Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-05-01


misreprcsented ard resulted. twenty
years ago. I'm the humiliation OF the
writer's political aspirations. Peril
nent illustration the third: The impul-
sive letter written by George Washing
tons most intimate personal friend in
the army, Colonel Joseph Reed. TO Cen
eral Charles Lee. That letter practical
~ destroyed Joseph Reeds whole fu-
ture career. My brother. with such
examples before you. ask yourself IL
you can afford go write any letter which
will not bear the test OF wholesale pub,
licity. However sure you may be OF
your letters being safely delivered to
your correspondent who will rightly
understand them. do not forget that in
the changes of life they may fail into
the hands Of malicious and hostile per-
sons.
Furthermore, you should not write Al
letter which cannot be rightly read by
the whole world at large. because you
do not know how soon the friend to
whom you have written may become
your enemy. Oh. how easy il is TO
snap the ties of friendship which bind
human heart to human heart. Broth
ers who once slept i'm the same cradle
and played i'm the same nursery and
We're the subjects of the same prayers
can become so bitter I'm their hatred
that they Will even fight mortal COM
bat over their parents graves. Friends
who once loved as n Jonathan and
David may come TO hate each other as
Cain hated his brother Abel Then the
friend who has now become the enemy
will nearly always try &c destroy you
by the evidence of the unguarded let
tiers which you have written I'm times
of love
When Friend Turns Upon Friend
My father used TO impress this
thought upon me 10y the recollections
of an awful night which he passed in
an ordeal of indescribable horrors. A
very near and dear relative OF his was
his intimate associate for many years.
They were TO each other as intimate as
brothers. They confided in each other
everything. Time passed on, and there
was a rupture. The friendship was
broken. What did that relative do?
He Immediately took all the letters
which my father had written and hand
ed them over TO the newspapers for
publication. The night that my father
heard of the despicable act. as he has
often told me, was the most awful
night of his whole life. He knew that
he had done no wrong, but he was
afraid that in confidential CORE
spondenCe Of many years he might
have written something which i'm the
eyes of the world might be imprudent.
All that night he tramped the floor.
When the first ray OF daylight told that
the dawn was near. he went out TO buy
the morning newspaper which contained
the published private correspondence.
He read these published letters i'm the
street. When he returned. the first words
he said 10 mother were: Thank God.
there is nothing compromising that !
have written, Thank God! Thank
God.' That IS not the only Illustration
which might De given where friend
has turned upon friend. Then, my
brother. 60 either friend or foe alike
never write anything which may some
day not be able TO stand the test OF
the public print.
Never write letter with n yenreful
pen. dipped into an ink we'll filled with
hatred. When one has been unjustly |
attacked. 1t is very easy for an in
Jured man to say: Il wish could see |
that man. wish could give him a |
good piece of my mind. 1 wish could |
tell him i'm plain. blunt language what |
| think OF him and his actions. AS IL
cannot see him, | will just sit down |
and write him n letter" Then he hasti- |
ly sits down aud writes n Demosthe- |
Man philippe. Nituperations and de- |
nunciations. contemptuous excoriation. |
singing ironies. bitter epigrams and |
whole verbal avalanches of inyectiye |
are gathered together upon the letter |
sheet ut the pens touch. Then he |
rushes away 20 the post office and |
buys special delivery stamp. He
pounds It upon the envelope with n
blow that sounds like foundry I'm
full blast Then he goes home. saying
TO himself: There, have relieved N.Y.
self OF that matter. ! have told that |
man just what think OF him and his
actions. IL he should ever repeat the
offcnsc. | shall not only write TO him
another letter, but / shall expose his
actions Ia his employers. his wife, chill
dren and TO the public at large"
The RevenEefuI Letter.
Now. my friend. in one sense IL NAV
ease your mind TO write n revengefuI
letter, but what good does such letter
DO! Does IL make your enemy feel
any Kinder or more gentle to you?
Does such Il letter ever make q man
feel any kinder or more gentle to the
great world at large? Have you made
him better man? Have YOU made
yourself better man also? In fact.
In n!nety-nine cases out OF n hundred
does not such letter damage Your
neighbor and also do more damage to
the sender than il does 10 the man TO
whom The letter Is sent? | once read
or an eastern tyrant who wanted to
Destroy an enemy. He invited this en-
envy TO sup with him. While they sat
at meat he had the waiter bring in two
glasses of wine, the one poisoned and
the other not. But when the king Of
Tered 10 his guest n cup he (the kingl
by mistake took and drank the poi
soned cup. Like the king, is it not al
ways the case when man writes n
purely revengefui letter that he is hurt
more IN the sending than the enemy is
IN the receiving? Did not the officers
Of state prepare their own death war
rant when they persuaded Darius to
send forth the public decree by which
hey hoped TO destroy the prime min
Ster?
Never write letter without realiZ-
ng that in it you have the mightiest
of testifying for Jesus
christ. We have all studied the far
eachinS effect in n literary sense OF
etter writing. The private CORE
pondence between individuals fills
ome of the brightest and the most
interesting books of literature. The
owe letters of Elizabeth Barrett and
robert Browning, the tender words
which were sent east and west across
he Atlantic ocean when Thomas Car
yle, the mighty sage OF English let ]
erS. and Ralnh NValdA Ia,,,o,-eo,>