



Dear Abby: You did it again. You said, ''Loneliness is the ultimate poverty, so invite someone who is alone to join you and your family for Thanksgiving dinner.''

Abby, not everyone who is ALONE is LONELY. I am alone (widowed), but I am not lonely, and I don`t particularly enjoy having Thanksgiving with a bunch of strangers.

Last year, I let a generous neighbor talk me into having Thanksgiving with her and her family. She had 36 for dinner. There were children of all ages running around, and two TVs going full blast-each on a different channel. On one was a noisy football game, on the other a rerun of a 40-year-old musical. There was so much noise and tumult my head ached for two days!

This year I invited another widow to my place for Thanksgiving. We both hate turkey, but we love barbecued spareribs, so we picked up some ribs, popped popcorn and put away a quart of ice cream. Then we watched an old Laurel and Hardy movie on a rented cassette and had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Shirley in Allentown

Dear Shirley: I`m glad you and your friend had a wonderful Thanksgiving. But bless your generous neighbor-and people like her-who assume that those who are alone at holiday time are lonely and depressed. They usually are.

Dear Abby: I just read the letter signed ''Must Know,'' who asked if his wife could get crab lice from a toilet seat as she claimed, or had she been fooling around.

I am so glad you told him he could believe his wife, because I know for a fact that`s where I got them.

I was about six months pregnant when I had to find a bathroom quickly due to an upset stomach. I was at the beach where no facilities were available, so I went to a bar across the road to use theirs. Abby, it was one of the filthiest rest rooms I had ever seen. On leaving, I told the woman bartender that someone should clean up the bathroom because it was disgusting!

Well, shortly after that, I discovered that I had crab lice. There was absolutely no other way or place I could have gotten them. My doctor prescribed a lotion that took care of the problem, but since that time, I am very, very careful where I sit.

Nameless for Obvious Reasons

Dear Nameless: I apologize if this subject offends anyone, but it may be helpful to know that many wrote to say they had picked up these tenacious, parasitic little pests from a borrowed bathing suit, sleeping bag, blanket, towel, at a spa, public beach and a public toilet.

Dear Abby: In your search for Perry Como`s record of ''I`m Always Chasing Rainbows,'' you said, ''Frank Sinatra said that Perry Como was the finest male vocalist in the business.''

Sorry, Abby, but I have been a Sinatra fan since 1942, and he said, ''Vic Damone has the best pipes in the business.'' Please set the record straight.

Alberto Juliano, Largo, Fla.

Dear Mr. Juliano: You`re right. I goofed. (Sorry, Perry; at least I kept the honor in the same ethnic group.)

To get Abby`s booklet, ''How to Write Letters for All Occasions,'' send a check or money order for $2.50 and a long stamped (39 cents), self-addressed envelope to: Dear Abby, Letter Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, Ill. 61054.

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