The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-01-13
x@HE ART OF LETTER-WRITING
NOT gDEAD.-There are classes

NOT aDEAD.-There are classes
Of human beings Of lugubrious
minds who go about seeking evidences
that some good thing or another is dead.
They catch sight of something that
looks like a corpse, and thereupon pub
hsh a death notice and funeral an
nouncement. AS likely as not, however,
"corpse'' has disclosed marked signs
of vitality, if, indeed, it has not sat
up in the coffin, to the discontinue OF
the self-appointed mourners. Some.
thing like, this happens every now and
then to those who cry that the art OF
letter-Writing is dead. x....-s.
# one wishes proof that the. art of
him read The Upton Letters, by '"T..
B. - He will not only find that the
art is alive, but he will get very much
that will tend toward the edifcation of
his own soul, if he have one, or if it be
not dead. =
,"s!The Upton Letters purport to
have been written by a British school
the qualities Of carefully studied es-
says, with the added virtue Of spon-
taneity. They express the profound
convictions Of one who has thought
clearly to conclusions on subjects Of
weight, and who avoids verbiage and
| dullness. Besides, there is lack Of
that restraint which bars essays-at
least, sometimes-from being quite
frank. The writer lays bare his Utmost
dences Of trepidation which convince
the reader that the unbosoming is
genuine. ~. ., .
Best: Of all in the essays is their Sin
cere call to sincerity. One sees SINGER
ity in the character of the writer as
| we'll as in his argument. What he is
openly and frankly to, the recipient
would have all be to one another. He
urges "that the only good work one
does is the work which one finds easy
and likes that is the, work in which
| there is neither pose on the one hand
nor drudgery on the other. To such
work he would have the man, who has
found his work, stick regardless of am,
1 thing as an incentive in youth and
preparation for one IS real work in life,
| but when one is in his work he would
have one "pursue one g own line, do
one $ own business to the best Of one s
ability, and leave the rest to God. -
How it would simplify life if that rule
were followed generally! How many
could set by adopting It'll ~.
ct. B.'sO ideas, if adopted, would
work something of revolution in edu
cational methods, but there is at least
one person in the world who wishes
they could have been tried on him
There is not space here for an outline
Of these ideas, but this will surely
sound good to some who have been thru
the fortunes Of old language methods. :
| ThensI would abolish 2the absurd little
lessons, with the parsing, and I would
at all hazards push on till they (the pu-
pils) could read f1uently.
One will like, too, the fine comment!
on books and nd authors, which are to to b
found in "The Upton Letters.' Take
this about Omar Khayyam thought ou1
after CIT. b. had heard some of the
poets verses quoted in a sermon:
| /. heard no more of the sermon tina
day; repeated to myself many Of thu
incompatible quatrains, and felt tht
poem to be the most beautiful present
ment of agnosticism that has ever beer
given to the world. The worst of it il
that the delicate traitor makes it 81
beautiful that one does not feel thu
shame and futility of it.
Perhaps too much has been said alon,
lines that appeal to the reviewer to Civ
an adequate idea of the wide and de
lightful fields covered by the lette
writer. However, if what has here beer
said may be called CLEAN, it may b.
added with safety: "Follow tn
CLEAN. - -. - ~
J. B. Putnam's Sons, New York. p" -