The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-10-22

would interest him, and things Wnlch
he would like to know. but they are
not things which many other people
could safely hear, or would quite I'M
derstand if they did know. They in
volve too many people; they would
embarrass some of our friends. II
they should become public property.
1t is better, therefore, not TO write
them. but to wait until | can see Dun
can face to face, before l tell him,
or else never tell him at all.
Extremely private matters, or Sc
crets of any sort, or questionable
statements, either of fact or of phras-
inc, had better not be written. All
letters, even though intended for but
n individual. no matter what care
may be exercised to keep them out
Of other peoples hands, are likely to
become public property. Your room
mate, or the landlady, or the stenog-
rapher, or the office boy, or some
member of your family, stumbles onto
them, and then the world soon knows
the contents. 1t is very much better
never to write anything that would
be difficult to explain, if it became
public, or that would embarrass you
if the public should know. This adj
vice applies equally to lovers, and to
politicians.
If you ever write a letter, the con-
tents of which would compromise
you. should they become public prop
erty, throw it into the waste basket
before you send it-write another. L
have seen too many lettersZvulgar,
oversentimental, full Of dangerous
gossip and exaggerated fact-which
nave turned up to trouble the writer's,
not to be wary of such matters in
letter writing.
The purpose of friendly letters is
to keep us in touch with u friends,
to keep alive a friendship which may
have begun years ago. To do this we
must tell them what they most want
to know, and what they want most to
know is what we ourselves have peer
thinking, and doing, and what we
propose doing.
"It doesn't seem modest" a lady
said to me not long ago, when we
were discussing this subject, for one
constantly to be using the personal
pronoun Il throughout a letter"
ut may not seem modest" | had
to say, "but you are likely to have a
pretty dull letter if you do not make
your letter personal"
o.o+ 1ot+orc NJ intervals from a
young fellow Of my acquaintance
mechanical letters, without a touch
of personal experience in them. L do
not learn from them what he is doing,
or what he Is studying, who his
friends are, or where he goes, or what
he does, or thinks. They are rather
stupid letters which / glance over
with as mechanical point of view as
that in which they were written, and
toss them into the discard.
There is the letter from the old
friend-we all get this sort-who
never writes unless he wants some
thing. Can I give him Browns adj
dress, or write him a letter of rec
ommendation, or find a boarding
house for his oldest son who Is COM
ing to college In the fall. This sort
would be all right, If he paid me with
a little gossip about himself, and his
family, a little detail about how and
where things have been going with
him since he last asked me to look
up something for him.
Nothing is more exasperating In a
correspondence between friends than
to have the feeling, when your last let
ter is finally acknowledged, that 1t
has not been read or, at best, 1t has
been read hastily, and then mislaid
or destroyed.
"Have you been writing anything
recently" / inquire of Cornish, who
makes occasional excursions into the
field Of literature. I'm really inter
ested in what he is doing and ask,
not to fill space, but with a genuine
desire to follow his latest literary
adventure.
When 1 hear from him, he says
nothing about writing he ignores
this question and all others which l
have propounded, and makes no ref
erence to anything I have told him
in my last letter about myself, or any
one else. 1t is as if he had never
heard from me, or had never read my
last communication.
To ignore a question, or a refer
ence in a friendly letter, is as rude
as to ignore one in a conversation,
and to go on talking as if the other
members of the company were not
present, or had said nothing.
A friendly letter should be kept at
least until it Is answered, ever if that
is months or a year. 1t should be
read carefully and all the questions
answered, all the subtle suggestions
referred to, all the references to per-
sonal matters mentioned. Your friend
will, in such a case, get the impress
- kL~+ -1.l Lsa I&++0, xu,+h /