Correspondents and Critics. 263 



and the new year comes swiftly, as I determine 

 to " cease to lament for that thou canst not 

 help, and study help for that which thou la- 

 ment' st." 



Indulging, this New Year's eve, in retro- 

 spection before putting good resolutions to a 

 practical test, I have thought that it is not an 

 unmixed blessing that postage is so cheap. In 

 that far-off day when to send a letter, if pre- 

 paid, meant an expenditure of twenty-five cents, 

 most people thought twice or thrice before sit- 

 ting down to announce that they took their pens 

 in hand, and the world was happy then : per- 

 haps happy as now. Many people were forced, 

 because of the expense, to keep themselves 

 unto themselves, and I would that this were now 

 more true of them. We cannot limit our cor- 

 respondents as we can our acquaintances, and I 

 have occasionally wondered, with, I think, good 

 reason, why I am singled out as the victim of 

 queer correspondents, as they appear to me. 

 Never intentionally have I forced myself upon 

 any stranger's attention, but strangers have 

 found me out, and an occasional remarkable 

 letter is the result. Why I keep these com- 



