The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-12-10

To CoRRESPONDENTS.-The Editors
portfolio contairs at this time fully one
hundred letters awaiting answers, -and
some of them a month old. All shail're-
ceive attention at our first opportunity.
For several days past we have been un-
able to do much work, having spent part
of Saturday, all of Sunday and Monday,
shut up in a darkened room and being
compelled, as a matter of course, to give
precedence to the demands of the paper.
The week is only six days long, and if
the printers be forced 10 lose half a day
by lack of copy" or delayed proof
the paper cannot be gotten out in time
for Wednesday trains, which being lost,
cause a delay of one week to hundreds
of our subscribers, who are supplied by
the weeklyt''Star Routes" These gener-
ally start from the Railway Station early
on Thursday morning; hence our paper
must be at hand on Wednesday night.
Remembering these things, good
friends, and that two whole days of each
week are spent in the manual labor of
mailing" you can see that correspon-
dents who write TO US, on their oton busi
ness, ought not to get angry if we happen
to be ten days or longer in replying. Our
delay does not imply either neglect or
Indifference. We like to hear from our
friends, and not orce only, but often.
The great defect of the Southern people
for two hundred years has been a neglect
&C Tho NOT Ctnnl, - -
tiers, but also in the minor paths of life.
One half the good things in English and
French Literature grew out of the ex-
change OF news and views between noble
intellects in friendly correspondence. The
most valuable books of one hundred ago
are those entitled-"Life and letters, Of"
such persons as Bacon, Pitt. Chesterfield
Swift, Ben Franklin, Thos. Jefferson,
Madame De Stael, and ten thousand
others. One thing which contributes to
unite and unity the leading classes of
England and of New England is the con-
tinual intercourse of mind by means of
letters.
Whereas in the South, many of our
well to do and respectable families do
not receive or send a dozen letters In a
year. 1t you happen to ask for pen and
paper, 1t raises a commotion In the house.
The host hunts behind the clock for the
ink bottle, and his wife accuses Bill of
using the pen to clean his pipe. Finally
some one remembers that Polly used the
last drop six months previous marking
her shirts
If two families be separated more than
a days journey they might as well be one
miles apart; for they almost
lose sight of each other. Thousands of
our readers have near relatives residing
IN some distant county, OF ''over in Vir-
glnla, from whom they do not hear once
in five years; though at one time devoted
1t is owing to this lack of Epistolary |
culture and habit that SO little of the
past history of North Carolina can be
correctly written. An host of gifted in
have lived and died in the State,
but they left little trace; either of''W ork"
Or Letters" How much light might
thrown upon the Revolutionary days
I a trunk full of letters from Col. Thos.
Polk, Gen. Joseph Graham, Gen. Davie,
iov. Caswell, or any of their
n the leadership of the North Carolina
IF that day, could be found in the library
,r eve in the garnet, Of our old family
nansionsi
Suppose we had the friendly CORES
,ondence of Judge CASTOR, and Senator
haywood. and Mr.. Badger; or even the
eaders of a later date, Graham, Bragg,
lanly. b. p. Moore, and others! Gov.
swain, We suppose, has left the state his
!ebtor for a large memorabilia, but as to
he others-a trunk would not be needed
o hold all that survives in their pens
More's the pityi