Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-06-12

WASHINGTON, June 12.-1t has
been said that a wise man seldom
writes a letter, and V destroys
one. Another authority has it that
one should never answer a letter un-
til it is at least thirty days old. and
then it will be found that it does not
need answering.
1t has also been said that letter
writing is a lost art-that it went
into decline along toward the latter
part of the nineteenth century when
the world entered upon the modern
age of hurry and men no longer had
or took time for the ~leisurely observa-
ton and contemplation that are es-
sential to the carrying on of a worth
while correspondence. Those who
have read recently published letters
of the late Ambassador to England,
Walter Hines Page. OF those of the
late Franklin K. Lane, may take is
sue with this, but the answer will be
that exceptions only prove the rule.
However, whether or not letter
writing is a lost art and will never
regain its Mace in literature. those
who get their literature largely from
the news columns of the daily press
will agree that there is abundant
evidence that letter writing has be-
come a bad habit with some peo-
pie.
1t has come to such a pass that the
public is never given the facts of a
murder, a divorce, an elopement, a
business or official scandal without
being served with an unsaYory mess
of correspondence. Reporters were
once supposed to be news-hounds;
now apparently they have become
letter-hounds.
City editors used to send their
minlons forth with Instructions to
get all the facts and grab a few
photographs, if possible. Now they
tell them to dig up the letters in the
case, and it is a poor story with any
kind of a scandalous angle to 1t that
does not afford its epistolary climax,
Publishing the letters may be a bad
practice, but the newspapers are not
to be blamed primarily-the letters
could not be published If they had
never been written. Besides, if news
Of stuff they would not be RECALLED
with it.
Old Fools Are The Worst
Divorce cases and breach OF prom
Use suits are particularly productive
Of the kind of correspondence that
is receiving so much attention now
a-days. and when there is an elderly
gentleman amatively diverting him
self with some young siren of half
his years the truth Of the saying
about there being no fool like an old
fool is almost invariably demonstrat-
ed anew. A mar who is sound, SANE
and shrewd in everything else. and
whose personal correspondence, for
years has consisted of an occasional
picture postcard, gets into an affair
of that sort and he Immediately has
the most violent attack Of letterwrit-
eitis. He takes "a pen and ink like
a duck takes to water.
And the kind of letters he writes,
Passion? Romeo was a cold-blood.
cd. Unconditional fish in comparison,
Sentiment? His very soul is sc
sirupy he drools sugar. Language
He throws it on like a colored boy
trying to get the fence whitewashec
in time 10 go follow the circui
parade!
And the rash statements he will
make and the things he will com
NIT himself to- In business he ma!
/; be so conservative that he would no
commit himself in writing TO a dec
laration that Tuesday almost invar
iably follows Monday and precede
= Wednesday unless he first consults a
least two lawyers. But in love he viii
dash off sentences hat when read t
a jury will convict him of o~bligatini
himself to commit everything from
mayhem to matrimony.
Nor are the epistolary fools all o
the one sex. When the evidence /
all produced in court, or spread owe
, the front pages Of newspapers, 1t l
D usually found that the women ar
just about as careless or Indifferent
as the men in their lett writin
when they are carrying on a tempes
tuous love affair. In fact, they ar
generally more verbose and more un
restrained in their written sentimen
& than are men, and the only reaso
more mems letters get into pr !
q because men e~o less prone to pre-
serve such correspondence and ar
generally on the receiving end of tn
lawsuits that are instituted.
l. Most Mash Notes Feminine
Theatrical and movie press agent
IS who are rated as authorities on til
subiect, agree that male stars n
lceive at least three times 40 maj