Morris tribune., 1917-09-21
a.
Love Letter
By F. A. Mitchell

his son, Tom, II congratulate you with
yours to Adele. She is a lovely and
noble girl, and am delighted to well
come her into our family circle. am
glad to be with you at this time. 1t
is very important to you and Adele.
consider marriage the most important
event In ones life 1t is, unlike birth
and death, controlled. trust you and
Adele will take it seriously, and, above
all things, do not fall into that sickly
sentimentalism so common among low
ers. Love letters, so called, filed with
gush are especially to be avoided.
Write plain common sense to each
other, with your plans for subject mat
ter. Conf1ne yourselves in the begin
ming to dear Adele and dear Tom
Think how stupid it will seem to you
later on to come across dearest, sweet
est Adele! She will be then a thou
sand times dearer to you than she is
today, but you will not show it in any
such ridiculous way"
when you were engaged, dadT'
II don't remember just what wrote
your mother" replied Mr.. Bracket,
trying to think back to a period when
he was twenty-one. II was considered
a matter of fact chap, and l am quite
sure l never INDUCED In lovey-dOvey
nonsense"
What Tom and Adele's letters were
like does not pertain to this story.
Quite likely they were what most
young lovers write. Shortly before
their marriage Tom went up into the
garnet to gather such effects as he
wished to take with him to his new
home and destroy what had lost its
original value. Rummagtng In an old
trunk which contained various family
effects, he came across a bunch Of old
papers. Untying a bundle Of letters
bound together with a faded narrow
ribbon in lieu Of tape, he examined
them, noting that they had been writ
ten nearly a quarter Of a century be-
fore. He read number of them, then,
selecting one of them. rebound the rest
and put them back where he had found
them.
The evening before the wedding the
bride and groom to be dined with the
Brackets. When the meal was finish
ed and coffee was brought on Tom
took letter from his pocket and said
to his father:
dad, you gave me a lecture when !
became engaged ON love letter writing
which made a deep impression on me.
l found the other day while rummag-
ing among old papers one of those
ridiculous epistles written by some fell
low who must have had the lover fever
very badly. It has convinced me that
you are right. If reading such a dOcu-
ment produces such contempt for the
writer, what would think Of myself
at reading such letter written by my
self twenty years from nOw!'
Tom handed the letter to his father,
who put on his glasses and perused 1t.
It read as follows:
My Angel-Don't think that exaggerate
in calling you an angel do so because
you are purer, better, nobler than any girl
have ever known. I only wish ] were
Of writing it. I would take you in my
arms and give you g. million kisses.
looked for letter from you by the
early mail, but It did not come, 80 sup
pose I'll not get 1t till noon. have read
the one received yesterday twenty times.
put It under my pillow when went to
bed that 1t might lead me to dream Of you.
It did. I dreamed that we were sitting in
a garden Of roses, but no rose rivaled the
pink of your ear or the vermilion of your
lips.
Mr.. Bracket threw the letter on the
table in disgust.
"Go on" said Tom.
go on!' replied the father. "GO on
through the twenty pages Of such sick
ening stuff! The man who wrote it
should have been tarred and feathered
and ridden on a rail- pity the girl
who married him. No doubt he tried
to support her writing poetry. Moon
light, music, love and flowers would
suit him"
The speaker stopped and looked at
those about the board. When he be-
gan to make his criticisms on the writ
er Of the letter the corners Of their lips
took on an upward Quirk. AS he pro-
ceeded smiles replaced the quirks.
When he reached the moonlight, mu-
sic, love and flowers all burst into a
roar of laughter-that is, all except
Mrs. Bracket, on whose face there
was an expression Of embarrassment
mingled with amusement.
whats the matter?" asked Mr.
Bracket, nettled.
Look at the date Of the letter, dad"
said Tom.
The date was examined and was
found to be November, 1892.
Nov look at the signature"
The signature was Your loving
Tom"
BY this time Mr. Bracket had be-
gun to realize the situation, more espe-
cially through the handwriting, which
he recognized as his own.
you didn't exaggerate a bit, dad,