Letter from Washington by Richard H. Rovere. Discusses President Carter's inaugural speech and what he is expected to do in his first days in office Both can be characterized as being modest and restrained. The speech was free from rhetoric and claims to implement drastic programs immediately. The changes Carter has begun to bring about deal with...

Comment by Calvin Trillin. Comment about our friend the Angry Man who complained about bureaucrats. He says in the Midwest they've taken to badgering citizens with something called the tornado watch. He thinks this is needlessly alarming & discusses it...

Comment by Faith McNulty. A New England correspondent tells about a winter-afternoon visit to Narragansett Pier, R. I. At The Pier she meets Jim Herrmann, a young biologist, who points out an oil-covered seabird, probably a murre. Standing on a rock with its wings stuck to its sides it looked like a...

Musical Events Chance, Death, and Mutability by Andrew Porter.

The Talk of the Town Ceremony by E. J. Kahn. Talk story about the deterioration of the Acropolis monuments from pollution and tourism. Writer attended a ceremony at the Acropolis at which an appeal was made for funds to preserve the monuments. Constantine A Trypanis, Greece's Minister of Culture and Sciences asked UNESCO for technical and financial assistance. UNESCO will...

Books Malraux by V. S. Pritchett.

The Current Cinema Werewolf, Mon Amour by Pauline Kael. Review of Alain Resnais's first film in English, "Providence". (Resnais is the son-in-law of Andre Malraux, who died a few months ago...

Our Local Correspondents NEW YORK CITY WEATHER EXTREMES by Eugene Kinkead. OUR LOCAL CORRESPONDENTS about N.Y. weather. The climate is generally gentle and agreeable. Its worst feature is dampness caused by a relative humidity that averages about 65% over the year. The annual mean temperature is 54.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Precipitation is moderate. Average wind speed amounts to a gentle breeze of...

The Talk of the Town Driver by Mark Singer. Talk story about Olen Lee Welk, of Big Sandy, Texas, who has been chosen National Truck Driver of the Year by the American Trucking Associations. Writer visited with Mr. Welk and his wife, Hazel, at the Waldorf-Astoria. He is as good a talker as he is a truck driver...

The Race Track Six in a Day by G. F. T. Ryall. Because of the continuing cold spell and the decrease in attendance, the N.Y. Racing Ass'n. has closed the grandstand at Aqueduct Mondays through Fridays, except for holidays until the weather is warmer. The clubhouse stays open, with a reduced admission price. One reason for the grandstand closing is that it...

The Talk of the Town Pop by Wallace White. Talk story about the opening of the Songwriters' Hall of Fame Museum, Archives, and Library, a 1 Times Square. The Hall of Fame, which occupies the building's 8th floor, is filled with memorabilia having to do with pop songs and show tunes. According to Jule Styne, the Hall of Fame...

Fiction Idioms by Elizabeth Cullinan. The narrator, Connie, is the youngest of three sisters, now grown and married, She is an interior decorator who lives in New York. As a child, she worried that her parents would die and leave her. Her father did leave the family once, to take up betting on the horses...

Profiles ASCENDING by Jeremy Bernstein. PROFILE of Yvon Chouinard, 38, mountain climber and designer-manufacturer of climbing equipment who lives in Ventura, Calif. Tells about several of his notable climbing experiences. Chouinard has systematically redesigned almost every piece of equipment used in climbing-pitons, chocks, ice axes, and so on. Tells how he designed the...

Fiction Qwertyuiop by Sylvia Townsend Warner. Ursula had made another poem- the first in five days, just when she was beginning to despair. She wrote it down and went downstairs to confront her twelfth birthday. December 31st was a hopeless day to be born on; no one would give her a typewriter so soon after Christmas...

Poetry Heavy Snowfall in a Year Gone Past by Laura Jensen. Heavy snowfall in a year gone past...

Poetry The Pigeon Shoot (Ireland) by Seamus Heaney. When I was taken aside that day...