Letter from London by Mollie Panter-Downes. Edward Heath's decision to withdraw from the contest for the leadership of the Conservative Party last week felt like a sudden death in the House. The tone of the editorial and broadcast tributes was respectfully obituary, as of one struck down in his full powers. The contest was won by...

The Talk of the Town Numbers and Resources by Hendrik Hertzberg. Talk story about a showing of sheets designed by Bill Blass at Springs Mills. Nick Milos was one of 3 sheet-information sources at the showing. His tie was in the same pattern as the "Shadows" line that Blass did for Springs Mills. Milos is an executive with the company...

Comment by Jonathan Schell. The other day we came across a graph that purported to describe the economic future. Its title was "The Hard Times Ahead" & the source of its figures was the Ford Amd... Only recently have graphmakers & technical experts added the weight of their prestige to predictions of human events...

Cartoon The Weather by Saul Steinberg. Cartoon spread of four pictures depicting the weather on each day of the week...

Fiction Rebecca by Donald Barthelme. Rebecca Lizard is a homosexual lesbian schoolteacher who goes to court to have her last name changed because it is ugly and reptilian. The judge refuses her and tells her she is cluttering up the court's calendar. Miss Lizard goes to a dermatologist whose diagnosis is: "slight greenishness, genetic anomaly...

A Reporter at Large The Survival of the Bark Canoe~I by John McPhee. REPORTER AT LARGE about bark canoes & Henri Vaillancourt, of Greenville, N.H., who builds them entirely by hand the way the American Indians did. He built his 1st canoe in 1965, when he was 15. Since then he has built 33 birch-bark canoes. Along with snowshoes & paddles he...

Fiction Who I Am And What I Believe by William Zinsser. Story begins with directions from a form received by a Who's Who biographee. It requests "a brief statement of those principles, ideas, goals & standards of conduct in your life that have helped you achieve your present success in your career and as a person highly regarded by others." Editors...

The Art World (The Art Galleries) Artist of Our Time by Harold Rosenberg.

The Talk of the Town Off and Running by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about Leon Botstein, who has just been named president-elect of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson. When Botstein was 23, 4 1/2 yrs. ago, he became the youngest college pres. in the country, at Franconia College. Writer attended a reception & lunch for Botstein at the University...

Letter from the East by E. B. White. Letter from Allen Cove, Maine, about events and activities in the area. In many ways things are the same as they've always been, but all sorts of queer & unexpected things have been happening: the building of a new wing to the hospital & construction of a sewage-treatment plant...

Fiction I Have Nothing To Declare But My Genius by S. J. Perelman. When a schoolboy, the writer had to copy: "Lives of great men...

The Theatre Prodigal by Brendan Gill.

The Race Track Santa Anita Reveille by G. F. T. Ryall. Writer says if he had an account with OTB, which he hasn't, he could dial the office in New York on the telephone from Calif. (no one would be the wiser) and bet on all the exactas at Bowie...

Dancing Free and More Than Equal by Arlene Croce.

Our Local Correspondents JUST A SINGER by Whitney Balliett. OUR LOCAL CORRESPONDENTS about singer Helen Humes who is now playing a 10 wk. engagement at Barney Josephson's Cookery. This 60 yr. old singer from Louisville, Ky. is singing better than ever in a style that is almost gone. Writer interviewed Miss Humes at the club where her accompanists are...

Books Metropolises of the Mind by John Updike.

Cartoon The Inquiring Demographer by Calvin Trillin. This Week's Question: What Kind of Pet Do You Have And Why? (Asked in Connection With Nat'l Pet Food And Accessories Week) Illustrated story. Above question was answered by six people. One was Joe Bob Skinner, Soybean Farmer, Brown River, Ala. who has a hound dog, Bob Joe. The dog...

The Air (On Television) Good Morning by Michael J. Arlen.

Musical Events Antony's Second Chance by Andrew Porter.

The Talk of the Town The Black Dragon by George W. S. Trow. Talk. Writer and friend Gerald went to see "The Black Dragon," a martial-arts movie playing at the Harris Theatre on Forty-second Street. The movie's co-producer is Serafim Karalexis. Mr. Karalexis is a young man of Greek descent and a former student at Boston University. He is an...

Poetry Shorelines by Howard Moss. Someday I'll wake and hardly think of you...

Poetry A Sketch by Richard Wilbur. Into the lower right...