Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1858-08-07

productions. He talks about the weather, past
and present, and to come. He serves up, with
piquant sauce, occurrences which he would not
have thought worthy of mention at his own break
fast table. He spins out his two or three facts
ideas into the finest and himsest gossamer, tucks
them into postscript, which alone with the form
ula, should have been forwarded. He writes in u
large hand, and resorts to every kind of device to
hll up his Sheet instead of taking the manly course
OF writing as long as he had something to say, or
II nothing, of keeping silence. kindly sentence
or two may redeem the epistle from utter cOndem-
nation, for love, according to Solomon, makes a
dinner Of herbs palatable. But " LOVE-" written
beneath formula, would have answered Us WE'LL
81 should not dare to describe the productions
OF my female correspondents in detail. Suffice it
to say, that most of them contain smaller pro-
portion OF useless information, and a larger pro-
portion of sentiment, vague aspiration. and would
be-pIeturesque description, than those of the men
who pay postage on my behalf. They are longer,
and sometimes crossed it is therefore & greater
task to read them.
My "iair readers the snobs who writes for
Magazines call women-have not, trust misap-
pretended my meaning and lost patience with me.
L would not be understood as expressing prefer
enee for one desert ptiOn of letters over another
Every person to his tastes and his talents But a
letter, which does not represent the writer's real
deal with things and thoughts rather than with
words, and express, if not strengthen, the pecu-
liar ties OF the person writing and the person writ
ten tO,-a letter which is not genuine,-is no let
ter, but sham and u lie. 4 real letter. on the
other hand, whatever its topic, cannot fail to be
worth reading. Great thoughts, profound specu-
latons, matters of experience bits of observation,
delicate iancies, romantic sentiments, humorous
criticisms on people and things, funny stories,
dreams of the future memories of mast nic-
lures of the present, the merest gossip the verest
trlfllDg, everything nothing, may form the theme,
if naturally spoken of, not hunted up to gil out
page
81 know men, distinguished in the walks of lit
erature, famed for beautiful style of composition,
who do not write tolerable letter nor answer Il
note Of inquiry with propriety. Their sentences
are slipshOd, their punctuation and spelling beyond
criticism, and their nuscript repulsiye. lady,
to whose pOllteness such answer is given, has Il
right to feel offended, and may very properly ask
whether she be not entitled to as choice language
us the promiscuOus crowd which the distinguish
cd gentlemen" addresses from lpit or desk
How the distinguished gentleman would open
his eyes at the question He is sure that what
he sent her was well enough for a letter As
though letter, especially letter to a lady,
should not be as perfect in its kind as lecture OF
sermon in its kind as though ones duties toward
individual less stringent than ones duties
toward an audience Would the distinguished
gentleman be willing to probe his soul in search of
the true reason for the difference of the two Is
he sure that it is not outgrowth from a certain
mountainous me, which seeks appreciation more
ardently from the one source than the other!
There are those who indite elegant notes to COM
parative strangers, but probably upon the princi-
pie that familiarity breeds or should breed con-
tempt send the most villanous rcrawls to their
intimate friends and those of their household.
They are akin to the numerous wives, who, reser-
wing not only silks and satins, but neatness and
courtesy, for company, are always in diSabille in
their husbands houses"
' But, although most correspondence is, from
want of truthfulness, thOughtfulness, life, good
Judgment and good breeding, very unsatisfactory,
IL cannot be denied that many good letters are
written every day. Between lovers, parents and
children, real and hearty friends, they pass. Young
men on the threshold of life, while discussing to-
gether the grave questions then encountered, write
them. Women, before their time to love and be
loved has come, or after it has passed ed,-wOmen,
who, disappointed in the great hope of every
mans life, turn to one another for shelter,-are
sending them by every post. Mr.. De Quincy
somewhere says, that In the letters of English
women, almost alone, survive the pure and racy
idoms OF the language; and the German Wolf is
said to have asserted, that in corresponding with
his betrothed he learnt the mysteries of style"