The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1915-08-26
THE NEGLECTED ART.
Post Card and Telephone Have Hurt
Letter Writing.

There has been much lamentation
of late years over the lost art of let
ter writing. The blame has been
pretty evenly divided between the in
nocent post card and the useful tele-
phone, and, reading the plalntlve
comments, we almost wept over the
terrible state of affairs. A recent eX-
pertinent, however, has changed our
views on this particular matter. Nov
ing from a big house to small one.
We found it necessary to do a lot OF
condensing and some eliminating,
and, among other things. it seemed
best for a trunkfu1 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 represent all
ages. Simple, childish affairs; fool
ish, sentimental epistles; long, sad
pages of admonition. Old-fashloned
letters from kinsfolk? Yes, scores
of them. You remember how they
ran. The first page was given over
to taking the pen in hand to let you
know they were we'll, and hoping
YOU were enjoying the same great
blessing, if not they would be very
sorry to hear of it. On the second
page your cousin informed you that
father had been suffering during the
winter months with rheumatism, and
that mother had also been quite poor
ly. (By the way, what has become
Of the poorly" people?) On the
third she stated the piece Of plaid
bingham inclosed with the letter was
like her new dress. The red piece
was like Emma James new dress, ana
the blue and the yellow were like
Mary's children's new dresses. On
the last page she invariably wound
up by saying that she must close be-
cause her hand was growing very
tired. She asked you to excuse the
bad penmanship, and write soon, etc.
And postage was high then, too!
But the old-time love letters, ah,
me, and ah. me! No wonder many
Of them required excess postage.
Sweet stuff usually is heavy. We
were thankful that we had plucked
up the courage to eliminate them.
It would have been a great pity for
posterity to waste time going
through them. Lost art, eh? Thank
goodness that some phases of it have
been lost. We'd rather our boys and
girls made dates with a few jerky
sentences over the telephone, slam
med up the receiver and hustled out
TO the croquet grounds or tennis
court, out in the blessed fresh. . air
and sunshine, doing their courting in
wholesome, healthful fashion, instead
of sitting mewed up over a desk, nib
bling a penholder while studying up
stuff with which to disfigure highly
tinted and scented stationery. Life
is too short to waste any Of it on un-
necessary letter 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
notion that we are frowning on all
kinds of correspondence. Don't stop
writing to mother--that kind of let
ter writing will. always be in good
style. And mothers-don't stop writ
ing to the boys and girls away from
home. They hunger for the home
news, and the assurance Of your. un-
changing, undying love. And sweet
hearts, 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 priv
ilege 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.-lndianap-
oils News.