Books Raman and Daisy and Olivia and the Nawab by John Updike.

The Talk of the Town Bicentennial Beat by Roger Angell. Talk story about the reenactment on June 19, in Hoboken, New Jersey, of the nation's first baseball game, played in Hoboken's Elysian Fields on June 19, 1846. The original game was between Alexander Joy Cartwright, Jr.'s Knickerbockers and New York. Tells about the rules Cartwright invented. The reenactment was...

Musical Events Music at the Falls by Andrew Porter.

Jazz New York Notes by Whitney Balliett. Obituary in JAZZ of Bobby Hackett, who died, on June 7, 1976, at the age of 61. He was a cornettist and a trumpeter...

Our Local Correspondents THE FLAG ON THE BRIDGE by Hendrik Hertzberg. OUR LOCAL CORRESPONDENTS about raising the American flag on the George Washington Bridge both before and after the process was automated. Writer accompanied Bill Welsh, general maintenance supervisor of the bridge) and the man in charge of the flag, on July 4th last year to witness a crew of men...

A Reporter at Large THE EVE OF INDEPENDENCY by E. J. Kahn. REPORTER AT LARGE about the British press in 1776, especially the news about America. Gives opinions on the government's policies, eyewitness reports of the conflict across the sea, rumor, etc. The last stories indicated that British papers did not get around to publishing the text of the Declaration of Independence...

Fiction The Lawn Party by Ann Beattie. The narrator, a painter who teaches at a college, visits his parents for a Fourth of July party. He spends the entire day in his old bedroom, looking out the window at his relatives playing croquet. He has just lost his right arm in the car accident which killed his...

The Talk of the Town Bicentennial Beat by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about the New York State Bicentennial Barge, funded by New York State and free to all visitors. Writer visited the barge at Brewer. Dry Dock, Staten Island's 70-year-old dock...

Comment by E. B. White. On Jun. 26, 1976, John Adams wrote to Abigail: "Our misfortunes in Canada, are enough to melt an Heart of Stone... But these Reverses of Fortune dont discourage me. It was natural to expect them, and We ought to be prepared in our Minds for greater Changes, and more melancholy...

Fiction Instructions by Marshall Brickman. Congratulations! You are now the owner of a new Simplex automated timesaving miracle Fletch-o-mat, designed by space-age scientists specifically to remove the drudgery from tiresome daily fletching. To operate unlock the safety grommet (G) and loosen knurled screw (B) by turning in a clockwise direction... Now touch...

The Current Cinema Only a Lodger by Penelope Gilliatt. Review of his film "The Tenant", which he directed & in which he plays the lead...

Dancing "Beauty" in Distress by Arlene Croce.

Centennial Bicentennial Beat by Pat Coffin. Talk story about a Bicentennial exhibition, at the Yale University Art Gallery, of American paintings, furniture, textiles, silver, etc. from the period between 1750-1800. Writer notes the discrepancy between the political ideals of the period and the aristocratic ideals of the visual culture. Says the crowd at the exhibition was...

Poetry Why There Are Children by Leslie Ullman. The woman inside every woman...

Poetry Loss by Charles E. Bolton. In the evening, from the back porch...

Poetry Posthumous Dream Song by John Berryman. Good words&irreplaceable: serenade, Schadenfreude...