I don't remember his name, but I do remember what a Kentucky Baptist preacher/weekly newspaper editor told me a dozen years ago. He had a police band radio and liked to go out with his camera when he heard that a drunk was being arrested. Unlike Paris paparazzi he never chased anyone, but he did take photos of staggering citizens stopped by police, and he put those pictures on his front page.

When it comes to welfare, some reporters and politicians continue to offer hysterical rather than historical perspective. In Washington, anyone who remembers what happened two years ago is an expert, and someone who can describe what American life was like a century ago is a guru. But the welfare wars actually go back several thousand years, and there's a lot we can learn from past struggles.

Is it really five years and over 200 issues since managing editor Nick Eicher and I began working together on World, wondering whether there was any appetite out there for hard-hitting biblical journalism?

It's working-even the new york times realizes that. It's working-and Congress is snatching defeat from victory's jaws.

The "it" is welfare reform. Recently a Times headline-"Sink-or-Swim Welfare, Pensacola Staying Afloat"-noted good news. Most former welfare recipients have done fine in the Florida city that three years ago imposed time limits on welfare benefits. (The whole country came along last August, when President Clinton reluctantly signed the Republican bill.)

I wish I were Ernie Banks. The hall of fame shortstop of the Chicago Cubs was famous for enjoying a tense, hard-fought major league game so much that when it was over, he could heartily look forward to the second game of a doubleheader. "Let's play two," he liked to say.

Mrs. Jones of Redcrest, Calif., this column's for you!

Readers sometimes wonder what a model letter to the editor is like-a letter that warms his heart, challenges his thinking, and provokes a personal response.

Here's the model, provided by Mrs. Jones, with the editor's reactions interspersed. She began in a most salutary fashion: