Volume 8, Issue 1, page 15


A 0
06W,04

I This month we are starting our eighth year of publication, and
like children who are not yet afraid of passing
time, we're quite proud of it. If we had the time, we'd even give
us a party, or at least bake us a birthday cake... J As
some of the charter subscribers admit, we've changed a bit during
the last seven years. A few look back at the past
with nostalgic regrets, i u st as they might regret a baby
getting teeth. when he was "so cute" gumming exploring
fingers and thumbs stuck into his mouth... 41 But we have
grown-more than double the past year --and with this
growth has come new work. new equipment I and new
responsibilities. Also changes in format and material , with
more changes in the offing. We doubt if The ABERREE of seven
years from now will any more resemble the
magazine you are now reading than this one does the
mimeographed"No

One" we started with in Phoe: nix in April, 1954.

41 One of our biggest departures from "Opening Procedure" (start
of publication) is an ever-increasing
curtailment of personal correspond

ence. Answering a pile of let: ters always has been a problem,
but now that that "pile to of letters is almost bigger
than the desk on which we put them, something has to give

We love letters--and we lik~ to keep the lines of communication
open --but we hope our friends will understand why
our replies have been shorter and shorter an d farther between.
Time spent on personal letters is timellstolen" from
the list of subscribers who want that time spent getting out the
best magazine we can . If the hours in a day grew in
proportion to the amount of work to be done, there'd be no
problem at all. but unfortunately, time doesn't work this
way. So, please don't"chop us off "; send us the news of you and
our friends, and keep letters coming to the "Dear
Editor" section. And remember, we still love you, even tho we may
not write and tell you so every few days ... I
one other change our growth calls for is the gradual advancement
of

IVA49

"deadlines" for copy and advertising. By working farther in
advance, we can be prepared for emergencies that in the
past, have threatened' occasionally to make us almost miss a
mailing date. This, however

will come gradually, and you probably won't even notice it. But
we will. We're certain. "

41 0 u r congratulations to Dx. and M_rs CQ.Grenz for putting up
with each -o-tNer for 50 years during one
lifetime. The golden anniversary was honored at the home of a
daughter in Toledo, Ohio, on 5 March.

41 Once upon a time a man was prowling thru an antique shop, and
was fascinated by a brass doorknob of
unique design. He bought it, took it home, and after removing all
the old dirt and grime, he was even more intrigued
by his find. However, since it didn't look right on any of the
doors in which he tried to fit it ' he bought a new door;
when the new door looked out-of-place, he ... well, anyway, he
ended up with a new home, all because of a
doorknob. Which may be what SHOULD happen around Harts ' Hal
f-Acre (No kin to a play by a similar name) --
not because of a doorknob, but because of some pictures wetve
been acquiring, which are much too beautiful for the
dingy wal Is of our home, and the Pub . wouldn't sacrifice any of
her wall maps in the office. Anyhow, we wish to
assure Alberta O'Connell, of Wilton -Conn., ih-osent us two
waiercolor snow scenes, and Eva Woodford, of Lost
Creek, W. Va., for an oil portrait of "Elayne of Uranus", we've
got the "doorknobs" for the new home--if we can
just manage the walls on which to do them justice...

41 Except f o r a two - week
stop in Chicago, and a bit of
gold prospecting in Colorado
with Dale Malleck, Louis has-
n It yi~t-cFmpl -eted His-summer
itinerary, he writes-- adding
he hopes those sending invita-
tions don't wait until the end
of May --when his vacation be-
gins--to write "Please come".
But, people being people, they
probably will...

41 We expend a lot of effort on The ABERREE. trying to make

APRIL, 1961 The ABERREE

it "look Pretty", but we feel that Anton Bohm, of Denver, Colo.,
must writhe in misery each time he picks up a
copy, For, you see, Anton has proved that we printers, w i t h
our modern offset equipment, are careless bunglers
when it comes to beautiful printing. A retired headstone cutter,
who took up printing late in life as a hobby, Anton
has just published a 140-page book, "Literary
Virtuosities"--printed one page at a time on a small hand press.
in
three colors and gold, with handset type, and decorated with
initials he

imself designed. Anton even did his own book binding --in fact,
it is so much self-produced that we are surprised
that he didn't cast his own type and make his own paper. It's a
beautiful job, showing what
can be done when an artisan -- even an amateur -- takes Pride in
his work. There is only one
consolation: Anton was 13 months producing the book--and ABERREE
readers just wouldn It stand
for that much gap between publications ...

I If Jon or Ron Malleck, of Pueblo, fin7one j-Tth_e1-r-Ta-~orite
toys missing-- they should
ask Papa (Dale) or Mama (Gabi) why he/she sent it to The ABERREE.
It's one of those rubber
tramps, labeled "I alone have found ALL the secrets of the
Universe", and probably is
intended for our Library's col - lection of "Portraits of Famous
People". It DOES look a
little familiar ...

11 Jim Pinkham, who's been in DiantoYo-gystice"Year one"
(Elizabeth. N. J.) and his bride,
Carole, were ABERREE visitors in early March, and a lot of theory
and history got airing--as
well as a catchingup on the doin's of this'n and that n. here and
there. Jim hasn:t changed
much -- except for the loss of his mustache-and when he gets to
expounding on Of past lives"
and "whole track " --well, there is sciencefiction, and then,
there's fiction science.-
Anyhow, Jim now is working in electronics, although he
"confesses" to keeping an interest in
his "alma mater" thru attendance at the various congresses, and
is on a Navy job at Orney,
Texas, so the visit to Enid meant only getting in his new"buggy"
and blowing out some
potential carbon. He said he'd be back-when the cherries are
ripe-and we have a picking
bucket all ready for him. A cherry in the bucket is much better,
we opine, than elongating a
sun 16 trillion years or so ago...