envelope for an acquaintance,--who is likely very
unappreciative, and who perhaps tosses them into the fire with a
contemptuous adjective,--she might send them to some long-suffering
editor. These men know the depths of the girlish heart in this
respect, and they have a patience in searching for the gold among the
dross that is not generally believed in. Therefore, if a girl must
write, let her send her emotions to the newspapers; an editor is a far
more prudent confidant than her very dearest friend.

Really, the day for letter-writing is past. As an art it is dead, as
convenience it remains; but it has lost all sentiment. Even Madame de
Sevigne could not be charming on a postal card, and for genuine
information the general idea is to put it into twenty words and send
it by telegraph. So, then, it is a good thing for young women to get
over, as soon as possible, the tendency of their years to sentimental
letter-writing. They will thus save themselves many a heart-ache in
the present and many a fear for the future. For if they do not write
letters they cannot feel hurt because they are not answered. They
cannot worry because they have said something imprudent. They will not
make promises, in the exaltation of composition, which they will
either break or hate to keep when they are in their sober senses. They
will also preserve their friendships longer, for they will not deprive
them altogether of that charm which leaves something to the
imagination.

Of course there are yet such things as absolutely necessary letters;
and these, in their way, ought to be made as perfect as possible.
Fortunately, perfection in this respect is easily attainable, its
essentials being evident to all as soon as they are stated. First, a
letter which demands or deserves the attention of an answer, ought to
have it as promptly as if we were paying a bill. Second, we ought to
write distinctly, for bad handwriting represents a very dogged,
self-asserting temper,--one, too, which is unfair, because if we put
forward our criticisms and angularities in a personal meeting, they
can be returned in kind, but to send a letter that is almost
unintelligible admits of no reprisal but an answer in some equally
provoking scrawl. Even if the writing is only careless, and may be
read with a little trouble, we have no right to impose that extra
trouble. Third, it is a good thing to write short letters. The cases
in which people have written long letters, and