NEW YORK, Thursday—I am delighted to see that the Palestine question is to be taken up by the United Nations. If the work of the special session of the Assembly is restricted to that one subject, and if they follow the proposed course of appointing a committee to sift the facts so that the Assembly in September can act upon a full knowledge of the situation, we can hope for a solution which will be just to all those concerned.

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I cannot understand the Senate's delay in voting on the Lilienthal appointment, nor can I understand the attack made by Sen. Robert A. Taft on our plan for control of atomic energy. As Sen. Brien McMahon said, that plan has been carefully considered, and under it inspection and safeguards would be set up to prevent any nation from having an advantage over any other nation.

There emerges from all this a feeling that we want more than any other nation. We have this secret which we have told the world that we do not intend to use—that we intend to share it, under proper restrictions, with the rest of the world. But now some of our men in high places seem to feel that the longer we can hold onto it, the safer we will feel.

All very true—but how about the rest of the world? We do not like uncertainty and I doubt if the other people in the world like uncertainty. We feel sure that we would never be guilty of misusing a weapon of this kind, but from speeches made in Congress and from reports of testimony by witnesses before Congressional committees, I am afraid that some people in the rest of the world must wonder about our good intentions. We seem to forget that other people can read as well as the citizens of the United States.

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As I was walking along MacDougal Alley last Sunday morning, I passed a little shop where one can get tea and prepared food to take home. The most interesting part of the shop to me has always been the lady who runs it, so Fala and I went in to have a chat with her. She told me an interesting story which seems to me to have a good Sunday lesson in it.

It appears that her tiger cat had a litter of kittens not long ago. The other cat in the household was upset by their arrival. She took one look at the tiger cat, who had been her friend and companion but who now had these strange, squirming creatures, and then turned away, refusing to have anything whatsoever to do with her. The tiger cat was hurt, but her duties kept her busy.

A few weeks later, the other cat had a litter of kittens. However, her first one was born dead. The tiger cat, seeing her concern and alarm, went over and tried to help revive the kitten. Finally, she gave it up and, putting both paws around the other cat's neck, tried to console her. And as each new kitten arrived, she took it and washed it and treated it as though it were her own. Now the two cats are friends again and care for each other's children. Harmony is restored.

This seemed to me a charming story, and one that we people might take to heart. Sometimes animals seem to have instincts that are more Christian than those of us who reason things out and are supposed to have the special gift of high intelligence.