Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-03-28
WOMAN LETTERS.

by graphing with circumstances, could
ever make those long delicate, hoop-let-
ters,-the his and the g's,-While the
Us, long and slenderly drawn out, the
shapely o's and the well-proportioned
as, all speak Of hands used to leisure
delicate soft hands, used to trifing with
skeins Of silk and bits of bright stuffs,
and which trife with letter-writing, too,
in their graceful, half-almless manner
And if the handwriting didn't tell you
all about the hand that wrote, the COM
position Of the letter would. Her tricks
Of expression, and even the way she be-
gins it's" Ny Dearest Georgie,' or
" Ny Darling Caroline" or NY own
Dear Will" Those are all a woman 5
terms of endearment; and I lore,
LOVE, LOVE you! z she writes in a
perfect agony of unexpressed sentiment.
When she wants to set for the ardent
affection, italics find themselves put into
the most active service in her hands.
No man ever uses italics as a woman
does, or feels the need Of using them as
she does. She can't, for the life Of her,
help making that all-expressive and all
expressing dash of the pen under the
word that only half expresses what she
wants to say. She is especially fond
of itaIicising the mysterious he "
When she writes it thus 4" He, you
may know that she has special designs
on this particular " he. By that single
stroke of the pen, she sets him apart
from all the other he's in the world.
She does not know any better way Of
expressing it, however, than that. His
proper name may be Theodore Algernon
Howard, or Adolphus Gustavus Jenkins,
or plain John Smith, but he is only
''he, " in her adoring thoughts, when she
sits down to write to Laura Matilda
about him. Eight pages, and one or two
of them crossed Not page less, on my
honor and responsibility as a commits
sioner in the little ins and outs of the
sex!
Then, again, what man ever crosses
his letter? On the contrary, they hate,
and despise, and cOntemn the custom.
" My dear, grOwls the disgusted Fitz-
Floss in the city, whence he writes to
his dutiful and be-paniered spouse at
Saratoga or Long Branch, "doE't cross
your letters when you write to me. It's
too hard on fellow this hot weather to
have to make 'em out, and can't stand
it. couldn't read your last, it was all
scribbled over so" Yet this Maria
Louisa still persists in crossing her let
ters to her dear, darling hubby.
Why do women do it ? The fact is that
a wOman's letter, like a woman's work,
is never done, and she does violence to
her natural self whep she finds that she
has left only one fraction of corner
available for writing her name In, and
must, perforee, fold up the economically
written sheet, and slip it Into its tiny
envelop; and even then, some last
thought occurs to her, and she is
tempted to scribble on the inside Of the
wrapper-fap. What does she find to
write about so much? She tells you OF
Annie's new dress, and Mrs. Whee-
dleum's last crush about Julia's hirta-
ton and Alfred's engagement; some
thing about her own heart affairs, too,
if she is writing to a confidential friend.
Set a man down to the same sort OF
work, give him the same range of sub
jects, and he will whisk you off a two
page letter in a jify,-say one word
about this, half word about that, and
two words about the other, and sign him
self % Yours, sincerely" and have done
with it, while a woman correspondent,
writing the same sort of letters, Is
% Your own Lucy, or Lovingly yours,
Sallie." Does anything tend more to
show the great difference in the mental
complexion of the two sexes in general
And then, a woman's letter never
looks quite like a mans. For her, the
stationers' shops spread their choicest
fancy assortments. For her., are the
fancifully-printed monOgrams, the three
cornered nOte-envelOpes, the dainty
scented note-paper Women use these
things as a rule, men use them as ar
exception. Lay the mans letter beside
the womans the one in its large, plain
white envelope, its strong, clear, fre'
writing on the address the other in it
dainty trickery of crest or monogram
or embossed letter, and its delicat'
superscription, not half-6llpg the tiny
envelope. There you have the epitomei
of their charlottesville mans and th'
woman's.