The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1873-09-04
The Family Letter.

iut lUIullN ltlttl ~ hiiV''i wa '
days. The reason that day is selected
is not alone because of the leisure 1t
presents. The quiet of the day, its re-
lief from all influences that irritate or
agitatc, frees the mind from irrelevant
and antagonistic matter, and makes 1t
prc-cminently fit occasion for COM
muning with distant loved ones. In
nine cases ont of ten the letter is written
BY the head of the family, and of those
sent an equal proportion are addressed
to his wifcs folks. We don't know why
| il is that man so rarely writes to his
own folks, but as it is not the province
| of this article to treat ON that subject,
we will pretend we don't care.
The hour being selected for inditing
the letter, the first thing is to find the
paper. There is always Il drawer in
every wcll-reguIated family for keeping
| such things. 1t is either in the table or
stand. Here the writing paper and odd
screws, and iiddle-strings, and broken
locks, and fsh-lincs, and grocery re-
ccipts, are kept There may be other
things, but if there are he will see
them. The sheet of paper is finally
found the fly stains neatly scraped of,
and the search commences for the ink
aud pen. The former is invariably
found ON the mantcl next the clock, and
is Immediately laid on the table con-
vcnicnt to the pcrspiring man, who sar-
castically inquiries if the letter is to be
written to-day or next Sunday. This
inspires the wife with lew zeal in the
search She goes over the drawer again
because she knows he wouldn't see any
thing if it was right under his nose, but
the pen is not there. Then she looks
over the top of the bureau, and lifts
| everything ON the front-room table, and
saws it seems so singular it cant be
found, when she saw it only the day be-
fore, and thought about the letter. Then
she goes into the pantry, and, after eX-
poring the lower shelf in vain, stands
upon chair, and carefully goes over
the top shelf where the medicine bot
ties and unused cans are stationed.
! After she has done this, she starts up
| stairs, and pretty soon returns with the
| pen, and takes it to the sink to wash the
crease from it, but does not succeed in
quite ct1acing the delicate scent of ber-
gaaot This leads him to observe that
anybody, who takes pen-holdcr to lift
hair-grcase from Il bottle, is too pure
and innocent for this world.
Everything now in readiness, good
humor is restored, the wife takes II seat
opposite, with her elbows ON the table
and her chin in her hands, and assumes
| I'M expression of cOuntcnance that Is
| mystcriously calculated to both en-
courage and dcpress the writer; and he
grasps the pen tightly between his fin
| GERS, and starcs at the paper with an
| intensity that is entirely unnecessary.
The date line starts off glibly, and then
suddenly ceases as it reaches the date
itself. He puts the hslder in his mouth,
! and Immediately spits 1t ont again,
making up n face that is no wise sug-
gestive of bergamot, and pettishly asks
her if she knows the day of the month.
| OF course she does. 1t is the l3th-or
is il the-but not must be. She hesi-
tates. stares Mt him, wavcrs, and is lost.
She don't know whether it is the 18th
or 18Th, but the almanac will tell, and
she at once starts to hunt it up. This
occasions Il delay Of some ID minutes,
during which he makes % passes mt ono
fly.
The date having been satisfactorily
settled upon, and the things which
rolled over the floor, as the stand-drawer
unoxpectcdly fell out, having been re-
stored to their place, the date line is
completed, and "Dear Mother started.
The pen is home pen, OF bashiul
mould, and whenever it starts line 1t
REQUIRES half dozen passes to make 1t
| give down. All home pens do this.
And all home sheets of paper have weak
spots which the ink refuses to cross,
thus creating some remarkable divisions
of words, and considerable confusion
among sentences. Some OF these spots
ale two inches in diameter, and any
hndv in the next room can tell the mo-
ment the writer comes to them, Just aS
we'll as if he was looking over his
shoulder. When the letter is completed,
which generally occurs at the end OF the
fifth hour from the commencement, 1t Is
carefully read over and supplied with
absent words, and then gone over again
and artistically touched up with the
pen at the bare places. Then 1t Is
folded up ready for the envelope, and
the discovery is made that there IS no
envelope in the house, and the letter is
tucked in behind the clock until the
want is supplied. Do"b'"y Ne"s.
SMALL MArrERs.-The nerve OF tho
tooth. not SO large rs the finest cambrlc
E,N