ou do not leave your card--it doesn't
count.

In regard to love-letters, bear in mind what Rousseau says:

"To write a good love-letter you ought to begin without knowing what you
mean to say, and finish without knowing what you have written." Then,
having unbosomed yourself, don't send it.

Care in Writing.--It is well to remember, that once you have dropped a
letter into the box, it is no longer yours. It belongs to the person to
whom it is addressed. If you have been indiscreet, the matter is out of
your hands. Therefore, be careful what you write. You cannot tell what use
your correspondent may make of it. Your friend may be trustworthy, but
careless; some one may be dishonest enough to read it; it may be lost. It
is a good plan to write nothing you would not be willing to have read
before a roomful of people who know that you wrote it.

[MANNERS AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS 759]

Avoid personalities. Don't commit your unflattering opinions of other
people to paper. The letter is a witness whose veracity is unquestioned.

Don't read your letters to others, unless they are family letters in which
all may rightly have a share. A letter is a private communication.

Keeping Letters.--It is a bad plan to keep old letters, especially if they
are of a personal nature, or if they contain confidences or secrets. When
the owner dies, there is no knowing to what use they may be put. One
regrets the publication of the private letters of great men and women,
showing, as they so often do, the foolish, silly, conceited side of a
character we have admired. Private letters are often disillusioning, or
betray the presence of the skeleton of the family, unhappiness or
disgrace.

The safest way is to keep a letter till it is answered, then destroy it,
This does away with a lot of useless lumber.

Letters of Congratulation and Condolence.--It is not possible to give
forms for letters of this character. They are meaningless unless they come
from the heart, and should be characterized by sincerity. Nevertheless,
they should be written, and promptly, as also letters of acknowledgment of
gifts, favors offered, and the "bread-and-butter letter"--the missive you
write to your hostess after a few days' visit. Letters of condolence are
especially difficult to write. One so fears to wound instead of
comforting. If one can offer some quotation that has been a personal help
in time of sorrow, it is often gratefully appreciated. But because we