Domesticity Defended

Sir: Three cheers for Phyllis McGinley and TIME [June 18] for giving back to the housewife the dignity and respect that most modern thinking and writing has been tearing down. It is refreshing in this topsy-turvy era we call "modern times" to hear someone speak out for the good old-fashioned way of life where the words mother and housewife were spoken with respect rather than being synonymous with stupid and boring.

More of this gracious lady's philosophy and poetry would be an antidote to some of the poison in today's literature.

CONSTANCE BEARDSLEY West Caldwell, N.J.

Sir: After reluctantly accepting the fact that my future will be that of a homemaker, Phyllis McGinley Hayden, through her charming verse and real-life example, has confirmed what I've been trying to accept for some time now: housewifery can be a meaningful and rewarding occupation. Have I been brainwashed?

MARY ROTH Milwaukee

Sir: College-educated, or less educated, we housewives don't need a Friedan-McGinley dispute about our role. That "not impossible She" is she who loves and gives to her capacity. We don't need someone to describe it. We need more of us to get busy and do it.

MRS. M. L. SCHULER Woburn, Mass.

Sir:

Oh the life of the housewife is sad and it's gay,

It's chili con carne and cherries flambe, It's dinner at eight and it's patching the chimney, And getting verse published like Phyllis McGinley.

MARY L. COSTABILE Washington, D.C.

Sir: It seems that the main cause of the conflict on female status in present-day society arises not so much from any question about the abilities of women as from the common tendency to forget that not all people are alike. While some women are perfectly happy in a full-time domestic life, others would be reduced to a state of near insanity by it, and are better off in the working world; still others, like Phyllis McGinley, are able to combine both. It would be nice if some day we could stop trying to force all women into a common mold, either that of the home-maker or that of the career woman, but would judge each individual according to her ability instead.

JENNIFER BANKIER Dundas, Ont.

Sir: We appreciate your restraint in not blue-penciling Phyllis McGinley's remarks about Bulwer-Lytton.

Having read his complete works, Miss McGinley nobly qualifies for honorary membership in our society, which we have proposed she accept. We thank TIME for introducing us to such a vocal Lyttonite. PETER NOON President

The Lytton Society Ardmore, Pa.

Sir:

O Phyllis McGinley my heroine be,

As I strive to become the quite possible

She (For when writing of housewife you're writing of me,

Wife of house, wife of husband and mother of three.)

But now with your poems my thoughts you've set free;

In my hand it's the future, not diapers, you see.

(MRS.) Jo ANNE SHOW ALTER Scotia, N.Y.

Personality Test

Sir: Contrary to TIME'S [June 18] "Yes, I Believe I Am Being Followed," job applicants at the Export-Import Bank are not tested for their personality as a prerequisite for employment. Best evidence is the large variation in personalities here at the bank.

ADRIAN B. WAINWRIGHT Agency Personnel Officer Export-Import Bank of Washington Washington, D.C.

Sir: If I were applying for a job with one of the Government agencies that test your personality via the MMPI quiz, upon receiving the test I would first scratch the tender top of my head, look around to see if someone was watching, then proceed to brood over my strange sex life, occasionally invoking the Devil while thinking bad, often terrible, words to fortify my strange and peculiar thoughts. Trying to be casual, I would then light a match, which is normal procedure before my daily conversation with God. After completing the quiz, I would leave the room (carefully using my new handkerchief on the doorknob) and hurry home to repair the door latch.

FRED KLINE San Francisco

Sir: As a former employee of the Department of State, I was delighted to learn that it is now using the latest scientific techniques in recruiting new personnel by testing the personality of job applicants. There are two points that need clarification. First, when confronted with such statements as "Someone has control over my mind," in the interest of fairness shouldn't there be three choices: True, False, and Don't Know? Secondly, in order to be accepted, must an applicant pass or flunk the test?

E. SIMMONS Houston

Sir: As consultants who used the MMPI with Bonneville Power Administration personnel, our answer to the invasion-of-privacy argument is: Just as a banker must ask personal questions to evaluate a credit risk, so must an employer ask personal questions to evaluate an employment risk. If personality tests such as the MMPI invade privacy, so do security clearances, medical examinations, reference checks, lie detectors, police records and employment interviews.

FLOYD L. RUCH President

Psychological Services Inc. Los Angeles

McDivitt's Due

Sir: In TIME'S June 11 article on the Gemin14 flight, I note that James McDivitt attended "tiny" Jackson Junior College. Next fall we will enroll about 2,250 students. We are no longer tiny. You say Major McDivitt was a "soso" student; actually, he had a 3.4 grade point average and graduated with honors. Perhaps you would be interested in the complete statement on his college application form: "Although engineering appeals to me very much, I would rather be an explorer and novelist. The excitement of exploring and the peace and quiet of writing seem like the perfect combination." Major McDivitt has already had his exploration; perhaps the writing will come later.

GUNDER A. MYRAN Assistant Registrar Jackson Junior College Jackson, Mich.

Sir: While your writer was obviously suffering from hypertension, the astronauts were in danger of experiencing orthostatic hypotension, not, as you printed, hypertension.

BARRY E. LERNER, POD. D. Rego Park, N.Y.

Commencement Talk

Sir: Your Essay "Commencement 1965: The Generational Conflict" [TIME, June 18], interested me greatly. It seems to me that the only way to contest the smug classification of commencement themes would be to assign the speeches to the poets and the artists, who would not repeat the cliched coaxings and admonitions that you claim the young listener is not listening to. They would exercise their talents of originality, observation and illustration so that the listener may evaluate and re-evaluate his standards.

The artist is not a propagandist who may be regarded as having to support a certain Administration and its policies, or a university official who must enhance the reputation of his institution.

Why not break with tradition? Instead of the routine inspirational, let's have a showing of Mondo Cane.

SUSANNE KRISS Baltimore

Sir: Now you do have me confused. I would have sworn that I gave the commencement address at San Fernando Valley State College this year. And I talked about computers too, although not nearly so poetically as James Dickey.

RAY A. BILLINGTON Senior Research Associate Henry E. Huntington Library & Art Gallery San Marino, Calif.

> So you did. James Dickey, San Fernanda's poet-in-residence, spoke at Pitzer College, Claremont, Calif.

Dry Demonstration

Sir: Any American citizen who would purposefully drain away our water supply [TIME, June 18] demonstrates an asinine irresponsibility. Like various protest movements today, this seems unrelated to the issue it purports to represent.

MRS. WESLEY THUM Allston. Mass.

Rewarding Ministry

Sir: Thank you for the kind words about the ministers behind bars [TIME, June 18]. As one who functioned in that capacity for 18 years, I have witnessed the upgrading of chaplaincy programs among those who, although referred to as "offenders," are most frequently the "victims" of homelessness, churchlessness and joblessness. The work of the minister behind bars is one of the most frustrating yet rewarding experiences that a clergyman can have. (THE REV.) LESLIE F. WEBER Secretary

Institutional Chaplaincy Services The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod St. Louis

Reczeched

Sir: Please correct your reference to Czechoslovakia in TIME'S foreign law story [May 7]. U.S. citizens of Czechoslovak origin or descent do not usually have dual citizenship, and they and their U.S.-born children are not subject to arrest if they visit Czechoslovakia. No person, regardless of citizenship, is subject to arrest unless he violates Czechoslovak law. The status of dual citizenship is not a crime under Czechoslovak law.

DR. JIRI MAJSAJDR Chief, Consular Division Czechoslovak Embassy Washington, D.C.

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