The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1915-09-07
THE NEGLECTED ART.
Post Card and Telephone Have Hurt
Letter Writing.
IndianaDolis News.

There Las been much lamentation
of late years over the lost art Of let
ter writing. The blame has been pref
ty evenly divided between the innocent
post card and the useful telephone,
and, reading the plaintive comments,
we almost wept over the terrible state
of affairs. A recent experiment, how
ever, has changed our views on this
particular matter. Moving from a big
house to a small one, we found it
necessary to do a lot of condensing
and some eliminating, and, among 9TH
er things, it seemed best for trunkful
of old letters to be eliminated. OF
course, we waded through all of them,
for fear some valuable document might
be lost. There were letters to repre-
sent all ages. Simple, childish affairs;
foolisa, sentimental episodes; long, sad
pages of admonition. Old-fashioned
letters from kinsfolk? Yes, scores of
them. You remember how they ran.
The first page was given over to TAX
ing the pen in hand to let you know
they were we'll, and hoping you were
enjoying the same great blessing, if
not they were very sorry to hear of
it. On tie second page your cousin
informed you that father had been suf-
fering during the winter months with
rheumatism, and that mother had also
been quite poorly. (By the way, what
has become of the poorly people9
On the third she stated the piece of
plaid gingham inclosed with the letter
was like her new dress. The red piece
was like Emma James new dress, and
the blue and the yellow were like
Mary's c-ildrens' new dresses. On the
last page she invariably wound up by
saying that she must close because her
hand was growing very tired. She
asked you to excuse the bad penman-
ship, and write soon, etc. And postage
was high then, too!
But the old-time love letters, al, me,
and ah, me! No wonder many of them
required excess postage. Sweet stuff
is usually heavy. We were thankful
that we had plucked up the courage
to eliminate them. 1t would have been
a great pity for posterity to waste time
going through t2em. Lost art, eh?
Thank goodness that some phases Of it
have been lost. We'd rather our boys
and girls made dates with few jerky
sentences over the telephone, slam
med up the receiver and hustled out
to tie croquet grounds or tennis court,
out in the blessed fresh air%and sun
shine, doing their courting wholesome,
healthful fashion, instead of sitting
mewed up over desk, nibbling pen
holder while studying up stuff with
which to disfgure highly tinted and
scented stationery. Life is too short
to waste any of it on unnecessary let
ter writing, and, besides, We change
our minds too frequently nowadays to
risk putting our thoughts down in
black and white.
Don't misunderstood and get the no
ton that we are frowning on all kinds
of correspondence. Don't stop writing
to mother-that kind Of letter writ
ing will always be in good style. And
mot. ers-don't stop writing to the
boys and girls away from home. They
hunger for the homeNnews, and the as
surance of your unchanging, undying
love. And sweetheart, separated by
long, dreary miles-write sensible,
helpful, CHEEKY letters. Pure, strong
love letters are never disgusting. But
letter writing, just for the sake of
boasting of your many correspondents,
or for the privilege of airing your views
or letting your sentiment slop over
oh, well, we would advise the use Of
post cards or telephones every time,
for with these one must be brief.