REMEMBER, REMEMBER

Fifty-eight pieces from homely sources like Sunday Supplements and regional magazines, collected by a former Catholic Digest editor who introduces them as ""a sentimental package tied with heartstrings."" The most-unforgettable-charactor sketches, of just plain folks who have mattered to same, make nice, surprisingly memorable miniatures; like the opening ""Do You Remember?"" vignettes (the iceman, the hobo, the family cow), they're easy to take in multiple doses as bedtime bromos, and short enough to share with small fry who wonder how it was-during World War II, say, when wrinkled Ipana empties were redeemed because of the metal-shortage, or during the Depression when, after a few swim-dates, ""it was considered proper for a young man to give his sweetheart a used inner tube."" (Recycling, by other names, is a recurring theme.) The collection becomes unruly with the addition of non-personal articles (padding?) on such disparate subjects as inter-tribal Indian violence in the Old West, the legend of Snowshoe Thompson, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, and the filming of Dracula. Otherwise, it's as satisfying in its heartland way as a trip On the Road with Charles Kuralt.