Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1912 — Problem of Saving ah Personal Letters [ARTICLE]

Problem of Saving ah Personal Letters

By E. P. MELLINGER

The line of distinction between letters of business and letters of friendship has become more and more sharply drawn. Broadly speaking, the abrupt business communication of today is not a letter at all. Yet most business letters are preserved for a time. After what is deemed a sufficient period, such letters are destroyed. But the old, old problem of what to do with personal letters still is as perplexing as ever. A private letter from a friend is a bit of that particular friend himself. Not cold paper and ink are inclosed in the envelope, but aspirations, fears, opinions,

llet£, then, arises the dilemma: shall the recipient destroy such a letter, or shall he stow it away, thereby giving himself a chance to reread it, but also rendering it possible that other eyes than those for which it was intended may read it? One type of person solves the question by throwing everything away. As he himself avers, he thus cuts hiniself loose from the riddle. Unfortunately, at the same time he cuts himself loose from a host of ties by which he may bind himself to the past. He surrenders one of the most precious privileges of letter exchanging. The solution by throwing everything away is really no solution at all. That is merely to adopt the method of one who. avoids a sprained ankle by never taking a step, or who avoids trashy novels by not reading at all. 1 Over against him stands the person who never destroys any personal letters. He goes on classifying and preserving, preserving and classifying, until, instead of merely filling odd comers here and there, he fills whole boxes, drawers and trunks. By traditional custom letters find their way to the' attic. They do not always—largely because people cannot afford room for attics nowadays—but they end by filling an unconscionable amount of space somewhere. ,