DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11277#0082
1886
LEU NEUEN1IEIME11.
11
put on paper it assumes entirely different proportions.
For words have to do duty for tone and expression
and the management of this extra duty is a very
delicate matter. A rude letter, if pondered over,
increases wonderfully in unpleasantness and those
stereotyped forms of „my dear" and „yours truly"
merely aggravate the smart.
Let us first turn to the ^Complete Letter Writers".
It is a great question whether these marvellous books
were intended to be anything else than a practical
joke on a large scale. Yet they were designed to
be a guide to letter writing. Naturally the majority
of these letter are devoted to the subject of court-
ship. The method is as follows: — Mr. A. having
been impressed with the charms of Miss B. at a ball
or elsewhere, bids her observe that his ^attentions
were sufficiently assiduous to prove that more than
ordinary feelings directed them". Miss B. is therefore,
as it were, where two roads meet. She may either
request her fond admirer „not to address her again
on the subject" or else „excusing his precipitation"
she informs him that „Mamma will be happy to see
you to morrow evening to take tea", while she ends
up with various self-depreciatory remarks to lure
her admirer on. Of course, if Miss B. takes the former
course, the correspondence is at end; in the latter
case Mr. A. takes another step. But here he has to
be wary, he may be too forward or not enthusiastic
enough. The latter course is followed by Miss B. in
a „polite note" declining the honour of further acquain-
tance, or if she has an eye to the main chance, she
again entices him on. It might occur to the ordinary
reader, that, if Mr. A. is a near enough neighbour
to take tea, that the courtship might be carried on
by word of mouth. But a further inspection of Mr. A's
letter dispels this idea. There is surely no man,
maudlin lover though he be, who could give vent to
these sentiments by word of mouth. „I know not
what I write, but o, my dear Miss — be merciful,
and if you cannot love me, say at least you do not
hate me — never could I survive the idea of being
hateful to that angelic being, whose love I prize
LEU NEUEN1IEIME11.
11
put on paper it assumes entirely different proportions.
For words have to do duty for tone and expression
and the management of this extra duty is a very
delicate matter. A rude letter, if pondered over,
increases wonderfully in unpleasantness and those
stereotyped forms of „my dear" and „yours truly"
merely aggravate the smart.
Let us first turn to the ^Complete Letter Writers".
It is a great question whether these marvellous books
were intended to be anything else than a practical
joke on a large scale. Yet they were designed to
be a guide to letter writing. Naturally the majority
of these letter are devoted to the subject of court-
ship. The method is as follows: — Mr. A. having
been impressed with the charms of Miss B. at a ball
or elsewhere, bids her observe that his ^attentions
were sufficiently assiduous to prove that more than
ordinary feelings directed them". Miss B. is therefore,
as it were, where two roads meet. She may either
request her fond admirer „not to address her again
on the subject" or else „excusing his precipitation"
she informs him that „Mamma will be happy to see
you to morrow evening to take tea", while she ends
up with various self-depreciatory remarks to lure
her admirer on. Of course, if Miss B. takes the former
course, the correspondence is at end; in the latter
case Mr. A. takes another step. But here he has to
be wary, he may be too forward or not enthusiastic
enough. The latter course is followed by Miss B. in
a „polite note" declining the honour of further acquain-
tance, or if she has an eye to the main chance, she
again entices him on. It might occur to the ordinary
reader, that, if Mr. A. is a near enough neighbour
to take tea, that the courtship might be carried on
by word of mouth. But a further inspection of Mr. A's
letter dispels this idea. There is surely no man,
maudlin lover though he be, who could give vent to
these sentiments by word of mouth. „I know not
what I write, but o, my dear Miss — be merciful,
and if you cannot love me, say at least you do not
hate me — never could I survive the idea of being
hateful to that angelic being, whose love I prize