RESPECT FOR THE RIGHTS OF OTHF.K-. 41 



One of the first and most apparent duties is to respect a seal. Never 

 open your children's letters after they are old enough to read them. It 

 is a curious element of self-respect that this " community of letters " which 

 xists in some families hurts the feelings of a young person from the fiist. 

 (V-rtain coarse-grained parents or relatives tear open Sam's letters from 

 Dick and laugh at them. Certain other parents consider it a duty to open 

 their daughter's love-letters. 



O 



Perhaps in the attempt to keep a daughter from marrying improperly, 

 any kind of warfare is allowable. Extraordinary circumstances make 

 extraordinary precautions proper ; but it should be the last resort. N > 

 girl is made better by espionage. If she is a natural born intriguante, n > 

 'eillance will defeat her (we are glad to go out of the honest English 

 tongue to find words to express these hateful ideas). If she is, as are most 

 girls, trembling in the balance between deceit and honesty, afair,open deal- 

 ing, a belief in h<T, will bring her all right. Do not set servants to watch 

 her. Do not open her letters. Do not spy on her acts or abuse her 

 friends. She will be far more apt to come right if she is treated as if she 

 were certain to be true, frank, and honourable in ail her acts. 



As for young boys and men, belief in their word, confidence in their 

 honesty, is the way to make them honourable gentlemen. Be careful, as 

 we have said before, not to laugh at them ; respect their correspondence. 

 If the rough-and-tumble of a public school is to be their portion, ther 

 no fear that the amenities of home will make them effete. They will n 

 all their polish as they go knocking through the world. 



A husband should never open his wife's letters, or a wife her husband's. 

 All people have their individual confidences which each is bound to 



i. A woman of large sympathies and arise thoughts, of virtuous lit'.'. 

 un-1 clear head, is sure to have considerable correspondence. Many 

 people write to her for advice, consolation, and help. It is an outi 

 upon tln-ir belief in her if her husband ivads those letters. The correspon- 

 dent is not telling her seen-ts to him. If a wife is carry ing on a 1 

 affair, her hushand may be quite 8UT6 that lie will be balll'd; there! 

 his jealousy will not 1 -rat ified on < >pening her let tT>. Still less should 

 a wit'.- open her husband'* let ters. lint we are not in the day- of Othello 

 and I )'^denioiia, nor are we dealing with passions And jealousies] W* 



'ing with Mich (jur>tims as these. \Ve will end this by repeating 



that, "a seal is as strong as a lock." it' 



which is treated carelessly in many families, it heron, 

 part of that thoughtless di-- f individuality which is reniotelv 



much the cause of unhappiness al h..me. "hid we but thin!. the 



