump had healed very well and that it would be ready for an artificial leg within two months. Of course the other leg is the trouble, but he thought she would be able to walk in about a year's time. My brother hurt his/spine in some way which has caused his right leg to go thin; he is out of hospital but still attends the Out-Patients. My father got off pretty lightly with a cut head and bruised ribs and is quite well now. For myself I have got several scars to show I have had my share. . . .
Now that Mother has gone I have to keep the home going and it's no joke either. What with the rationing and one thing and another, I can't say I like domestic life. ... I shall have to get a part-time job. I have also got my name down for fire-watching so you can tell I shall be having quite a busy time.
Well, Charles, friends have been very good to us, and one kind friend who has evacuated has lent us her home while she is away. It's very comfortable and we were very lucky to get here.
We are keeping our chins up; as a matter of fact, my experience has not made me any more nervous of raids. In fact, we go upstairs to bed and hear very little of the raids during the night, although one or two bombs woke me last night, but I soon went to sleep again.
Hope you are keeping fit.
DORIS CLARKE Edmonton, England
This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.