The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-06-27
ANSWER YOUR LETTERS.
eamc Thoughts For Careless and sIipshop
Correspondence.

Correspondents.
Few people know what Il delight and an
education correspondence may become.
The reason is that few people know how to
answer letters" The chief cause of this
condition of things is carelessness. A per-
son receives n letter and is either too busy
to rcrcad it when answering or too lazy to
take the trouble. II these slipshod letter
writers could see the effect of their careless
answers they would rarely drop II letter in
the box y careless answer to Il friendly
letter is not only rude, but unkind-some-
times positively crucl.
An invalid, after reading aloud to me n
letter she had received from common
friend, laid it YEARLY aside 1 asked if
she had not enjoyed it, "Oh, yes" she
said, but it was such an effort to write to
her, and she does not even mention my let
ter"
1t hurts to give so much and receive so
little.
y more pointed instance comes to my
mind. An acquaintance who had been re.
Gently married lost her husband. The
thought of her pain so filled my thoughts
ut tue time that felt must mention it in
n letter l was obliged to write In the
middle of the answer which came to me
was this: Isn't it u shame about Mr.
s.? feel SO sorry for his wife" And
that was ALL The very choice of words
irritatcd and wounded me- The young
man had died III the opening of his man
hood, leaving his wife almost crazed with
the loss. and my correspondent merely
thought it n ''shamc,'
AT another time was in trouble of nv
own. had to write to IL friend, and forced
myself TO speak of it, thinking she would
misunderstood silence / mentioned the
subject quietly, admitting that felt it
deeply, ana made the rest of my letter as
cheerful rs usual. l received an answer in
n few days, but on the subject which was
uppermost in my thoughts there was not II
word,
OF course letters are often written mere
~ to entertain or express friendship, and a
specific answer is not required. 1t is al
most always desirable to show the appre-
citation and the pleasure felt Mt receiving
the letter. The answer should in every
case respond to the spirit of the letter
which called it forth. a grave, unrespon-
sive reply to u chatty, amusing letter is hui
initiating in it's effect. Light hearted peo-
pie are often the most sensitive to reproof.
implied or otherwise. In like manner, a
light, frivolous response to n serious or de-
spending letter is out Of place and shows n
lack of consideration for Others. Again, q
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 giggling Mt per
son who came TO tell us his troubles, nor
would we deliver n discourse on vanity to
the girl who calls for advice concerning her
evening gowns. Who would tell a student
&c wait few weeks if he dropped in on
his way to school with an unsolved geomct-
rcal problem? Yet many people deceive
themselves with the idea that lack of SYM
patty or heartincss is not visible in their
letters, as it would lie in their manner. if
face TO face with their correspondents. 4
man who would have friends must show
himself friendly in his letters rs in every
thing else
1t is very true that answering letters is
often IL WEAKNESS and veNaton, and that
even IL light correspondence is to some peo-
pie II burden. This very fact should make
every letter writer more careful. Core
spondence is a privilege and involves re-
sponsibility.-Lillian Br;dgart in Kate
Fields Washington.