What was going on when I was born?

The Federal Reserve Board yesterday announced a half-point reduction, to 10 percent, in the interest rate charged on Federal Reserve loans to banks and other financial institutions. It was the fourth cut in the Fed's loan rate since July 19. Unlike the previous reductions, however, the latest move by the Fed did not spark a sharp drop in interest rates. By late in the day, Treasury bill rates were lower, but most other short- and long-term rates were higher.

In the world of children's books and bedtime stories, the Little Red Lighthouse underneath the George Washington Bridge has been warning boats away from the rocks in the Hudson River for years. It has stayed ''round and fat'' and ''red and jolly'' and, of course, ''very, very proud.'' But in the real world, the Little Red Lighthouse was closed by the Coast Guard when the bridge opened in 1932. Its doors have been welded shut; its concrete base has cracked, and its sides have been, more often than not, covered in graffiti.

Addressing a multitude of over 350,000 worshipers at the nation's holiest shrine, the Roman Catholic Primate of Poland demanded today that the authorities free Lech Walesa. The Primate, Archbishop Jozef Glemp, said the Government must also make other concessions to bring about a reconciliation with an ''angry'' people. With an eye on anti-Government demonstrations planned for next week on the anniversary of the Gdansk agreements that recognized the Solidarity union headed by Mr. Walesa, the Archbishop repeatedly sounded an appeal for calm. He called on Poles not to take to the streets but to submerge their anger in the consolation of prayer.

Defense Minister Ariel Sharon defended Israel's invasion of Lebanon yesterday, picturing it as a new opening for peace in the Middle East and playing down his Government's rift with the Reagan Administration over the conduct of the conflict. In an hourlong, extemporaneous address in New York City to leaders of American Jewish groups, Mr. Sharon said the departure of the Palestine Liberation Organization from Beirut raised the prospect of ''peaceful coexistence'' with the Palestinians. He said it could enable Lebanon to become the second Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel. He complained that newspapers and television news programs had exaggerated civilian casualties in Lebanon and had ignored Lebanese deaths caused by the P.L.O. and the Syrians. He said the news organizations were ''not so sensitive'' about the killing of Jews.

Security Pacific National Bank, the nation's ninth-largest bank, said yesterday that it had received approval from the Comptroller of the Currency to expand its discount stock brokerage business across state lines. The Los Angeles-based bank was already offering discount brokerage services at its branches throughout California. Yesterday's ruling, the first such approval granted by the Comptroller, permits the bank to set up a new subsidiary, Security Pacific Discount Brokerage Services Inc., that could provide stock brokerage services outside the state. Allowing banks to enter the securities business is a contentious issue among securities firms, which argue for a strict interpretation of the Glass-Steagall Act, which has separated some banking and investment banking activities since the early 1930's.

The courtship of New York State by the candidates for governor has cost more than $8 million so far, but here in the glacial hills called ''drumlins,'' where the air is pungent with the smell of freshly cut hay and grazing Holsteins, the voters remain wallflowers at best. It has been a campaign played out on the periphery - a flicker on the television screen, a headline in a newspaper barely glanced at after a 14-hour workday. Albany is a long way from the small towns around Madison County, from Morrisville, Hamilton and Nelson, even from busy Oneida. People here scarcely feel the touch of state government on their lives. Not surprisingly then, the names just don't stick. A dairy farmer, when asked about Mario Cuomo's chances, replied: ''I think she's a strong lady.'' Some people said they liked Lew Lehrman, who lives on Manhattan's Park Avenue, because they thought he was from nearby Syracuse, an impression enforced by the local profusion of his Rite-Aid stores.

New York officials are hoping to close a deal soon with a foreign manufacturer to build a bus assembly plant in New York State that would provide 1,300 buses for New York City and 1,000 new jobs. The sites under consideration are an industrial park on Staten Island and Stewart Airport, which is near the city of Newburgh in Orange County. ''The pot is simmering,'' Governor Carey said of the negotiations. Mr. Carey initiated the contact with the foreign bus makers - Renault of France and Hino of Japan - during controversial trips abroad since becoming Governor. ''We're in the ninth inning,'' said Peter C. Goldmark Jr., executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Mr. Goldmark expressed optimism that a deal could be concluded by the end of the year. But, he cautioned, ''You can still lose the game in the ninth inning.''

Manville filed for reorganization under the protection of the bankruptcy court, citing the financial drain of more than 16,000 lawsuits brought by persons exposed to asbestos. Manville, the nation's largest asbestors producer, is the biggest industrial company ever to file for bankruptcy. Manville said its business is sound, but that it had been ''completely overwhelmed'' by the litigation. (Page A1.) Manville's action raises unusual legal questions and has raised many protests from attorneys representing the plaintiffs in asbestos suits. They assert that the bankruptcy court is no place to resolve Manville's problems, and some contend that the company is trying to forestall litigation and avoid its responsibilities. (D4.)

TO the casual weekend walker as well as to the amateur and expert bird watcher, Jamaica Bay is a site for all seasons. Where else within New York City's limits can you watch the Concorde pierce the horizon while a vaguely prehistoric-looking glossy ibis flaps overhead? The 12,000-acre national wildlife refuge in Queens, accessible by public transportation as well as by car, is always enticing, but never more so than in the late summer and early fall, when it plays host to thousands of migrating shore birds and to scores of bird watchers, who flock to observe their arrivals and departures. ''Shore birds'' is a catch-all term encompassing four or five families of long-legged North American birds, most of them colored in combinations of black, brown and white, that range in size from just under five inches to just over two feet from the tips of their bills to their toes. Most of them alight on the shores of the United States during their migration south from points as far north as the Arctic, where many of these species nest on the tundra in early summer. To insure that Jamaica Bay is included on their itinerary, the refuge's managers lower the water level of one of their freshwater ponds, exposing tempting mud flats on which the migrants congregate.

TO get to the El Greco show that closes Sept. 6 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington has become an obsession with many New Yorkers. All modes of transport are being brought into play. Balloons are overbooked. Jalopies untouched since the administration of Herbert Hoover are being readied for the road. Riding stables have taken the phone off the hook, such is the demand for a horse that can stay this particular course. Backpackers crossed the George Washington Bridge in late July and were last seen somewhere near the Susquehanna River. These are historic migrations, and a latter-day Herodotus should be here to record them. However, the good news is that New Yorkers really don't have to go to Washington to learn something about El Greco. Admittedly, two of our best examples - the ''View of Toledo'' and the ''St. Jerome'' from the Metropolitan Museum -have been lent to the Washington show. But there is a second St. Jerome, only marginally less fine, in the Frick, along with the martial portrait of Vincenzo Anastagi and the Tintorettesque ''Purification of the Temple.''

International Trade sanctions were ordered by the Reagan Administration against a major company owned by the French Government and the French subsidiary of an American oil equipment company. The Administration barred them from buying goods and services from the United States for defying an American embargo against delivering equipment for a pipeline that is to supply Western Europe with Soviet natural gas. (Page A1, Column 4.) Poland's Primate demanded that the authorities release Lech Walesa, the interned leader of the union Solidarity. Addressing a throng of more than 350,000 worshipers at the nation's holiest shrine, the Roman Catholic leader, Archbishop Jozef Glemp, also demanded that the authorities make other concessions to bring about a reconciliation with an ''angry'' people. The Archbishop urged Poles not to protest in the streets, but to seek consolation in prayer. (A1:1.)

The Daily News negotiated a contract agreement yesterday with the last of its 11 unions, ending more than a year of uncertainty over its fate. The newspaper said the new contracts would cut its costs by $50 million a year, the minimum it said it had to have to offset anticipated losses this year and next. The savings will come from the elimination of the equivalent of 1,340 jobs, a quarter of the newspaper's work force. Virtually all of the full-time employees who have begun leaving and will continue to leave for several months will get severance bonuses of $30,000 or more - a one-time cost to The News of nearly $50 million. A Dramatic Reversal The total number of people to be put out of work was not disclosed, but it will be substantially less than 1,340, because most of the shifts being eliminated were held by regular employees working overtime or by part-timers.