We admit readily that the mistake was ours. And, of course, it is the type of mistake which we do not like to make. However, we take great comfort in the fact we are not alone in making errors. Recently, the Christian Science Monitor printed the wrong answers to their weekly crossword puzzle.

The following week, they noted that they had indeed printed the wrong answers and were printing the correct answers. And although they noted that, they did not do that as they printed the wrong answers again. The following week, the paper noted that it had made a mistake two weeks running and was now going to print the correct answers, which they did.

It made us feel better about our "Stillwater/Stillwell" debacle. We note that with the advent of fall, comes the news of the annual fall rummage sales at various churches about the area. Christ Episcopal Church will hold its rummage sale on Friday, Oct. 1 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and on Saturday, Oct. 2 from 10 a.m. until noon at the Christ Church Parish House, 69 Fair Street, Cooperstown. There will be a bag sale on Saturday. Proceeds from the rummage sale will be used for the churchıs outreach/mission program.

The United Methodist Church will also hold its rummage sale on Friday, Oct. 1 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and on Saturday, October 2 from 10:00 a.m. until noon at the church on Chestnut Street. The sale is sponsored by the United Methodist Church Women and the proceeds will benefit their world mission program. And finally, the First Presbyterian Church will hold its rummage sale on Thursday, Oct. 7 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., Friday, Oct. 8 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 9 from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. at the Presbyterian Church Chapel located on Pioneer Street.

There will be a bag sale on Saturday. Proceeds from the rummage sale will go to the Women's Fellowship to be used for various church projects such as the restoration of the church's stained glass windows.

All three of these sales will no doubt feature a wide variety of clothing, household goods, books, toys and any number of other interesting and unusual items. We recently had the opportunity to attend Barn Dance held by the Middlefield Historical Association at the Westville Airport and we had a ball. We had to laugh when it was pointed out that it was really a hangar dance which was in keeping, we thought, with the way people where flying around the floor. And, although we donıt dance, we enjoyed listening to the music and watching everyone else dance.

We were quite amazed at how quickly those willing to give the dance floor a whirl were able to execute the various dances. It almost made us want to join them but we did manage to restrain ourselves. We also enjoyed the food although our digestive system took great umbrage at our stuffing it with chili, a hot dog with sauerkraut and apple pie at an hour somewhat later than our normal dinner time. Nonetheless we would do it all again and look forward to the next such undertaking by the Middlefield Historical Association. We hasten to point out that the Fly Creek Area Historical Society also holds dances, although not hangar dances, on a monthly basis throughout the year. And although we have never attended one, we may will decide, since we donıt dance, to hold down the job as wallflower at one of them sometime in the future.

Recently we received a brochure from the Cooperstown Graduate Program, which turns 40 this year, informing us of their upcoming conference ³America in the Œ60s.² And although we, most unfortunately, will not be able to attend the conference, we were intrigued by the fund raising silent auction which is being held in conjunction with the conference. The silent auction can be accessed online at www.cgp.oneonta.edu <> . Since many of the items on the silent auction have been donated by graduates of the Cooperstown Graduate Program there are any number of unusual and interesting antique items. We quite enjoyed checking them all out and would heartily recommend the experience. We note that all proceeds from the silent auction will match the National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grand and provide direct support for CGP student scholarships.

In closing, we note that the wee-we has officially turned 30, which is most interesting in that we are still only 29. We are not quite certain how that works, but trust us, it works. In honor of the occasion, his scene shop student employees decided to fete him with cake and ice cream. Arrangements were made for the cake on which was to be written "Hey you're 30." There was great discussion with the cake decorator about the spelling of "hey" in fear, we suspect. that it might be spelled "hay." When the cake arrived, the "hey" was fine. But, as luck would have it, the cake said: "Hey your 30." We now refer to it as the "Cake of Your."

We remain, In these Otsego hills, Where nature smiles, The Ellsworths

PLEASE NOTE: 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 . They look forward to hearing from you.