Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1870-02-02


back, but we sent it from the next station
and you'll believe me when I tell you that
we were better friends afterward than ever.
How to Write a Good Letter.
There is good sense in the following from
the February Putnam
One of the most necessary qualities fol
a really good letter, is expressed better by
the French word abandon than by any 9th
er. You must throw yourself into your
sabject without reservation; your petty in,
sincerities, your usual social hypocrisies
must be laid aside. And as there are nc
eyes looking at you from the fair white page
to shame you into shy reserve, what de-
licious confidence one can make under
these encouraging circumstances You rely
upon tie discretion of the friend to whom
your are writing, or you would not call him
or her your friend-why then should you
sickle at d frank word? The letters which
we prize most are those which are written
for ourselves alone; do we take very much
satisfaction In the epistle which might as
appropriately be addressed to Tom, Dick,
or Harry? The SAVIOR which gives oul
friends letter its zest, is the purely person
al interest it contains, the TACT Of its being
letter which conld by no possibility have
been written by, or addressed to, any other
person in short, its individuality.
It is this trait which makes correspond
tnces between men and women so danger
GUS. Unless the correspondents are re-
markedly unsentimental, or, very strongly
interested in some topic which forms the
subject OF their letters-art, literature, sci
ence, or whatever it may be-tbere will be
always gradual sliding off into PERSONAL
ties. A discussion of their own tastes,
their pecuharities, their own fancies,
very soon leads into still more animated
comparison Of sentiments and feelings, and
once upon these quicksands, the end is not
far off, for as the French proverb most ira
y says, 'tPdrler ddn1ootr, c'est fdjre rd7laO17 "
In fact, some cynics declare that there are
but two kinds of letters possible between
men and women, business letters and love
letters. But these misanthropic gentlemen
also declare that no woman can write note
of one page, or dispense with that almost
absolete adjunct, the postscript; both OF
which ISLANDERS vie in falsity with the pre-
cedipg one. Women may be, as Charles
Reade says they are, diabolically augelical-
~ subtle in the art of saying something
that expresses one ounce and implies one
hundred weight, but they are equal
ly subtle in the art of examining
smallest possible compass They are,
beyond conception, skillful ia that curious
phase of letter-writing called writing be-
tween the lines" It is tolerably safe to
take for granted that a woman's letter car
ries its meaning IN that invisible ink, and
that its true Specification is nowhere ex.
pressed IN actual words. 1t is rather an
unfortunate circumstance for the sex that
this little popularity is inherent III then
nature, because, to quote Reade again,
mankind, though not wanting in intelli.
gence, as body, have one intellectual de.
fect-they are muddleheads. 3" The straight
going arrows of the feminine armory are apt
to be lost among the intricate commissions
of the masculine brains. We have seen a
lover writhing in agony over letter intend.
ed to express the fondest affection, and q
deluded youth smiling like Malvolio, over a
deadly shaft feathered with seeming COM
pliment. The weaker sex are like the hare,
when hard pressed they have to double
Some French writer tells us that he has Of
ten heard men speak of the impossibility OF
understanding women, but that is no great
wonder, seeing that women do all they can
not to be understood.
That is the point, Messieurs, and in an
alyzing the character Of a woman or the
contents Of her letter, whatever may be the
apparent simplicity of either. you have al
ways to make large allowance for an I'M
known quantity.
Romance OF Foreign PawnbrOkerage.
The Revue du Monde Catalogue bub-
fishes some interesting details concerning
the French Monts- piete, or pawnbrokers
1t is already well known that the pawning
business is very different in France from
what it is in England, and much has been
said of the profit which the Government de-
riyes from keeping to itself the monopoly
of this ingenious trade. Being entirely I'M
der Government control it is easy t. ascer-
tain the amount of the loans effected
throughout France. At the central Office
the books recording the entire business OF
the city are kept. It would appear that the
pawning business is subject to the greatest
variations, and that these variations depend
to very great extent on the state of foreign
affairs. But, contrary to all expectations, the
loans are less frequent in periods of reYo-
luton. Are the people frightened lest the
revolutonists should plumber the pawn
ships? Certain it is that in 1893, in 1914,
in 1880, and in 184S the Monts-de piete
throughout France did but little business,
and the total figure of the loans made by
them in these years was below that of years
of prosperity and peace. We are further
informed that a society called La Craig
made lessons IN great measure the profits
of the Government. It consists of men
who regularly frequent the salesrooms
where the Unredeemed articles are put up
at auction. They bid for everything, to
the conclusion of strangers, keeping the
prices low for themselves, but bidding
to any sum so as to discourage interlo-
pers. Each member of the society buys
indiscriminately whatever ne can get, and
then after the auction exchanges it with
his confederate for whatever object he may
particularly want. Apart from these finan-
cial results, the article from which we bor-
row them makes mention of few roman
tic incidents connected with this business
of the pawnshop. In 1849 the Mont-de-
Piete of Paris offered for sale silver watch
pledged in 1917 for the sum of eight francs
The pledge had been renewed each year
by the borrower, who could never scrape
enough money together to redeem it, and
so he had paid twenty-six francs in inter
est. For two years, however. he had not
reappeared, The administrators made
some inquiry after him. They discovered
he was dead
Death Of G0ttschalk.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk, who intended
to revisit this country in the fall of the
present year, died at lijuca, near Rio, Bra.
zil, after a three weeks illness, on the 18th
day of December last. The simple an
nouncement of this fact could not be sup
plemented at the late hour at which it was
received by any OF the events of which
rehearsal will be awaited with painful in
terest. Few men enjoyed greater popular
lty, and none more numerous and cordial
friendships, than the dead pianist. His
reputation was world wide. Born in New
Orleans in 1929, he left the United States
in 1S41, and for four years studied music in
Paris. In 1858 he recrossed the Atlantic,
and III February gave his first concert in
New York. His subsequent career cannot
now have reeapitulation. A few weeks ago
its latest triumphs were reviewed i'll a let
ter from Gottschalk's own pen, and pub
lished in the Times. The deceased artist
was a J6tterateaV and lnguist as,well as
musician, and had contributed to the At