Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-02

happen by chance to strike of felici
touS Characterization, they feel inclined
to blot it out for fear that the receiver
may take them and it seriously. To be
taken seriously is the great fear of the
decade. We have the unspoken belief
that life is joke and all things show
1t, as the verse had it.
But that is not the way to write good
letters. What will strike any reader of
the Henry Adams letters will be the
spirit OF putting ones self honestly on
paper which infuSes them. There is no
other way to write good letters. A
clever person might write f1ippant let
tiers without being honest, but they
would not strike any reader as solid
or filled with any real substance.
Substance, as applied to letter writ
ing, may mean anything from grave to
gay. 1t does not necessarily imply the
heavy, the weighty, the intersections;
these are qualities which do not neces-
Sarily mean substance. On the other
hand, careless and superficial readers
are likely to find these qualities in a
derogatory way in writings which are
pleasant enough If read with SYM
pathy or with properly opened mental
eyes, which practically amounts to the
same thing
Half-closed mental eyes will give a
writing, whether it be letters or any
other sort, in light which is not COM
plimentary. But here, again, the judge
is not the obvious judge, but rather the
product which is under scrutiny. In no
phase of writing is this attitude more
reprehensible than in regard to letters
If one Is going to open a book of COL
lected letters, he should do so with an
open mind, and that means that he
should know something about his
writer.
New York book reviewers who dis
cussed THE Letters of Henry Adams"
were unanimous in calling them an adj
mirable supplement to The Education
of Henry Adams" that altogether ad-
mirable autobiography. Surely one had
better read the Education" before at
tempting the Letters" 1t would be well
to read James Truslow Adams Ono rela-
tom book on the distinguished Adams
family before reading this latest volume
of letters. Even consideration of the
photographs and thumbnail sketches
given in this months copy of Fortune
will be helpful.
NJ
Just as a good letter must be the
product of a cultivated attitude, so q
good reading of letters will result only
from a cultivated, serious attention. It
should be stressed that there need be
nothing dull or plodding about this
process There are certain types of
minds to which the letter form of writ
ing is anathema. If one finds this true
in his own case, he should let them
alone There are plenty who will like
them. The typical modern American
mind unfortunately seems to feel that
1t should like, SAVIOR and appreciate
everything under the sun, whereas the
truth probably Is that no one mind,
except that of genius, is so consti-
tuted. Perhaps we all think we have
traits of genius in us, but no doubt the
vast majority is mistaken, and luckily
for us.
The good letter Is midway between
the Pleasant essay and the so-called
problem novel, since it contains some
of the brightness of the one and a bit
of the serious discussion of the other,
with the expression of honest opinion
common to both. In addition, the good
letter is curious compound of infor-
mality and writing formalism-that is,
its prevailing tone must be free. easy,
as BETTING equal to equal; but it must
never forget that in its hands for the
moment Is placed the prestige of the
language. It must refrain from clever
ness for mere cleverneSs' sake, from the
cheap, from the low If 1t can do this
without ostentation, it is a real letter.