Letters: Oct. 5, 1983

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straight. I don't think that the expression has anything to do with saliva. It originated, I believe, among the darkies of the South and the correct phrasing—without dialect—is "spirit and image." It was originally used in speaking of someone whose father had passed on—and the colored folks would say—"the very spi't an' image of his daddy."

JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS JR. Atlanta

1938 Pioneer and innovator in many ways of presenting the news, TIME through its first 15 years has shown a degree of originality that has been refreshing and oftentimes delightful. I wish the magazine a long life in serving the public by disseminating accurate information written in a manner to keep the reader from drowsing. . . .

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

1939 TIME erred (perhaps only slightly) in saying that Col. Lindbergh in his broadcast speech represented "everybody." Although this is of no interest to the Colonel (or to TIME, or posterity) I beg to say that he did not represent me.

Neither I nor any other veteran of the First World War can quarrel honorably with the Colonel's sincere pacifism. But his choice of a simile, "We must be as impersonal as a surgeon with his knife," seems to me singularly unhappy. It is an insult to the medical profession.

If surgeons were truly impersonal (or, one might say, truly neutral) they would not heed the calls of distress from suffering humanity when they themselves were otherwise engaged in watching the ticker, or playing bridge, or writing thoughtful treatises on the insanity of their fellow men. They would not go to the considerable trouble and risk of using their knives to remove the malignant growths in the body of civilization. They would always find comfortable refuge behind the question, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

What Col. Lindbergh should have said is, "We must be as impersonal as the professional mourner, who doesn't lament the seriousness of the plague, or the number of fatalities, as long as it helps his own business."

ROBERT E. SHERWOOD

The Playwrights' Company

New York City

1940 Not for purpose of correction but for your own information, I am offering the following comment on your very friendly account of myself.

I was interested in the possible effect of the moon and the planets on weather. I obtained, therefore, the heliocentric longitudes of the planets from the Naval Ephemerises and the geocentric longitudes from an Astrological Ephemeris. The mathematics of astrology is simply Geocentric Astronomy. Was it possible that he angle of the planets to the earth might determine weather, or was it more probable that the angle to he sun might determine weather? I was never able to prove either one definitively.

I have argued that a belief in astrology as a guide to life would lead to a fatalism that might cause many individuals to accept hard times as the foreordination of the stars, instead of struggling to master their fates.

Incidentally, I never drive a car at night, or any other time, to clear my brain.

I do not play tennis before 7:30 in the morning. Oh, well!—it is impossible to correct all the cockeyed stories. Moreover, it is obvious your slant is friendly, so I don't mind.

HENRY A. WALLACE Democratic National Committee