''My sister Blanche's eyeglasses were for the purpose of breaking up the long line of her nose,'' the latest chapter of Aunt Dee's recorded life story began. ''She never looked through them, and that was good, because they didn't help her to see. Once sister Bessie's husband the doctor took her to an optimist, when he caught her boiling water in a crystal bowl.

He later told Bessie, 'The doctor said it's not her eyes; it's her I.Q.' My sister Blanche wasn't really stupid. She knew the name and birthday of every movie actor and actress, how many times each one had been married, and to whom, and whether they slept in nightgowns, pajamas or neither. And she was shrewd, or as my husband said, tricky. But she saw the world over, not through her glasses. She marched -- or hobbled -- to a different drummer. And every once in a while her drummer played a kazotsky."