Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-24

Cleverness, which often materializes
as f1ippancy, is at its worst In letter
writing.
The attempt to be clever had better
| be reserved for speech, rather than
belabored epistle which rubs the reader
| the wrong way.
Why is it that so many people when
they take their pen in hand think that
! they must be witty and gay, when all
the time but one thing is required OF
them, and that is to say what they want
to say as well as they can.
In other words, communication be-
| tween friends has but one idea, and that
! is to tell what has happened which the
other does not know.
Integral with this idea is another,
| that of building up what has been
| lost through absence.
Absence may make the heart grow
| fQnder, as the old song had it, but also
| il has another effect. well known to
| those who have stopped to think hon
estly about it.
Absence tends to tear down the elab-
crate bonds of convention which may
have been built up between two friends.
| This creation is mostly an elaboration
OF the mutual likes and dislikeS Of the
two.
Its health depends upon a constant
interchange of views and opinions.
Talk, between friends, is like the health
! ful rain which makes plants grow.
Separation is the drought of friend
| ship. The longer it lasts the smaller
grows the creation which was built up
between them. Little by little it disap-
years later, thy discover, often to their
real surprise, that they are strangers
again.
X y
Except among youngsters, the con-
Versation of friends is not along the
lines OF flippant cleverness, in most
! cases, but rather is simply an honest
expression of views
Genuine cleverness is the successful
| achievement Of wit and humor, whereas
attempted cleVerness is failure in those
media. 1t is unfortunate that there is
not one really clever person out of ten
thousand human beings. If there was
a greater proportion, there would not be
so many silly letters written.
The interesting letter writer should
| remember that sheet of paper is cold.
and that ink is black or blue, as the
case may be, and that between the pa
per and the ink no flashing smiles in
| terVene, nor bright eyes shine.
What might be accepted in conversa-
ton as bordering on the clever will
fall flatter in letter than the paper
/ it Is written upon. There is no smile
between those lines, and 1t requires a
master to put one there.
Are you a master letter writer? If
so and you admit it, you may do very
well to wax bright and intriguing in
your letters to folks.
But be sure you are clever before you
go ahead.
If you have any doubts about it land
1t Is well to have a few doubts about
most things, stick to plain, old, honest
statements of fact.
4 \
Do not bubble.
There is nothing sillier than a letter
which bubbles over with good cheer.
Old-time newspaper writers some time
tell cub reporters, There is no better
lead than a plain statement of fact. "
A lead" in newspaper parlance, means
the opening paragraph or paragraphs
OF news story (article).
There is no better letter than one
which contains a series of plain state
ments of fact, following one another in
logical and chronological order.
Leave out the metaphors and SMILES
and cute sayings and let the letter tell
itself simply and honestly. This does
not mean, of course, that one should
cut ones self off from all attempt at
ornamentation.
Let this ornamentation, however,
take the road of elaboration rather than