In the past several weeks we have had several rather disturbing events take place. One morning when we opened our e-mail to check for new messages, we were greeted with 162 new messages. We instantly thought we had either been hit by a virus or spam. But, when we quickly, if such a thing is possible, ran through the messages, we realized that we had received for a second time all of the e-mails messages we had gotten since the middle of September. We have no explanation for such an occurrence and, when we called, neither did the internet provider. We only hope it never happens again. In our opinion, dealing with mail once is quite enough.

The second, and perhaps more disturbing event, was the stripping of bark off of our double French lilac bush, which was planted, we believe, by the he-we's grandfather. We are really at a lost to explain what or who did such a detrimental deed. One entire trunk of the lilac was stripped of bark.

At first we thought it might well be the work of deer, but upon closer examination, we think it more likely was the work of someone with a knife or other cutting implement. Needless to say, we can't understand why anyone would do such a thing. Our concern, of course, is whether or not we can save the bush. And, since gardening is hardly on our radar screen, we would appreciate any and all advice as to what steps might be taken to deal with this problem. We have already cut off the part of the bush which was stripped of bark as we did not see a future for that. However, we do wonder if we should also cut the rest of the bush. As it stands now, we think it will be less than attractive, if not dead, come spring. Any thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

We are happy to report that our cracker jack research librarian found out a bit about "Corn Night." According to her research, in Illinois at least, Corn Night was the night or 2 nights before Halloween night when kids would collect field corn and toss it against windows to startle the people inside. She did not find a reason for such an event, but notes that it is thought to be a mischievous twist to Halloween.

A few older children might tip over outhouses or put a buggy on top of a building, two undertakings which we seriously suspect do not happen these days. She noted that her son, Rob, always called the night before Halloween "Mischief Night," which goes along with the "Devil's Night" which we encountered in the Detroit area.

We would like to thank former Cooperstonian Diane Fetterman for alerting us to the fact that her son, Lieutenant Colonel Patrick "Lee" Fetterman will be featured in an upcoming article in the Soldier of Fortune magazine. The article "Raising Baghdad: The Rakkasana of the 101st Swing into Nation-Building," with text and photos by J. S. Mosby, will appear, we gather, in the January 2004 issue of the magazine. Soldier of Fortune is available online at www.sofmag.com. However, even though Diane sent us a copy of the article, we checked the website which is, at the moment, featuring the December issue. However, once the January issue is available, we think the article should be online for those interested in reading it.

In reading the most recent issue of the James Fenimore Cooper Society Newsletter, we were most interested in the following article entitled "Cooper Mural:" "In 1933 a student at the Milne School in Albany, New York, named David Cunningham Lithgow painted the cave scene from The Last of the Mohicans on the wall of the school library; each year thereafter, until 1946, he painted another mural relating to the history of the Albany area. Now, after years of neglect, the Cooper mural is being restored by conservators. Conservation of the other 13 will follow. The Milne School is today Milne Hall of the University of Albany at 135 Western Avenue, Albany. NY." We find it interesting that the "Cooper Mural" would have been painted originally, and even more interesting, that it has now been deemed a worthy restoration project. It is refreshing to see an educational institution which values such works of art and sees the worth in maintaining them.

In closing, based on information that we have received, the "What to Do" for the week of Nov. 30 through Dec. 6 includes, we hope, the following: Nov. 30, Fourth Sunday Community Breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m. at the Cooperstown Fire Hall and Santa's "Photos with Pets" from noon to 3 p.m. at Santa's Cottage; Dec. 2, 3, 4 and 5, Holiday High Tea, 4 p.m. at the Fenimore Art Museum (reservations required); Dec. 3, Story time for preschool children, 10:30 a.m. at the Cooperstown Library and Food for Thought at noon at the Fenimore Art Museum (reservations required); Dec. 4, Friends of the Library meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the Cooperstown Library; Dec. 5, "Scrooge" at the Bullpen Film Series, 6:30 p.m. at the Hall of Fame (reservations required); Dec. 6, Sint Niklass visits Brewery Ommegang from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; "Men In Black" Fashion Show and Luncheon, noon at the Otesaga Hotel (reservations); Christmas Tea and Bazaar at the Cooperstown United Methodist Church from 1 to 4 p.m.; Spirit of Christmas trolley starts its free holiday season, running Saturdays and Sundays during December from 1 to 5 p.m.; Baseball Hall of Fame Holiday Celebration at 3 p.m., toys and canned food items for charity will be accepted for admission; and Art Express at 6 p.m. at the Fenimore Art Museum (reservations). We hope everyone has a chance to attend the upcoming events. And, in the unlikely event that anyone makes it to everything on the 6th, we extend our congratulations in advance.

We remain,

In these Otsego hills,

Where nature smiles,

The Ellsworths

The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 607-547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.