The Talk of the Town Tournament by Wallace White. Talk Story about the sixth annual World Open Pocket Billiard Championship held by the Professional Pool Players Association in the Grand Ballroom of the Roosevelt Hotel. There were 5 pool tables each of which were occupied by 2 players in formal dress. 150 spectators looked on. Arnd Bollhardt, director of...

Comment by Fred Keefe. A friend trying to cope with the delays and frustrations of getting settled in a new house in the country writes that every now and then a longing he has for order and efficiency finds gratification when he least expects it. Last week, he was roused just before daybreak by...

Books A Woman and a Foreigner by Naomi Bliven.

Jazz THREE TONES by Whitney Balliett. PROFILE of Vic Dickenson, a black jazz trombonist, who is seventy-six years old. Dickenson was born in Xenia, Ohio, and until he had an accident, at sixteen, he expected to take over his father's plastering business, although he had already started playing trombone at school. After his accident, which...

Fiction Mrs. Vansittart by William Trevor. Mr. and Mrs. Vansittart live on Cap Ferrat on the French Riviera, although they are originally from Holland Falls, Virginia. Mrs. Vansittart, 54, is perceived by her circle of international friends in their wealthy, villa community to be a "loose" woman who is reported to have had three affairs and...

Comment by Berton Roueche. Alone for a weekend, writer tries Mrs. Weaver's Pimento Spread, a processed cheese product that tastes fine to him until he reads the list of ingredients. Lists the ingredients, which include several unpalatable sounding chemicals. The list of ingredients makes up the larger part of the column...

The Talk of the Town Bus Station by Joan Bennet. Talk story about a visit to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, which is nearing completion of its (so far) six-year expansion and modernization project. Writer tells about a personal tour of the place given by Tony Barber, who has been with the Port Authority of N.Y. and N.J. for...

The Talk of the Town Balloon by Alec Wilkinson. Talk story about the launching of a hot-air balloon by 15 adults and 5 children who met by arrangement on a sand dune near the end of Cape Cod. Tells about the making of the balloon and several unsuccessful efforts to launch it. When it was launched successfully it...

A Reporter at Large UNIONIST IN REAGANLAND by A. H. Raskin. REPORTER AT LARGE about the present state of the AFL-CIO with 15 million members. This is the 100th anniversary of organized labor but there is not much celebrating. Politically union influence is at its lowest since the pre-New Deal era of unfettered corporate dominance. Economically, unions now find...

Fiction Fear Russ Antimacassar Lead Widening by Bruce McCall. Illustrated parody of U.S.-Soviet relations and the arms race. Compares the progress of advances in efficiency and production of everyday household items. Standard Soviet antimacassar deployment pattern, a 3-element protective system is depicted as 3 lace doilies protecting the arms and back of an easy chair. A chart...

Our Footloose Correspondents THE WOOING OF RICHARD WATERS by E. J. Kahn. OUR NORTHEASTERN CORRESPONDENTS about the writer's friend Richard Waters, who, until recently, owned 448 shares of Conoco stock. When Conoco's board of directors decided to sell the company, shareholders found themselves courted for acquisition of their shares. Describes how he eventually sold to Du Pont, the company which bought Conoco...

Poetry Poem On Sleep by Robert Bly. Then the bright being disguised as a seal dove into the...

Poetry Small Wild Creatures Along A Road At Night by Peter Kane Dufault. Not to be seen... Not to be seen...