May 12, 1863, Southern Confederacy (Atlanta, Georgia)
We invite the special attention of everybody at home to the letter of our special correspondent J. H. H., from Estell Springs, in to-day’s paper–particularly to that portion of it in reference to writing letters to soldiers in the field.
We ought to write to our friends and relatives in the army and write to them often.–But we should also be careful what we write to them. Wives, mothers, daughters, and friends should not write them anything that would give them pain. Write to them everything that is pleasant: tell them all the news of the country–all about the crops, the neighborhood gossip, the old church they used to visit, who goes there, the new pastor, who is born, got married or died, the number of chickens and pigs you are raising, and all such little things about home and neighborhood affairs as will be interesting and satisfactory to your brave loved ones in the field; but don’t write to them any thing unpleasant–anything they can’t mend. They are in the field fighting to keep back the foe. They have enough there to tax all their faculties in the way of thoughtfulness and deep concern. They should not have any of the unpleasantness which those at home experience thrust upon them to bear in addition to their troubles, trials, and hardships in camp. Always write them cheerful or amusing letters, and bear patiently your ills and troubles at home till the war is over.