The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1892-02-11
Letter.Writtng.
BY RAMEOUS.

A friend. who happens to have an idea or
two of his own, is constantly advising his
acquaintances in no case to become parties
to regular correspondence. He is a great
letter writer himself. but never answers an
epistle. unless it contain queries as to mat
tiers of fact, or be an invitation to ball or
q dinner-unless. in word, real, not what
he considers conventional, politeness re
quires; in which event. his reply is dis.
patched at once. Under all other circum
stances. he ignores the last missive from
him or her to whom his envelope is address
ed. He studiously frames his own cOmmu-
nications in such wise, that they do not call
for an answer. He will totally neglect an
intimate friend for months, then let fly at
him epistIe after epistle, and then give no
sign of life for long while again. If asked
to exchange letters once week or once a
fortnight he sOlemnly inquiries whether the
wind goes by machinery, and is, after a
given interval, invariably at such o'clock
adding that it is his aim, not to keep up,
but to keep down, correspondence. If ac
cused of lowing letter. he repudiates the
obligation. and affirms that he will go to
Jail sooner than pay it off. If taxed with
heartlessness he retOrts by asking whether
it can be the duty of moral being to insult
a man by writing to him when there is
nothing to say.
That these notions. whether they did or
did not originate i'm an unfortunate love-
affair. which my friend is said to have gone
through in his youth, contain grains of
truth NAV be easily shown,
drop letter in the st. Paul pOstOffice
to day; my friend in Chicago receives it to-
morrow and pens reply at once, which
finds me in St. Paul within twenty four
hours. HI may have understood and really
answered my epiStle. But suppose him to
have waited a week. New matters have,
meantime. taken possession of both his
mind and mine; the topics. which were
fresh when wrote, have lost their interest;
the bridge between us is broken down. His
reply is worth little more to me than water
to flowers cut month since. or seed to a
canary that was inferred with tears last
Saturday.
Correspondence is conversation carried on
under certain peculiar conditions. but sub
ject to the same rules as conversation by
word of mouth. except so far as they may
be modified by those necessary conditions.
You do not take your partners bright say
ing nome with you ana Drlng repartee 10
the next ball. by which time she has for
gotten what her bon mot was. and has
another. every whit as good, upon her lips;
you do not return lead in whist at the
next rubber; you do nOt'pOstpone the laugh
over the jokes of the dinner table. as is
fabulOusly narrated of Washington, until
you have retired for the night. In social
intercourse. minds must meet before one
person can be brought to anOther's mood or
both to middle ground; it is the friction of
contact, that creates conversation. A re-
mark, not answered the instant after it has
been made, is never answered. The bOres
and Doors of society. not the gentlemen and
ladies. ruminate upon what has been said.
elaborate replies at leisure. and serve them
up unseasOnably.
For the purpose of correspondence, one
may and must throw himself back into the
immediate past and assume the mood that