To answer such requests and furnish the material asked for, were
it desirable, would interfere seriously with the necessary work
of almost any writer. The first impulse is to pay no attention to
them, putting them aside as mere signs of the ill-bred, idle
curiosity of the age we live in about people and their private
affairs. It does not seem to be supposed possible that authors
can have any natural shrinking from publicity, like other
mortals.
But while one would not willingly encourage an intrusive custom,
there is another view of the matter. The most enjoyable thing
about writing is that the relation between writer and reader may
be and often does become that of mutual friendship; an friends
naturally like to know each other in a neighborly way.
We are all willing to gossip about ourselves, sometimes, with
those who are really interested in us. Girls especially are fond
of exchanging confidences with those whom they think they can
trust; it is one of the most charming traits of a simple,
earnest-hearted girlhood, and they are the happiest women who
never lose it entirely.
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