Fiction Grant of Easement by Elizabeth Tallent. Sam and Jenny wanted eggs for breakfast, so Sam went down the hill outside their house and bought them from Old Man Sandoval. They'd agreed on $2.00 a dozen, but Sandoval gave them only 10. Jenny told Sam to confront him. "He won't like you if you let it happen...

Greetings, Friends! by Roger Angell. Fair reader, wake! It's us once more...

The Talk of the Town Small Mischief by Jane Boutwell. Talk story about the exhibit at the Morgan Library called "Small Mischief: Evil Doings and Odd Disasters in Early Children's Books." Writer spoke to Gerald Gottlieb, the curator of Early Children's Books at the Library, who said that there were no children's books before the 18th century. Before 1740, children...

Television Tooth and Paw by James Gorman. Parody of an educational television program. (In still another episode of "Nature," creatures of the pachysandra belt struggle for survival.) On the Millers' lawn a squirrel is foraging, while a dog watches, hiding in the shadow of the station wagon. When the squirrel dips its head for an acorn the...

Comment by Garrison Keillor. It wouldn't have occurred to us to greet Christmas with a sneeze, but it did occur to a friend of ours, who writes: My mother when she sneezes says "The bishop!" She stifles a sneeze as much as she can, but it has a pleasant tone, like the call of...

The Talk of the Town Uptown with Mimi by Orville Schell. Talk story about a visit to the Shubert Theatre to attend the 72nd Annual Night of Stars benefit of the Honor Legion of the Police Department of the City of New York. This is a voluntary fraternal organization that assists the widows and children of policemen who have been killed...

Around City Hall AROUND CITY HALL GOD BLESS US EVERY ONE! by Andy Logan. Mayor Koch recently decided to have Sixth Avenue added to Avenue of the Americas street signs. Several Hispanics were angry. He ran the risk of being called Scrooge when last spring he said that some of the city's homeless people are homeless by choice rather than need. One cold evening...

Personal History A SOFT SPRING NIGHT IN SHILLINGTON by John Updike. PERSONAL HISTORY about the writer's boyhood in Shillington, Pa. He spent an April evening in 1980 walking the sidewalks of Shillington searching for the meaning of his existence, as he once scanned those sidewalks for lost pennies. He explained just why he was there: he was waiting to have some...

The Talk of the Town Trip by William McKibben. Talk story about the promotion of powdered soft drinks at the General Foods' annual convention of independent food brokers. It took place at the Hayden Planetarium of the American Museum of Natural History. Last fall at the convention a film was shown of Mr. T, who wore a K (for...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Talk of the Town Three Churches by William McKibben. Talk story about a tour of three churches in Harlem, organized by the Friends of Central Park. At 155th and Broadway, in Northwest Harlem, the 300 people on the tour went first to the Church of the Intercession. For many decades, this was a branch of Wall Street's Trinity Church...

Jazz by Whitney Balliett.

The Current Cinema DAVID AND GOLIATH by Pauline Kael.

Onward and Upward with the Arts DAMP IN THE AFTERNOON by Calvin Trillin. ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS about taureaux piscine, which means Obulls swimming pool.O One Saturday in 1983, in Uzes, in southern France, the writer saw a poster advertising an event taking place in the local bull-fighting arena that night: taureaux piscine. The jarring juxtaposition of the words entertained...

Books by Alistair Cooke.

Poetry Rincon: The Strangers by Reynolds Price. Christmas Eve afternoon in the hot toy/Plaza, beer, me learning...