LETTER WRITING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1875, 28 October 1887, Page 32

LETTER WRITING.

The Old Folks at Home.

Perhaps the fact that the English mail is closing on the day on which I am writing this has suggested to me the ideaof writinga few words on the subject of letter writing. One often hears the remark, especially from young men, " I ought to have written Home this mail." Indeed you ought, if there is a father or mother or any old friend awaiting news of you. You can scarcely realise the anxious, weary waiting of those true hearts. Your days are filled in with business cares or domestic or social pleasures, and the time slips by so quickly that, with surprise and sorrow, you learn of the many troubled hours you have caused to those so far away, and who have no means of judging as to your condition except from your letters. Many times, when you are perfectly happy and well, an anxious parent, through your silence, has conjured up a whole chapter of disasters of which you are the hero, and many sleepless hours are endured on your account when a letter would have saved it all.

Those who have neglected the duty that they owe to those who love them should procrastinate no longer. Never mind whether the mail is going out just now or not ; get the letter prepared, then, when the mail is going, it will be ready. I am taking sides with the old folks at home. Write the letter from the reader's point of view; put all the good news in it you can, leave out the bad news unless they can help you, for perhaps by the time your letter reaches Home you will have got over your trouble, while the readers will be worrying for your sake. Say all you can to cheer the loving hearts. It is astonishing what interest is displayed in the letters from the colonies. After all that has been written on the subject, there seems to be a very hazy idea of what life out here really is.

'The art of letter writing is to be natural. Do not use set phrases. Speak out naturally with pen and ink whatever you have to say, and your remarks will prove interesting reading. Formal set sentences are sure to read stiffly.

As a rule, women have an easier and more chatty style of writing than men, because they write, perhaps, more for the sake of imparting news than through a sense of duty. It is a mistako to try to "form a style " — that is, to copy the style of another. Say what you have to say, and let the style take care of itself. It is sure to be expressive of your own character if you do.

Some letters are worth their weight in gold. Favoured are we if have among our correspondents one at least who writes these earnest compositions, glittering with gems of truth, wit, and thought. Such letters do no end of good, for when a thought is written it somehow leaves a deeper impression than when only expressed by word of mouth.

We all have experienced the refreshment that a beautiful letter imparts. A bright loving epistle has often come like a ray of sunshine, dispelling a gloom that has obscured the light ; while on the other hand a cold or cruel letter strikes a severe blow and acts in a very similar manner on its recipient to a. sudden frost on tender vegetation.

Love Letters

have been and always will be a source of a great deal of amusement. The love letters some people write are very foolish, and if the writer could have them read to him a year or so later on he wouW feel anything but elated at the thought of having written such nonsense. Why should affection be so caricatured ? A girl knows very well she is not a " sweet angel," and if she has any sense she would very much prefer not being called one. Of course all love letters are not absurd. The earnest, honest expression of lovp ha" never bp^n and con never become ridiculous, and many a woman has tied up with a ribbon a packet of old letters that would bring tears to the eyes of her children to read. Why not then, when writing a, love letter, write it in such a manner that its xeperusal» even after, the lapse of years,

could bring no sense of humiliation 1 Yon remember the story of the husband who, on entering the room suddenly, saw his wif e hastily thrust some letters into a desk and lock it up. His suspicions being aroused, he demanded to know their contents, and his wife asked :

"You really wish to hear these letters read ? " " I insist upon it."

"Very well."

Then she read one of his love letters to him, concluding with the words "sweetest angel, fly with me." " And I flew," said the wife, quietly folding np the letter, "but if I had been as jUj as I am now I shouldn't have flown."

It is stated that she was never requested to read another letter aloud.

I heard a wife read an old love letter to her husband once. " What do you think of the man who wrote that?" she asked smiling. "He was mad ! " responded the husband. " I don't think so," answered she warmly, pretending to be vexed,

" He was a raving lunatic " responded he 11 or else a cur who wanted his head punched for taking you for such a fool as to believe that rubbish."

" My dear, you wrote it yourself.'*

"I?" he roared, "I never could have been such an ass " ; and he jumped up and took the letter out of his wife's hands, scarcely believing the evidence of his own handwriting and signature. He smiled ruefully and rubbed his head. " Well, I'll stick to it; ib is the composition of a madman. I must have been suffering from softening of the brain."

However, as I said before, all love letters are not like these. Some, no matter how long they are, have the art Sam Weller so commended— that of "making you wish there was more of them."

Children's Letters.

It is a mistake to dictate to children the letters they write. Leave them to form their own sentences and express their own ideas. It teaches them to compose, and their innocent expressions are far more pleasing than anything grown folks can say in their name.