The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-17
MODERN LETTER WRITING.
The Art of Correspondence Has Bee
Sadly Neglected.


Letter writing isn't as much of an art
as 1t once was. Books had to be writ
ten of it years ago, and 1.-THE Ready
Letter Writer was an infallible and
as essential as a cook book is to manv
people nowadays. 1t isn't worth while
TO compare it to a book of etiquette
because time is casting the shadow of
unpopularity over ''The Habits of Good
SOCIETY,", and it has moved down from
the book shelf where we keep the
household classics. If you are cultured
you are supposed to know how to be-
have and how to write a letter as we'll
as the eminent litterateurs who were
popular years ago, and not SO long ago.
either, on account of their printed opin-
ions on these subjects However. on
the other hand, it is an undeniabIe
fact that society at present could Of
ten profit by occasional reference to a.
text book on manners, and as to letter
writing, the art of it has absolutely
fallen into innocuous desuetude.
In colonial days letter was men
tai, moral and social effort Edward
Eggleston, in lecture on colonial
times, reads letter which illustrates
eXcellently the Formally which was the
SOS%SSA L
was written from one dear colonial
dame to another, and read as follows:
"Oh, my Marcia: How hard is our
fate that we should be deprived of
your dear company when it would COM
plete our felicity, but such is the fate
of mortals. We are never permitted to
be happy. [ suppose it is right else the
supreme disposer of all things would
never have permitted it. We should
perhaps have been more negleotful of
our duty than we are
The stilted phraseology is calculated
to call forth a smile of derision and pity
in our day of hurried communications
in which we emphasize the realism of
life in our correspondence. 1t is a gen
orally conceded fact, if not a philosoph-
ical law, that from a letter more evil
dence is to be gained of the character
of the person to whom it is written
than of the writer himself The rule is
fascinating one in it's practical APP
plication, and you can apply it per-.
sonally after reading your own letters
written to friend, relative, lover or bus
mess acquaintance. Your own person
ality is naturally adjusted to the cor
respondence at a, distance, in the same
manner as your physical presence
would be.
The day of crossing and recrossing
the paper with horizontal, perpendicu
lar and diagonal lines, which was a
feature of two generations back and
one in common use among the gentler
sex went out presumably with the re-
duction in postal expense. No regrets
followed the decadence of this fashion,
and there is no danger of it's revival.
The up-to-date writer, however, has
playful characteristics which demand
mention. Since the angular style of
penmanship came into vogue letter
readers have become experts in deciph-
ering chirography Amelia B. Edwards,
the Psychologist, plunged into the hier-
oglyphics of the Orient with success,
and something of the same persistence
rendered it possible for the modern
feminine pen to be deciphered.
The modern letter has also an enig-
fourth page of the paper and continues
on the pages least naturally to follow.
The intelligence of its recipient receives
dattering acknowledgement in quiet
way and casts about for the sequence
of ideas by means of the context The
modern letter of correct form never has
it's pages numbered. There must come
a reaction and letter writing must
again become an art. At present the OBJ
legation is not regarded with due OBJ
servance. Before the reaction comes
there will be a stage when a typewrit-
er will come into the family spring and
fall to do up the family letter writing,
the same as the seamstress who comes
to do up the white sewing. We have