Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-11-17
A CHILD'S LETTER.
mark Twain Puzzled by One

ssMark Twain'' Puzzled by One.
The most useful and interesting letters
we get here from home are from children
seven or eight years old This is a petri-
fed truth. Happily they have got moth
ing else to talk about but home, and
neighbors and family-things their bet
tiers think unworthy of transmission thou
sands of miles. They write simple and
naturally, and without strain for effect.
They tell all they know and then stop.
They seldom dream in distractions or
homilies. Consequently their epistles are
brief; but, treating as they do of familiar
scenes and persons, always entertaining.
Now, therefore, if you would learn the
art of letteT-writing, let achild teach you.
| have preserved letter from little gill
eight years of age-preserved it as a GU
riOsity, because it was the only letter i
ever got from the States that had any in
formation in it, 1t ran thus:
''ST. LOUIS, 1S65.-Uncle Mark, if
you was here l could tell you about
Moses in the bulrushes again. | know il
better now. Mr.. Sowberry has got his
lee broke off horse. He was riding ii
ON Sunday. Margaret, that's the maid,
Margaret has taken all the spittOOns and
slop buckets and old jugs out of your
room, because she says she don't think
you are coming back any more, you have
been gone too long. Sissy McElroy's
mother has got another little baby. She
has them all the time 1t has got little
blue eyes like Mr.. Swimley that
boards there and looks just like him. |
have got new doll; but Johnny Amber
son pulled one of the legs out. Miss
Dusenberry was here yesterday; | gave
her your picture, but she don't want it,
Ny cat has got more kittens-oh ! you
can't think-twice as many as Lolita Bel
denis. And there's one such a sweet
little buff he with a short tail, and l
named il for you.
All of them's got names now-Gen.
Grant, and Halleck, and Moses, and Mar
garet, and Deuteronomy, and Capt. Sem
mes, and Exodus, and Leviticus, and
Horace Greeley-all named but one, and
| am saving it because the one | named
for you's been sick all the time since, and
l recon it'lldie. 1t appears to be mighty
rough on the short-tailed kitten for nam
ing it for me. Iwonder how the reserved
victim will stand it! Uncle Mark, | do
believe Hattie Caldwell likes you, and |
know she thinks you are pretty, because
| heard her say nothing could hurt your
good lOoks-nothing at all-she said, even
if YOU were to have the smallpox ever so
bad, you would be just as good looking as
you were before. And ma says she'sever
so smart Very. So mo more this time,
because Gen Grant and Moses are fighting
ANNIE.
The child treads on my toes in every
other sentence with perfect looseness, but
in the simplicity of her time of life she
| doesn't know it.
consider that a model letter-an emf
nentlv readable and entertaining letter,
and, as said before, it contains more mat
ter of interest and real information than
any letter ever received from the East.
| | had rather hear about cats at home and
| their truly remarkable names than listen
to lot Of stuff about people | am not
| acquainted with, or read 1.-The Evil Eff
fects of the intoxicating Bowl illustra-
ted on the back with the picture OF a
ragged scalawag pelting away right and
left in the midst of his family circle with
a junk bottle.