Toward Peace

Sirs:

Your new department International . . . is a progressive step toward our future. So much of life outside the U.S. has been classified as "Foreign News" that it seems only a war can bring us toward something international. Let us pray that the secret of peace lies in that great word, international.

(CPL.) RICHARD D. GOOD U.S. Naval Hospital New River, N.C.

Orthodox Joe Stalin

Sirs:

"So Stalin went to a Jesuit seminary . . ." (TIME, Feb. 5). The Georgian Seminary at Tiflis, which was attended by Stalin, was neither Jesuit nor even Roman Catholic, but was, like the people of Georgia, Greek Orthodox.

JAMES M. ROSBROW Wilmington, Del.

Sirs:

Joe Stalin never saw the inside of a Jesuit Seminary. In fact, TIME, I'll bet that Joe has never seen a Jesuit. . . .

(ART 2/c) J.L.KIRCH % Fleet Post Office San Francisco

Sirs:

. . . Where do the Jesuits come in? It is bad enough to have had something to do with the early training of Voltaire. Stalin? No, thanks.

ANDREW C. SMITH

Society of Jesus Spring Hill, Ala.

Baptist Anathemas

Sirs:

Anathemas upon you for your ironical description of Mr. Rockefeller as "a Baptist by birth but a Christian by conviction" (TIME, Feb. 12).

... A man must profess to be "a Christian by conviction" before he can ever be admitted to membership in a Baptist church.

God alone is wise enough to draw the line between an actual and a nominal Christian.

Who gave your fatheaded religious editor the ecclesiastical sapience to do so? ...

(REV.) B.P. MARTIN Sturgis Baptist Church Sturgis, Miss. P:TIME 's Religious editor turns the other cheek to Reader Martin and inquires, with no irony, what church the Founder of Christianity belonged to?--ED.

Scalptress

Sirs:

Being not vain,

I've no quarrel with the Sculptress

Katie Ward Lane,

In her choice of the nation's ten

Handsomest men.*

But . . . why should she turn Scalptress

And knife all us others

Less favored by fate than our

Ten Handsome Brothers?

We "most men" are aware We don't rate with Adonis But we don't like the bare Fact shoved rudely upon us.

It's her brushing

Us off with that "five-second glance"

That has us all blushing

Clear down to our pants.

A lady who'd so stick her neck out Must be, on her own, quite a deck-out. . . .

Is she Myrna Loy? Garbo? Lamour? Baby Snooks? Please print Katie's picture. Let's see how she looks!

PAUL ZEMMER Jackson, Tenn.

P:Herewith a photograph of Sculptress Lane, 46, unmarried.--ED.

Draft Nurses?

Sirs:

I do not seek to minimize the need for Army and Navy nurses (TIME, Jan. 15), but do defend the civilian nurse and I believe you unjustly criticize her--"Few nurses raised their hands for any kind of military service. . . ."

I'm sure thousands of nurses would have "raised their hands" ... if they were not made to feel so urgently needed in their present positions. . . .

As an ex-Navy nurse ... I am now working longer hours for less pay than I received as an Ensign, without the honor of wearing the uniform of my country.

JOAN CARPENTER Indianapolis, Ind.

Sirs:

I am enclosing a copy of a section of a letter written ... by Lieut. Jeanne R. Moore, 48th Field Hospital. . . .

"We moved out of France about three weeks ago and are now up here in the northeastern corner of Belgium where things are popping and popping fast. . . .

"Our patient list is getting high again and that means long hours of good work for us. Honestly, Peg, I've never really had a chance to nurse before this. Here is where you actually and gratefully thank God that there is something you can do to help. Even the least little bit counts. . . .

"Most of our cases now are the results of mine explosions. They are certainly the most treacherous thing that any madman ever conceived. They do such extensive, tragic damage--the kind we can't do very much about. How these boys can take it the way they do is beyond me. . . .

"Without meaning to brag (too much!!) we clear 24 major multiple wound cases . . . in 24 hours. We also have added 14 amputations to our regular day's surgery. These Field Hospitals really run an unbelievably heavy schedule. We just do them as they bring them in from the field. . . ."

MRS. J. P. BRADSHAW JR. New York City

Sirs:

To a medical officer who has served in many Army hospitals since December 1941, the shortage of nurses and the imminent drafting of nurses strike a very peculiar note.

In the entire three years, and about ten different hospitals that I have served, I have not seen one nurse with the rank of major or above. I have seen one nurse with the rank of captain (she was a Regular Army nurse with over 20 years of service), and not more than a total of five with the rank of first lieutenant. All the others that I have seen were (and are) second lieutenants.

These girls are on call, and often work 24 hours a day. Many of them working in the front lines have died at their post of duty. . . . (SERVICEMAN'S NAME WITHHELD) Colorado Springs, Colo.

Sirs:

... If nurses are drafted, so should other women. We all know there are many who do nothing outside their homes. . . . They are desperately needed everywhere.

ALICE PLITTALL, R.N. Cleveland, Ohio

Who's Burning?

Sirs:

You had better keep a fire extinguisher handy because this is going to burn you up. You had a lot of nerve writing what you did about Errol Flynn (TIME, Feb. 12). The only reason I take TIME magazine is because our teacher makes us. I wasn't the only kid that got mad over that article. . . .

I'm in a classroom now so I'd better sign off.

HELENE BIEDERMAN Cincinnati, Ohio

Sprinter

Sirs:

Arthur Duffey was not "a minor but revered West Coast cop dodger" (TIME, Jan. 29), but one of our greatest sprint champions and a highly respected amateur athlete. . . ,

J. F. FURLONG JR.

Belmont, Calif.

Sirs:

For shame, TiMExperts. . . . You're quite wrong: Arthur Duffey, my uncle, and currently the sports columnist of the Boston Post, was noted not for eluding the law but for celerity, having held the record for the 100-yard dash in the first decade of this century while at Georgetown University. . . .

F. G. JORDAN Lieutenant (j.g.), U.S.C.G.R. Norfolk, Va.

P:TIME'S apologies to ex-Sprinter Duffey (see cut), who in 1902 set a world's unofficial 100-yd.record of 93/5 sec.--ED.

Current Affairs Test

Sirs:

I finally got around to taking your Current Affairs Test for last fall. I made only 76--my lowest grade so far. It must be about time for another test. How can I get one?

MRS. ETHEL C. McBEE Fairmont, W. Va.

P:I TIME'S Current Affairs Test, issued in February, June and October, is available to subscribers without charge. For the Midwinter 1945 Test, write to TIME (Current Affairs Test), 330 East 22nd St., Chicago 16, ILL.--ED.

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