Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-12-01
DECLINE OF LETTER WRITING.


of reading aloud. seems to have Ions
ago gone down into tho mysterious
recesscs OF the past. There ar" ~cv-
teral ways in which If might he ac-
counted for. though none seems great
enough To prove that Ibis j. an ar
#tuat should IL lost The= newspaper
has made the aHera2c per=onal l4ttes
] practically useless rs a neW@ medium
the next great aids ar. H. rI99raDn
and telephone These have proved
1cuieker diSscminators of rs. 81 tAs
Ilctter has become merely Il parya>os
ol personal gossip and iGyas.
Not only are letters * nrws< uo~
than lon2 ago. bu, they lack th.n#a
ness and care that we're always hatr
marks of tha epistns Of the b"st write.
crs in other days.
A day or so ago the Spjnstor came
III ON The car on which a posrmH4 soon
cIambcred with his mali nulca. This
Itusty rmploye of Uncle sam proecFd
ed ta sort ont the mail as he rod up
tcwn. and as he spread the letters oaz
on he seat beside him the Spjns'ef
lmarxelcd 10 see how many We're a.
Idrezscd with pencil and Wond red
# The iasilo did rot hear the sam9
hclter-skelter Kind Of penmanship
and untidy smears Md yet it va
in, njpI resi-
dcnce part of the city that be had COZ
lected his letters.
Pen and ink are not very expensive
commodities a modern civilization haS
placed them within easy reach OF
ninety-nine ont of hundred persons
r this country and yet 10 judSo by
to the average postman's bag one
would be led to believe that they We're
!, Injuries permitted only 10 men and
women of means.
Pleasures of Letter Writing.
AS an art letter writing should b.
cultivated 1t is entirely possibin that
lfpW OF tHt IttttIS WI IilJcli uoN Notto'
will ever fall under other eyes thai
those for whom they were originally
intended despite the craze for publ ST.
ing cid letters. But it is such an i'm.
! mense satisfaction to the one who
writes TO know that she has used cor
rect paper and envelopes, that her pen
was good and her ink black and thai.
she wrote her best and signed haF
name legibly, When all these things
lare done her ospistle will bear to her
lfriend the marks Of thouehtfulness as
we'll as love.
a book much in vogue long ago in
1.-The Spnsters salad days was "The
:, Wide. Wide World,' and girls VIII
read it were taught by their elders
|to note how the heroine selected her
. scaling wax and stationery with so
Emuch care that she was held up as q
model to indifferent and untidy girls
stationery Of their own now than In
those day but are not so careful th
their uses of these. TOO much famiI-
jaritv with the necessary writing tools
and too little necessity for letters as
> a news medium have caused the ar, te
lose ii sp1ace among those that belong
Ito the @entlewomau.
Tha best literature of a century Or
SO AGO was found in the letters OF a
half dozen people, yet the sedate 1r=
: MUS would shudder in his grave.
clothes today to see some of the hasti.
II = penned missiyes that do duty as
letters.
Craze for Publishing Letters
True if one happens to be great
thore is danger of having ones let.
tprs collected by mercenary and I'M,
feeling relatives or publishers. and the
very thoughts of one S heart given tn ,
gaping public 10 read and analyze as
j; chooses 1t was a son of tho Brown.
: ines who first aesecrated the casIlets
} OF the dead and gave TO the world the
' beautiful love story of his parents
r r:tten when they had meant no one
but themselves to see or know Others
have followed in his footsteps
: until every trunk or garret or old desk
has been made to yield up its hoard OF
treasures to supply the avaracous
needs of others.
This. however, need not deter the
writer from doing her best when she
"takes her pen in hand, for nowadays
women have grown discreet and do
rct pour ont their heart -,hrobs in ink
a. tho rate that those did in the more
sentimental age and, then, too, these
: OF today invariably burn up most o.
thoir letters as fast as theV get thpm