Profiles OASIS by Berton Roueche. PROFILE of Pella, pop. 7,800, in Marion County in south-central Iowa, some 40 miles southeast of Des Moines. The town had its origin in the religious ferment that troubled mid 19thcen. Holland, and still strongly reflects its roots. It was founded by a young dissenting minister of the authoritarian...

The Current Cinema GETTING THINGS RIGHT by Roger Angell.

Our Far-Flung Correspondents BOOM by Richard Reeves. OUR FAR-FLUNG CORRESPONDENTS about the real-estate boom in Los Angeles. Prices for homes have risen so steadily that a company has been set up that deals exclusively in homes that sell for a million dollars or more. While there is a slowdown in the market right now, S...

Comment by Jonathan Schell. A nation, like a person, reveals its character in a crisis In the Iranian crisis, Americans have most notably been silent, and this silence-the silence of powerful feelings deliberately constrained-in itself speaks well of our country..observers are already talking of a possible historic shift in the political...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Books by John Updike.

The Theatre TWO CLASSICS by Brendan Gill.

The Talk of the Town Colloquy About Sing by Jamaica Kincaid. Talk story in the form of a conversation between a pretty girl and the man who was her companion. They talk about Sing and his band, The Police, a new rock and roll group at the Palladium. The girl mentions that Sting is in "Quadrophenie" (a movie) and was the...

Fiction A Night In The Poorhouse by Isaac Bashevis Singer. In a poorhouse in Poland, Zeinvel the Thief and Mottke the Beadle trade stories about women they have known. Mottke tells about a shy slaughterer's daughter in Lithuania who became possessed by a dybbuk. Mottke says such an Incident proves the existence of God. Zeinvel won't believe in God. He...

The Talk of the Town Thirst No More by Wallace White. Talk story about an exhibition called "Making Money: American Engraving 1776-1979" at the downtown branch of the Whitney Museum, on Water St. The show includes stock certificates dating back 200 years. Elizabeth Guheen, an interne at the museum, shows writer around and talks about how the imagery on the stocks...

Fiction Home by James Robison. Peter and Lily Flaherty are sitting in their freezing home waiting for the gas company to arrive and restore their heat. Delia, the 13 year-old they've recently adopted, is staying with neighbors. Peter, 53, a former priest, tells Lily that he's learned that Delia keeps a diary. When Delia...

The Talk of the Town New Clocks by Wallace White. Talk story about repairs on the Episcopal church of St. Mark's-in-the-Bowery, the 2nd-oldest church building in Manhattan, at Second Ave. and Stuyvesant St. Writer talks to Stephen Facey, who came to St. Mark's in 1967 to administer its arts program. In 1975, he helped create Preservation...

The Talk of the Town All at Once by Mark Singer. Talk story about a free attraction in the upper lobby of the Union Carbide building at 48th and Park. Each Dec., Union Carbide, which sells a billion Eveready batteries a year, spreads out 500 battery-operated toys, invites 60,000 schoolchildren (150 at a time), and turns on all the toys...

Poetry A Christmas Storm by Howard Nemerov. All Sunday and Sunday night cold water drops...

Poetry Greetings, Friends! by Roger Angell. Near friends and far, I wish you well...