220 



THi: STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



u remember, in its highest mission, is the 

 "blessed a: ' home 



are asked 

 which seem trifling, but they tell th. 



ir life that the home people 



:in in 1ft tens of friendship is 

 -lould make the per- 

 son \\ 'I that lie has had a 

 .uth his friend who wrote. The 

 :ng passage taken from a letter written 

 \\ . Longfellow is full of the eharm 

 I liave just had the pleasure of 

 ur photograph. It is so good, it 

 could hardly be better. I wish the one I send 

 you in return were as good. But that is wish- 

 a handsome man. six feet high, and 

 we all know the vanity of human wishes." 

 Again in a let'ter, "If 'Long Pond 7 

 were called Loch Long, it would be a beautiful 

 and Sebago are country cousins to 

 reland lakes in England, quite as 

 wanting a little more culture and 

 good" sociei i- simple language, but 

 the thought is by no means common-place. 

 Our best thoughts belong to our friends whether 

 in convrr>ation or in letters. Of Hawthorne's 

 it is said. "They were full of passages of 

 beauty and of details of his own plans and 

 purposes, hopes and disappointments." 



Bayard Taylor thus commends a friend for 

 his naturalness in writing: "You somehow 

 manage to bring your own bodily self before 

 me wlien you write; I see your eyes and the 

 ;ig expression of your face, as I read, and 

 the sound of your voice accompanies the written 

 word." Who would not, if he could, write 

 letters that by their naturalness recall both 

 face and voice? Charles Dickens thanks a 

 friend for his letter "which is like a pleasant 

 voice coming across the Atlantic, with that 

 domestic welcome in it that has no substitute 

 on earth." 



One likes letters written for the very joy of 

 correspondence and not because the time has 

 come and one must write. How welcome this 

 passage must have been in one of Lowell's 

 letters: "Somehow, this cool, beautiful summer 

 feel my heart go out towards you all, 

 and am not writing because I ought." Of the 



vss and the intimacy of written thoughts 



hanged in letters, Lowell again 

 : "I think it fortunate to have dear 



- far away. For not only does absence 

 have something of the sanctifying privilege of 



death, but we dare -peak in the iittle closet of 

 a letter what we should not have the face to 

 at the corner of the street." 



Playfulness and humor and lack of formality 

 are charming qualities in home letters when 

 they can be naturally introduced. These open- 

 ing lines taken from a letter written by Benjamin 

 Franklin to his wife, delight us by their very 

 unexpectedness of humor: "I wrote you a few 

 days since by a special messenger and enclosed 

 letters for all our wives and sweethearts, ex- 

 pecting to hear from you by his return, but 



he has just now returned without a scrap for 

 poor me." Further on he adds in the same 

 light vein of hidden laughter a postscript: "I 



have scratched out the loving words, having 

 written in haste by mistake when I forgot I 

 was angry." How' it brightens life to stop in 

 the busy day for such innocent sparkle, of fun ! 

 It makes one appreciate the great Benjamin 

 Franklin even more because we know of such 

 genial letters sent to those who were dear to him. 



( >eeasions multiply for writing letters to our 

 friends: birthdays, festivals, anniversaries, be- 

 trothals, weddings, funerals; any occasion for 

 peculiar joy or sorrow when sympathy and love 

 are called into expression. One of the most 

 pleasing of the growing customs is the writing 

 of letters to friends to accompany them on 

 their journeys. Now-a-days, those who go 

 abroad in ships are showered with "steamer" 

 letters, which keep them mindful of home and 

 friends throughout their long voyage. The 

 brightness and sweetness of such letters enrich 

 a whole lifetime with pleasant memories. 



The mission of the letter has been summed 

 up by Whittier in a letter to a friend: "I am 

 thankful every day of my life that God has put 

 it into the hearts of so many whom I love and 

 honor to send me so many messages of good-will 

 and comfort." 



In this day of complex living when so much 

 is said but so little realized of the "simpler life," 

 we sometimes forget the joy which these simple 

 "messages of good will and comfort" bring and 

 unnecessarily burden ourselves to overload our 

 friends with purchased gifts: whereas, Christ- 

 mas letters, birthday letters, any letters into 

 which we put our best selves, are the most ac- 

 ceptable gifts that we can choose. Beyond 

 compare is the joy of such written words as 

 these sent as a Christmas offering by a young 

 girl to an older friend: "What can I wish for 

 you that you have not already? Your heart is 

 so full of good things that it needs no wish. 

 Some day I may tell you just what you have 

 done for me, my dear friend. Many a door 

 have you opened for me, and these things 

 cheapen in the telling. 



" A blessed Christmas time to you and a New 

 Year rich with God's best gifts." 



The gift of "things" is forgotten but of such 

 words never. 



Postal Cards. Postal cards (post cards 

 the English call them) are often very conven- 

 ient for a word of greeting or for general busi- 

 ness matters which anyone may read, but noth- 

 ing private should ever be committed to them. 

 To write on a postal a term of warm affection 

 or family news or any message which one would 

 not wish to tell at large is very indelicate. 



Picture postal cards furnish pleasant ex- 

 changes between friends, and postal cards which 

 bear printed sentiments of refinement or the 

 line of bright humor, are pleasant reminders; 

 but the cheap word or picture of coarse fun 

 should be strictly forbidden, not only by the 

 authority of law, but delicacy of thought for 

 one's friend, as well as for one's own self, should 

 never select what is in any way rude or coarse. 

 In this busy world where there is so much need 

 of frequent intercourse, postal cards have their 

 place and their use will multiply, but they 

 should never be used as substitutes for the well- 

 written letter or the note of social obligation. 



