St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-03-18
letters are when the love which inspi,

letters are when the love which inspired
them was not all passion, and has en-
dared the strain Of the years and burns
with steady glow when the hrr has
grown gray and the eyes are dim, and
when the reading of the yelIowe.l and
creased letters brings back rush of
sweet memories of the days when hope
was strong and ambition was high. and
the one who wrote them was thu one
person in all the universe who made
life worth living.
Some Frenchman 1T is always that
sSOme Frenchman" who SAYS the cute
things that hang in your memory-said
that the way to write good letter was
to begin without knowing what you
were going to say, and closing without
knowing what you had said. This is
very close 10 what happens when an
evening is spent with friend having
views enough in common TO prevent
dispute. and at variance enough to Gre
ate that friction which in its turn is
provocative of thought. the talk is
discurSlvc. and in its course wauders
hither and there until. if you review it,
the path is as ZigZag as the summer
days Sauntering Of village boy amid
the woods. Your minds touch the yari-
GUS topics as the honey bee visits the
| flowers, getting from each something,
and flying at the slightest suggestion to
| another topic, apparently unrelated.
But we all know that we and our
friends are hopelessly stupid at times,
and the talk is fiat and hangs heavily,
and no effort will start the sluggish
! stream OF thought. Then it is we'll to
| have recourse to the pipe and silence,
reposing on Carlyle'S assurance that he
and Emerson passed a very enjoyable
evening sitting by the fire smoking their
| pipes until midnight, with never a
! spoken VOID passing between them.
But you can't smoke pipes and be silent
i'll letters, and one can no more write
the letter that pleaSeS both the sender
and receiver unless the mood is right
than can one talk when the wits are
dulled. Lowell, in one of the charming
letters which Norton has so we'll edited
| and given to the world, admitted that
his moods controlled him, and that he
had to await their imperiOus will; and it
is somewhat of comfort to find that gen.
JUS is not exempt from the limitations of
lesser minds.
Creditabie writing is sometimes done
| when the moods rebel and the faculties
are driven TO their task under the whip
and spur of maSterTul will, but the
strain of effort is as visible in the writ
ing as is the squirt of the jaded horse
under the sting of the lash. Only the
direSt need should ever compel any
kind of writing under such conditions,
for it eXcites pity where the work should
command admiration, and gives pain
where it should give pleasure. This
effect is plainly seen in some of the let
terS OF Lowell written in the later years
of his life, when decrepitude made ex-
ertion wearying. They lack the spon-
taneity, the charming freshness, the
ready flash of thought, the confident
grace of the letters of his prime.
SO when you would write consult your
soul it the mood be with you. and il it
/ isn't; if the thought come laboriously, if
you have to chew your penholder while
thinking what to say, stop; put away
the pen and paper, and wait the comm g
I VI tiiO "Ooo "itii ITO I'LL pCIlOuS Impulse
to have something said. Then give
your pen loose rein, throw the bride
over the neck OF your Pegasus. and let
it roam where it will. cropping the flow
ers by the wayside; wandering off into
no -thoroughfares; simply say the
things, wise or unwise and be sure to
have some of both-that come to your
mind. Don't read it over; let the slips
Of grammar go; don't make excuses for
pen or ink or spelling, but enfolo and