The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-06-28
ANSWER YOUR uETrERs.
Some Thoughts For Careless and slipsl
Correspondents.

4 Some Thoughts For Careless and slipsho
i Correspondents
l Few people know what delight and a,
education correspondence may becom.
1 The reason Is that few people know how 4
answer letters" The chief cause Of thi
condition OF things Is carelessness. A DER
l son receives q letter and Is either too bus,
to reread 1t when answering or too lazy I,
] take the trouble. II these slipshod lette
( writer's could see the effect Of their careles.
answers they would rarely drop letter Il
| the box. A careless answer to a friendl,
letter is not only rude, but unkind-some
/ times positively cruel.
An invalid, after reading aloud to me 4
letter she had received from a common
friend, laid 1t YEARLY aside. / asked II
she had not enjoyed It. "Oh, yes,n sh,
said, but it was such an effort to write t.
her, and she does not even mention nv let
ter"
1t hurts to give SO much and receive sc
little.
A more pointed instance comes to nv
mind. An acquaintance who had been ne.
Gently married lost her husband. The
thought of her pain SO filled my Thoughts
at the time that felt must mention Il In
q letter l was obliged to write In the
middle OF the answer which came to me
was this: isn't 1t a shame about Mr..
81 / feel so sorry for his wife, And
that was ALI The very choice of words
irritated and wounded me. The youno
man had died in the opening of his man.
hood, leaving his wife almost crazed with
the loss, and my correspondent merely
thought it ''shamer'
At another time was In trouble of INV
own. / had to write TO friend, and forced
myself to speak Of it, thinking she would
misunderstood silence. I mentioned the
subject quietly, admitting that I felt IT
deeply, and made the rest of my letter as
cheerful as usual. received an answer In
few days, but on the subject which was
uppermost in my thoughts there was not a
world
OF course letters are often written mere
ly to entertain or express friendship, and
specific answer is not required. 1t is al
most always desirable to show the appre-
citation and the pleasure felt at receiving
the letter. The answer should in every
case respond to the spirit of the letter
which called 1t forth. A grave, unrespon-
sive reply to chatty, amusing letter is hu.
initiating In its effect. Light hearted PEG
pie are often the most sensitive to reproof.
n. "a
light, frivolous response to serious or de
spending letter is out OF place and shows a
lack OF consideration for others. Again. a
person writing to one older and wiser for
information or advice should not be made
to feel by the long delay and unwilling
tone OF the answer that another has been
put to great Inconvenience.
We would not think of giggline at a per
son who came to tell us his troubles. nor
would we deliver discourse on vanity 10
the girl who calls for advice concerning her
evening gowns. Who would tell student
to wait few weeks" IL he dropped IN on
his way to school with an unsolved geomet.
rical problemf Yet many people deceive
themselves with the idea that lack of sym.
pathy or heartiness Is not visible in their
letters. as 1t would be in their manner. n
face to face with their correspondents.
man who would have friends must show
himself friendly in his letters as in every
thing else.
1t 10 very true that answering letters IA
often WEAKNESS and yexation, and that
even light correspondence is to some peo-
pie a burden. This very fact should make
every letter writer more careful. Core
spondence Is privilege and involves re-
sponsibility. Bridgart in Kate
Fields Washington.