Since December of 2000, I've had about ten letters to the editor printed in Cleveland's Plain Dealer. The first was in defense of the Supreme Court's decision on Bush versus Gore; most have been about the war on terror or broad foreign policy issues, two were in support of the city school's operating levy, and one was a counter-snark to some lefty's anti-Bush screed. Letters of mine that haven't been published are generally too long or too confrontational - or, like John Derbyshire's rejects, fall into the opaque depths of unpublished nebulae for reasons unknown. I certainly can't find the logic in skipping one like this:

To the Editor
New York Post
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, N.Y.

Dear Editor,
Your report of a tragic subway suicide (Oct. 16) describes the deceased as "quietly laying in front of a fast-moving subway train." What was she laying? Carpet? Linoleum? Plans? Later you tell us that the unfortunate woman "laid down as the train approached." Oh, so it was down she was laying. But was it goose down or swan's down? Perhaps we could ax the witnesses.

Yours sincerely,
John Derbyshire

I've always wondered if Letters editors tend to enjoy discarded submissions more than accepted ones. With Derb's, that must be the case.