The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-11-28
BIZ AMELIA z. BARR.
lCOPYRIGHT. 1Sc1

., Oi course, there are yet sucn tnlug,
| as absolutely necessary letters; and
| these, IN their way, ought to be made
IS perfect as possible. Fortunately,
| perfection in this respect is easily at
tainable. its essentials being evident to
all, as soon as they are stated. First,
letter which demands or deserves the
attention of an answer ought to have
1t as promptly as if we We're paying a
, bill Second, we ought to write dis
| tinctly. for bad writing represents
very logged, self-asserting temper;
one, too, which is unfair, because If we
| put forward our criticisms and angular
ties in a personal meeting, they can be
returned in kind, but to send a letter
that is almost unintelligible admits of
40 reprisal, but an answer in some
equally provoking scrawl. Even If the
writing Is only careless, and may be
read with little trou bic, we have no
right to impose that extra trouble
Third, 1t is good thing to write short
letters. The cases in which people
have written long letters and not been
sorry for having done so arc don btless
very rare. No one will ever be worse
for just saying plainly what she has to
say and then signing her name to it.
plainly and In full For name half
signed is not only a vulgarity, it indi-
Gates character unfinished, uncertain
and hesitating.
There is kind Of correspondence
which is a special development Of cur
special civilization and which it is to
be hoped will be carefully avoided by
the young women Of the future-that
Is, the writing of letters begging auto
graphs. A woman who does this thing
has passion which she ought imme-
diately to arrest, and compel to give an
account of itself.
II she did so she would quickly dis
cover that it Is a mean passion, may
querading in character it has no
right to, and no sympathy with. An
autograph beggar is a natural develop
ment, though not very creditable
one. She doubtless began her career
of accumulation with collecting birds
eyes in the country, where they could
be got for nothing. Butterflies were
probably her next ambition. Then
perhaps that mysterious craze for post
ago stamps followed After such
training the mania for autographs
would come as a matter of course And
the sole and whole motive of the COL
lecting business is nothing at all but
the vulgar love of possessing. and es-
pecially of possessing what costs them
nothing.
1t is amusing andprovo1ing to notice
the air Of complaisance with which
some of these begging epistles are suf-
fused. The writer's seem incapable of
conceiving statesmen, artists and au-
thors who will not be as pleased 70
give as they are TO ask But in reality,
n man or a woman, however distin-
guished, who feels a request for his or
her autograph to be a compliment is
soaked in self-conceit; and the large
me- jority certainly do look upon these
requests as simply impairment begging
letters. The request, indeed, carries
an affront with it, no matter how civil.
ly it may be worded: as it is not that
particular autograph that is wanted.
for the begyars generally prefix as an
EXCUSE LhS cl6Cto kSCl Ih<iS lAcE 70
already begged hundreds Certainly.
no self-respecting woman will care to
put herself among the hosts Of these
contemplate seekers after a scrap Of
paper.
Speaking broadly woman's chareo-
ter may be in many respects fairly
guaged By hcr habits on the 50 Hject Of
letter writing; as fairly. indeed. as we
may guage a man by his methods OF
dealing with money. II we know
how man gets money, how he spends
it, how he lends it, borrows it. or saves /
it, we have perfect measurement for I
his temper and capabilities. And if we I
know how a woman deals with her LEI /
tiers, how many she gets, how many she /
sends, how long or how short they are,
IL they are sprawly and untidy, or neat |
and clearly, and how they are signed /
and sealed; then we can judge her ma
ture fairly, for she has written herself 4
down in an open book, and all who
wish may read her.