Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-11-13
Decline OF LETTER WRITING

The art Of letter.Writing, like that
OF reading aloud, seems to have long
ago gone down into the mysterious
recesses of the past. There are sey=
eral ways in which il might be ac=
counted for, though none seems great
enough to prove that this is an art
that should be lost, The newspaper
has made the average personal letter
practically useless as a news Medium
the next great aids are he telegraph
and telephone. These have proved
quicker disseminators of news. SO the
letter has become merely a puryeyor
OF personal gossip and ideas.
Not only are letters less newsy now
than long ago. but they lack the neat.
ness and care that We're always hall
marks of the epistles of the best write
ers in other days.
A day or SO ago the Spinster came
ii on the car on which a postman soon
clambered with his mail pouch This
It1usty employe of Uncle Sam proceed
ed TO sort ont the mail as he rode up.
town, and as he spread tho letters out
on the seat beside him the Spinster
marveled to see how many were ad-
| dressed With pencil and wondered
IF the inside did not bear the sama
erskelter kind Of penmanshin
and untidy smears. And yet it was
from the pest boxes in nice resi-
dence part of the city that he had col
i lected his letters.
Pen and ink are net very expensive
! commodities, modern civilization has
placed them within easy reach CT
! ininetv.nine out of a hundred persons
in this country and yet to judge by
much of the mail that finds its way in
, to the average poatman's bag one
would be led to believe that they we're
Injuries permitted only 10 men and
women Of means.
Pleasures Ct Letter Writing.
As an art letter writing should b.
cultivated. 1t is entirely possible that
few Of he letters written nowadays
will ever fall under other eyes tha
those for whom thav were originally
intended despite the craze for publish
ine old letters. But it is such an inn
4Dense satisfaction to he one who
writes to know that she has used cor
rect paaer and envelopes. that her pen
was e0ol and her ink black and that
she wrote her best and signed her
name leoiblv. When all these things
ere done her espistle will bear to her
friend the marks Of thoashtfulness as
well as love.
4 book much in vogue long ago II
tho Spinsters salad days was "The
Wide. Wide World and girls Wh
read it were taught by their elders
+, note how the heroine selected her
sealing wax and stationery with sc
much care that she was held up as =
model to indifferent and untidy girls
More young people have desks and
stationery Of their own now than in
those days. but are not so care1ul III
tbo;r usee of these. Too much famil
;e rtv with the necessary writing tools
and too little necessity for letters as
. news medium have caused the art te
losa II splace among those that belong
to the gentlewoman.
Tho best literature of century OF
ca ago was found in the letters OF
half dozen people, yet the sedate Ju
nius would shudder in his grave
clothes today to see some of the hastl
!, penned missives that do duty as
letters.
Craze for Publishing Letters.
True. if one happens to be grea
+hare is danger of having ones let
tors collected by mercenary and un
feeling relatives or publishers, and the
very thoughts of ones heart given th'
gaming public to read and analyze a.
j, chooses. It was son of the Brown
inas who first desecrated the casket
Of the dead and gave to the world tn
beautiful love story of his parents
written when they had meant no on
hut themselves to see or know. Other
have followed in his footstep
until every trunk or garrett or old desi
has been made to yield up its hoard o
treasures to supply the avaraciou
needs of others.
This. however, need not deter tn
writer from doing her best when sh
"takes her pen in hand" for nowadav
women have grown discreet and d
moi pour out their heart-throbs in in
/