National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1873-07-10

cfsiiy letter..
Iron the Saturday ReyfewI ..
we are all given to relic-huntIng after a
fashion. The Instinct Is natural enough, and
yot II Is rather troublesome one, and apt
occasionally to defeat Its own purpose.
Most young people, and especially young
women, src In tho habit Of accumulatinr
museums oil objects which have a sentimental
vaiae' They possess miscellaneous coIlec-
.'oas OF odds and ends Of jewclry, locks Of
hair, and perhaps fragments Of clothing. A
chiia shoe may become 4 piece OF en-
oodied poetry, and DO valued at an indefinite
price. As for the piles Of correspondence
.ney are preserved TIL their Ink Is faded and
tneir paper tattered; they arc enough 70
STRIKE with awe the librarians OF the British
Musoum. Any one who has accidentally
come on an old deposlt Of this kind In some
ing, for not only are they sad by force Of the
contrast between the interest which thew
onoo excited and their present want Of mean.
ing, but we cannot help asking how far they
ever served their purpose. Was not even
the hrst proprietor intolcrably bored with
them during Ills or her lifetime and only ne.
strained by Interpretations feeling from
summarily conslgning them TO the fames1
When they were hrst neatly arranged and
pat away In sacred receptacle, Ii WAS donbt.
go witn tno Intention OF frequently recur-
TTnns % Mom and rcawakening old emotions.
Inc enanccs are that they were never or.
aT,ned again, and that the sacred ruccptacio
ooiy asserted itself az o distinct nuisance
when o change Of habitatlon became neccss
sary, or lumber-rsom had to b: cleared ont.
Incy were originally preserved rs a Kind Of
pieuge tnat the sentiment associated with
~, ,Sem snooid DC permanent; and as luckily
UB0XrH f,s.. a.
sen are void OF any binding force, they have
survived 70 DO merely ghastiy reminder of
the smallness Of tho space occupied by old
memories. a PHO Of letters may not occupy
m ,,, room N house, but Il Is odds that Il
,hs,, ~ year or two, occupy more room
upon me mind Of the proprietor. A person
VIZ systematically burns every letter &c soon
rs ne receives II Is probably accommodating
fewer reasons for regret than the person who
rehgiously preserves them In tho hope Of
some future efusiou Of plous sentiment. The
nsk who is thinking Of preserving mcmorials
inc very simple one whether they are dead
or living; whether, that IL, they are calcu-
lated ct future tlmc to revive fading i'm
prcssions or to be merely passive, deriving
saI Iso ,ntsGei TIA as they may possess from
Mating power. In the latter case they
cannot, as q rule, DO too soon destroyed.
what lie tho use, for example, of pre-
serving . document In which A. B.
prcsents his compliments to G. D., and re-
quests the pleasure Of his company to dinner
Can You realize any more dlstlnctly the char.
aeter OF either Of the correspondents, how
ever remarkable they may be In Themselves 2
ls there not rubbish enough In tho world
already, and sufficient material stored up 10
pcrplex the future historian Of the nine tccnth
centuryl Indeed II may DO said that as
rule oil tho private correspondence should DO
burnt: Nobody writes good lettcrs since the
Introduction OF the penny postage. The art
Is lost, and the practice Of preserving the
documents which now usurp the name Is bid
ding fair TO ruin the art Of biography. The
life OF remarkable man Is now, for the most
part, set Of dreary scraps Of utterly faded
communications about trincs, connected by
thin links Of barron dates and dry statements
OF fact. A biography ought to 10 a literary
work OF art OF the highest kind; II Ia rarely
more refreshlng than bluc-book Of dis.
patches. The hero, as tho author asserts |
win meek humility, shall paint himself, and
he does II by the hurried scraps OF scribbllng
which now do duty for letters, and into which
no reasonable being thinks II worth while 10
instrt fragment Of his soul or intellect.
Our rercrcntial affection exceeds Its proper
bounds when II endcayors To preserve that
which Is essentially perlshablc.