Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-02
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

THE Letters of Henry Adams" edited
by Worthington Chauncey Ford and
published by Houghton Mifflin Co., at
tract attention by their commanding
| excellence to an ancient art.
We moderns are too sophisticated IN
| regard the writing and reading OF lie,
| tiers as anything commendatory. Can
not we pick up the telephone and talk
to our friends across the continent, or
even across seas, If we wish?
Brevity somehow has got place for
itself all out of proportion to its lorth,
except in telegram. One has but to
open this charming volume of more
than 500 pages; he will gain a new
respect both for letter writing and for
leisure quantity.
There must be a certain amount of
| self-consciousness in good letter writ
| ing. We would not say that the writer
must have said to himself, Il am writ
| ing this for posterity." No; but he
| must say, Il am writing this for him to
whom I am writing
The great trouble with the average
| letter as received by most of us is that
| it was shuttled off the point of a pen
as fast as the writer could indite it.
Evidently he had no respect for us,
the reader, whatever, and very little for
himself.
No respect, that is, in an epistolary
way. The writing of good letters does
not hold the place it once held in the
esteem of the many. No doubt there
still are thousands of persons who write,
who receive, and who appreciate the
best in letter writing, but their number
| is sunk in the great mass of those who
do not care.
Facts-they are what the average
receiver of letters wants, rather than
opinions. The small daily chitchat
| fills our letters to the exclusion of that
weighted opinion which makes the truly
good epistle. One is not supposed to
| have any opinions any more, with all
too many people. To express an opin-
ion is to invite an attack. In an age
| given to criticism the safest way is to
refrain from having an opinion about
anything.
In the great days of the great letter
writers this was not so. Opinion, then
as now, was met with divergence. but
1t was rather on the plane of differ
ence than Of resentment. This
was so in large measure, 1t would
seem, because the person OF some edu-
| cation and breeding stood out in the
community. He does so no longer. All
of us are educated, to q certain point
at least; most of us can point to some
ancestor or Otner OF WnOm we are
proud. If we overlook the remainder,
it is no more than always has been
done in the science of descent.
Educated men and women in the old
days expected their educated comrades
to express opinions, both at table and
in letters. We have no more "Profes-
sors at the breakfast Table" or any
other table. When W are at base ball
/ games, foot ball games, watching motor
or airplane races. or going to the thea
ter, we are not in the mood for specu
lative discussions. In writing to others
of any of these wonders We find our
selves stilted If we launch into a con-
templative discussion of the aspects Of
| society which have resulted in these
things to which they give rise.
The whole tone of our civilization is
out of step with the planned, orderly
letter. If we write at all, it is to dash
of something in a hurry, of which we
will be heartily ashamed if we ever see
it again. Who has not had the expert
ence of discovering an old letter and
reading it over and of feeling, What
rotI How could ever have written
anything as meaningless as this?"
y
Most letter writer's Of today are too
self-conscious to be honest with them
selves and their correspondence. II they