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Bethlehem had put out a flier that said, \"You're not going to believe who's coming to Bethlehem!\" A roadside sign said, \"It's a surprise! Mystery Guest!\" \"I've seen it billed a multitude of ways, but it seems to work best when there's no clue given as to who the guest is and it's just billed as a mystery guest,\" [John Morgan] said. \"The psychology behind that is a mystery to me, but I think it's wonderful because it seems to work. Nobody wants to miss out on seeing who the special guest is.\" \"I met him and said, 'It's an honor to be your lookalike,'\" Morgan said. \"He looked at me and said, 'I feel sorry for you.'\"

[Virginia Rowthorn-Apel] Mary Rowthorn, the daughter of Suffragan Bishop Jeffery W. Rowthorn and Dr. Anne Rowthorn of Salem, Conn., was married yesterday to Michael Charles Apel, a son of Roy and Paula Apel of Morro Bay, Calif. The bride's father performed the ceremony at St. Ann's Episcopal Church in Old Lyme, Conn.

Services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at Bailey & Cox Chapel, Plattsburg, Mo. Burial will be at Allen Cemetery, Gower, Mo. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to the Plattsburg Saddle Club, c/o Bailey & Cox Family Funeral Service, Plattsburg. In addition to her mother, she is survived by daughters, Angela Parker, and husband, Bobby, Maryville; and Tressa Force, Ennis, Texas; two sons, Robert Force Jr., and wife, [Donna Downing], Bronte, Texas; and Jason Force, Ennis, Texas; a sister, Sandy Barmann, Maryville; brothers, Donnie Conz, Columbia, Mo.; Steve Conz, Arkoe, Mo.; Bobby Conz, Beatrice, Neb.; and Tom Downing and Joe Downing, both of Maryville; a special friend, Ron Roberts; 12 grandchildren; and a host of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. Survivors: children Timothy Regan, Visalia, Calif., Patrick Regan, Atchison, Philip Regan, St. Joseph, Daniel Regan, Atchison, Matthew Regan, Atchison; Terri Zioerjen, Valpico, Fla., Karen Blunt, Atchison, Catherine Smith, Atchison; brother, Wulfran Regan, Lawndale, Calif.; 23 grandchildren.

Linguists mourn death of hundreds of languages around world, and likely disappearance of thousands more in next century; Ken Hale and Michael Krauss see diminishing of world's cultural diversity and human achievement, comparable to loss of biological species; survey reports 336 languages are nearly extinct, meaning parents no longer teach them to children; examples are Indian tongues in Northwest, Ona in Tierra del Fuego, and Eyak, which is down to one speaker; 60 percent of existing languages have 10,000 speakers or fewer; Spanish is killing Indian tongues in Latin America and French wipes out others in former African colonies, but English has been biggest language slayer since Industrial Revolution; David Crystal notes English has always been in right place at right time; estimates that 343 million people now speak English as mother tongue, another 235 million speak it well as second language, as in India, and 1.2 billlion to 1.5 billion people on planet are 'fluent to reasonably competent;' 1.1 billion people speak Chinese; by comparison, last Ubykh speaker died in Turkey in 1992, having helped scholars compile dictionary (M)

At the same time, Mr. [Caspar W. Weinberger] has renewed the contention that the United States could not, and would not, bear by itself the burden for the common defense of the non-Communist industrial nations. ''It is essential,'' he has said repeatedly, ''that we develop a more rational 'division of labor,' under which our NATO allies and Japan will be asked to join us in contributing more to the common defense.'' Mr. [Hans Apel] and Mr. [Masayoshi Ito] were much less alarmist than President Reagan, Mr. Weinberger and Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. Mr. Apel told several reporters over lunch yesterday that West Germany's policy ''tries to be sober.'' He said that Germans would not forget the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, but they would also not forget that the Soviet Union has economic problems. Mr. Apel said that West Germany's ''younger generation has never learned the lessons of history.'' He said that the postwar generation knew little about Hitler and World War II. The postwar generation in Japan, on the other hand, is keenly aware of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but is largely ignorant of Japan's conduct of the war and events leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

During his repeated trips to Capitol Hill this month, Mr. [Caspar W. Weinberger] has set a theme for the Reagan Administration on what it expects from America's allies. ''It is essential that we develop a more rational 'division of labor' under which our NATO allies and Japan will be asked to join us in contributing more to the common defense,'' he stated. ''This division of labor will be a major thrust of the Reagan Administration's defense policy.'' A statement released by the Pentagon after Mr. Weinberger's meeting with Mr. [Hans Apel] caused some surprise by a passage saying Mr. Apel had indicated that, ''contrary to erroneous reports, the level of German defense spending will increase.'' Mr. [Ito], according to a Japanese diplomat, said that his Government would make an ''appropriate'' effort. But the Foreign Minister noted that at the end of the Carter Administration ''there was an unfortunate exchange of words on defense expenditures,'' the diplomat said.

The marriage of [Laura Lochrane Scheerer] to [James Apel Whitney], a son of Mr. and Mrs. [James D. Whitney] of Tucson, Ariz., took place yesterday in East Hampton, L.I., at the home of the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. [William Scheerer] 2d of New York and East Hampton. [Edward W. Horne], the town judge of East Hampton, performed the ceremony.

Edmund Muskie briefs on discussion with West German defense minister about increased support for U.S. forces in West Germany, continuation of air reconnaissance flights near Libya, and other matters.