Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-09-28
A NEGLECTED ART.
Great Annoyances Growing Out Of Poor
Writing and Imperfect Addressing.

Great Annoyances Growing Out Of Poor
Writing and Imperfect Addressing.
We have before us letter from postmas-
ter. This letter contains wise suggestion
| that should be perfectly practical in this en-
Gghtened country.
We had had some little correspondence
with him in regard,to variety of subscribers
from his city who had sent their suhscrip-
lions, but had given no street address, thus
by their neglect involving both him and Us
in considerable waste of tine and labor.
We asked him as to methods of reaching the
the general public and teaching the necessi-
ties of full address with their signature.
To this he replies as follows: Your sug-
gestion about notices posted in the offices is a
very good one, but, | am afraid, hardly prac-
teal; in fact, it would not be read, perhaps,
by one in thousand calling at the office
The only remedy know of which suggests
any practical benefit will be to offer pre-
MUM in our schools for the best addressed
letter and newspaper by the young folks, so
rs to educate them up to the great necessity
of properly directing all mail matter, and it
will, of course bring about the desired re-
suit in the future"
The suggestion of our correspondent Is an
excellent one, and has at the same time the
merit of being perfectly practical But, as
he remarks, the future alone will be bene-
flied What we want is an improvement in
the letter writer of today. Ii our sub
scribers could once step into our Office and
see for themselves the time and trouble
wasted in righting their neglect, we think
the necessity Of clear address would be i'm
pressed upon their minds.
The neglect of street addresses, where such
are necessary means delay on our parts, and
annoyance and irritation on the part OF tho
subscriber The paper does not reach its des-
tination, and we are notified of mail lying in
the office, unbelievable for want of address.
All this affects our business, of course, but
there is moral in the matter that lies deeper
than all this. Since the days when all the
letters of the young ladies who had been
graduated from female seminary were
constructed on precisely the same principle,
both as to wording and as to photography, a. re-
vulsion has taken place, and as Is always the
case with such revulsions, we now run to the
other extreme Young people are permitted
to scrawl or to cra1np, at their own sweet
will, and that which was'at one time an over
cultivated art is now neglected almost en-
tirely and education in letter writing is
practically unknown.
a good letter is an excellent thing, and do
let us cultivate our children up to the stand
ard in this point Just why recitation in a
foreign language should be more important
to an American than a good letter in the
English language, it is hard to understand,
but such seems TO be the case.
Let US have higher (the highest EVEN educa-
ton, but let us give the children the best
chance for acquiring that education by
grounding them thoroughly in what are
called I" the common branches" not the least
important among which is-letter writing.
At least let them be taught to sign their full
name, their street address, their town and
their state, as well as to address their envel-
ope in the same clear manner.-Ladies' Homo
journal