The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-02-28
OLD TIME LETTERS
AN EPISTLE WRITTEN NEARLY ONs
HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

The Reyerentiai Manner Ic w hich YOUNG
Girl of That Period Addressed Her Fa-
ther-Proper Way For a Lover to Ask His
Sweetheart to EIope With Hin.
If the pr!In Puritan maiden of ce1trry
ago did not startle n,asculinity By wear.
ing bloomers on the public highway, Q.
pompously presiding as political mass
meetings, or-horrible to reiate-smokina
perfUred cigarettes On the sly, she must
have been a deunediy charming girl
withal. A typical gentlewoman, she com
mands, irresistibly, more than ardent ed
sniration.
II character can be portrayed in latte,
writing-and no one doubts the fact-an
epistolary message written nearly CEN
tury ago by a devoted young BostoniaD
maiden TO her much beloved papa in Phil
adelphia will afford an intensely interest
ing study of commencement de siecls
womanhood, as il were.
To be sure. the dear young girl who
penned the loving message decades and
decades ago never dreamed that her letter
would be published al tho dawn of the
twentieth century in Chicago newspape,
and read by the eyes OF modern woman,
so called For fact Chicago was not on
the map in those days, and wonIan-love-
IL woman-had not been modernized. TIC
peer into this primitive maiden's private
affairs really seems a sacrilege. The cps
tie is, however. so essentially unique, 50
different from the flippant style of CORE
spondence today and withal so suggestive
OF the excessive formality and great reyer-
}l1 nv ch In
proverbial good old times that its perusal
may be pardonable. In word, it is the
embodiment of flial affection. 1t would
doubtless surprise the average indulgent
papa of today, vino is quite used TO being
told few things occasionally by his 'ad-
yanced," all wise daughters.
The fair writer was evidently a young
woman Of exceptional culture in those
early days. OF course she must have been.
for did she not reside in the Hub City and
eat baked beans? IN q peculiarly artistic
and legible handwriting the remarkable
letter is thus addressed: Rev. John Muir
ray, TO the care of Colonel John Connolly,
Philadelphia.
There is the customary heading-"Bos-
ton, Feb. IS, lS0i''-but the usual sallita-
ton of my Dear Father" is omitted.
After this interesting fashion Miss Julia
Marcia Murray makes reparation for q
supposed slight TO her paternai ancestor:
You are astouished, my dear papa, at
not receiving an answer to your letter, and
/, my dear sir am eQually astonished that
my answer written as early as the Stb OF
January has not yet reached you.
Yes, indeed, you are entitled TO my
utmost gratitude, my utmost affection, to
my duty, and my veneration. and l should
have considered myself inexcusGble if /
had delayed day to acknowledge q letter
which gave me such heartfelt pleasure. II
you have received my letter, you viii find
in it expressions of the warmest gratitude.
1t Will always, my dear father, make me
unhappy to know that you are SO, and
particularly if / have eny reason to sup
pose myself, even unintentionally, the
cause of it. You ought not TO be kept in
suspense, and do indeed, my dear papa,
consider it prime duty to attend TO yon,
and have given circumstantial account
OF tho school exhibition and other particu-
lars. And now, my dear sir, indulging
the hope that have rendered you easy ON
the subject of my not writing to you, L
will go on to part Of your letter over
which L shed Inany, very many, tears.
''Oh, my father, my heart is indeed
filled with tender affection for my dear,
my excellent p.-ent, and If my heart be
an aifectionate feeling heart how could
you expect that should read the follow
ing very affecting line in your letter with
out its being torn: Sweet soul, you viii
not have your parents longf' When I
came to read this, / could no longer re-
strain my tears, so covering my face with
my handkerchief l audi5iy sobbed. Can
endure the thought that those dear, in
dulgent parents must ascend to the bosom
cf their God before me2 Would to heaven
l could continue here as long as i could BE-
useful TO tham and then wing my flight
TO the regions =. the blessed, where might
prepare garlands OF never fading roses to
crown them with, but as this is felicity
too great for human beings TO attain |
must content myself with the lot Of NOR
tally and meekly bow my head in pious
resignation.
And now, my dear papa, hoping that
you will acquit me of either neglect or
inattention 10 the best of fathers, l repeat
again and again that 1 am your ever aztec
tomato and dutiful daughter,
JULIA MARCIA MURRAY.
Owe have got our buckwheat meal. Mr..
Jones and Cousin Mary Allen desire their
best regards. j. NJ. NJ
= writer on etiquette Of those days tells
amorous youths how 20 write fetching
billet dOux TO their ladyloves. Ciandcs-
tine marriages must have been as popular
in the long ago as they are today. At any
rate, the writer gives an ideal letter from
"a young gentleman, who is in expecta-
ton of an estate from his penurious uncle
10 young lady of small fortune, whom
he desires to elope with him to New Eng
land" After this fashion was the anxious
lover instructed in this interesting branch
of lovemaking:
MY DEAR NARIA-My uncle's laying
his injunctiOus upon me not TO see you
more has only served 70 add fuel TO my
passion. 1 cannot live without you, and
If you persist in refusing 70 comply am
miserable forever. pay no regard 20 his
threatening when put in competition with
the love have for you. Don't be afraid
Of poverty. II he should continue ine1O-
rable, have still education sufficient TO
procure genteel employment in one Of
the public Offices, where l may rise TO pref
srment Therefore, IL ever you loved me,
let me beg that you viii no. make me any
longer unhappy. Let me entreat you By
all that's dear that you will comply with
nv request and meet ne al Sunday
evening at the back door Of the garden.
where chaise and four viii be ready. I
will ly on the wings OF love 10 meet my
charmer and he happy in her embraces
dr. fCvar 1f--f.hErauo