Evening star., 1946-11-29
This and That
By Charles 3. Trace,Dell.

Do you "owe'' any letters2
An astute and yoluminous letter
writer points out that you will feel
better at Christmas II you have an
swered all your correspondents.
To enjoy Christmas, this person says,
it is necessary to have all your letters
written and received.
So put on your thinking cap. and call
to mind all those persons, friends and
acquaintances, to whom you have been
owing letters, and get them In the
mail before the holidays.
Christmas cards are not enough.
women are the best letter writers,
there can be no doubt about that. They
not only cherish the little events OF
every day, but know how 10 put them
up in interesting form.
Men. as correspondent sssrlless they
are showing on for posterityo tend to
overlook the very things they should
include
According to our source Of informa-
ton. the points about letter writing 30
In pairs, as follows:
1. Don't answer too quickly.
3. Nor too slowly.
And again
i. DO not let any remain forever IN
answered. But .
q. DO not write right away.
Here again, the men seem to be
miserable failures. according to our
authority, who is woman, as every
one might suspect by this time.
-
r1arn ara frun more rsnir1tSs
i. II d letter is owed" too long, the
sense OF close companionship, so desir-
able, is lost.
q. Ii one answers too quickly, many
points are overlooked.
Between these overlapping dos" and
adon'ts" the mere male may have a
time OF it, but the experienced woman
correspondent has the time OF her writ
ing life.
She is able to dry up one OF these
pens supposed to write for years In q
few weeks.
No pen ever made can keep up with
her flying fingers. Certainly those who
knit ought to be more proficient with a
pen.
Our monitor declares that it should
be pen, by all means. Communities
tions written in pencil lack definite
something Not only is there lack OF
style, as thing, but there may be
smears, too.
Even the male letter writer realizes
that to shoot back a reply too quickly
makes him overlook the very ideas he
wants to remember.
His tendency is to put 1t off, of course.
1t is one with his inner desire not to
shave. He knows he should but he
honestly doesn't want to bother with it.
(Hence, as the ads tell us, only one
man In seven shaves every day.
Men need these admonitions, because
they are poor correspondents, admit
tedly. They are either in too much OF
a hurry, or they procrastinate. They
often let letters remain unanswered SO
long that there is no need to answer
them at all
Men, as q group, when it comes to
letter writing, often fail to build up the
sense of the companionship which our
authority believes is the very heart of q
good letter.
They fail not only because they aTe
q bit awe struck BY the need for writ
ing, but also because they take one Of
the injunctions too literally. They sell
dom write right away.
So, between not answering too slowly
or too quickly. and writing At least
sometimes, thousands OF honest and
sincere persons find themselves In .
small dilemma Of the everyday life.
The best solution, at least just before
Christmas, is to cut the Gordian knot
with pen. Dip In, and do your best.
and let the words fall where they will,
they will end up with the sense Of
companionship playing happy tag with
love and laughter.