The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-20
PERILS or THE TELEPHONE.
As 2 OF Communication Between
Loyers--Deeay of Letter writing.

Andrea Lang in London Chronicle.
The telephone, II audible TO Others than the
beloved object. is quite as unsafe as love let
tiers, which you can compos with caution.
keeping office copies. like q Scotsman known
In story. When conversing through q tele-
phone. and holding amorous discourse. with
intentions perhaps honorable, but certainly
vague. how are you to know that the lady's
solicitor is not listening and making a note OF
IL at the further end? Conspirators ought TO be
chary of using the telephone; clphered letters
are much safer. at least II Government has not
the key to the cipher. which 1t has, In fact.
usually purchased from one OF the daring sons
of freedom concerned In the plot.
Perhaps my notions OF the perils connected
with the telephone are inaccurate. II they
we're so great as they appear. the phone would
not be the substitute for pen and ink, and
would not be destroying the art OF letter writ
ing. which 1t Is doing. as / am credibly in
formed. Let US rejoice that the thing was not
discovered sooner.
II Horace Walpole could have chatted
with Horace lam in Florence by telephone.
or Mime. de Sevigne with her daughter. or
Thackeray with Mrs, Brookfeld. or Mr..
Stevenson from Samoa with Mr.. Gosse ana
others, our literature would be the poorer.
1t is true that we should also be spared the
painfully dull correspondence which pads
out volumes OF Life and Letters" but. after
all, we need not read these unless We are
conscientious reviewers. which Is far from
probable.
The art Of letter writing does seem to be
In decay, and no wonder. for few people
have time to read a long letter; at all events,
a long letter much alarms them. They put
IL away, meaning to read ii after dinner,
but they read the evening newspaper ana
forget about the letter, Lovers do write,
no doubt, to each other. because Of the linger-
ing tradition that II is the proper thing to
do In their situation. When the enuslons
occasionally reach the public eye they do
not remind us OF Horace Walpole, or even
Of the Portuguese nun who wrote the IA
nous Ave or six letters to the young ofioer'
but he had ridden away and never answered.
Ladies' also write TO old friends OF their
own sex; men never write each other II
they can help IL. The virtue, or Woe. OF
ladies' letters Is TO be too HISTORICAL; they
are usually records OF events other than
momentous and bulletins Of the health and
dresses OF acquaintances or course they
may contain witty comments, and then they
are, and always have been. the best kind
| Of letters, though one Ia not sure that women
have write more OF them than men, or
more, at least. that have been given to the
word.
However, to-day women sometimes take
pains to be- entertaining In their episties'
and men. as a rule. do not. A modern At
ticus would not read the letters OF Cicero II a
modern Cicero wrote them. II they con-
tanned news he could get the news much ear
lier from the newspapers, which now know
everything, and sometimes know IL right.
Literary men do not write letters. II they
have a good idea they keep 1t. and make copy
of il, and a friend can read 1t much more
easily in print than in the handwriting OF
many literary men. Mr., Stevenson was the
last letter writer. because he lived 80 far
away from almost everybody who shared his
interests. He could talk to them with the
pen only, whereas people in town see each
other in those clubs where people do talk 10
each other-in many cfubs they scrupulously
shun conversation.
Indeed, talk liz mainly done through tele-
phones, or q brief telegram Ia sent. and letters
are written only TO men Of business, or to
others who are. for the moment. involved
I'm business, such as trustees. parents and
guardians. Members OF Parliament. and, by
bores, to men Of letters whom they do not
know, and who do not want to hear from
them. The old order chan ges, as the poet
Justly remarks, and the art of spelling, even.
may come to be lost. as by the lady letter
writer of Conservative opinions who described
a certain newspaper as q wrotton wradical
wrag."