Hail the Dog Days of Summer

In New York City, newsmen raced to keep up with the story of Archie, a dog beloved by Mayor Edward Koch that unexpectedly vanished for three days from the mayor's official residence--and was welcomed back at a city-hall news conference. In Washington, the national press corps reported that a White House cricket, which had disrupted Nancy Reagan's sleep, chirped no more.

The attention to such trivia was a sure sign that the nation was in the midst of that sultry vacationtime when people--and news events--wind down. Some editors claim that the modern news business resists the seasonal lassitude. But consider the Wichita Eagle-Beacon, which played on Page One a wire-service tale proclaiming that some 8,000 Americans are injured each year by toothpicks. Consider especially the Milwaukee Journal, which gave front-page display to the theft from a clothesline of 21 socks that were drying in the sun. And what of the 22nd? Tune in next August.