A Letter Becomes the Icon of an Old-Fashioned New Fashion

Summary

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CASCO BAY, Maine -- I arrive at the island post office carrying an artifact from another age. It's a square envelope, handwritten, with a return address that can be found on a map.

Inside is a condolence note, a few words of memory and sympathy to a wife who has become a widow. I could have sent these words far more efficiently through e-mail than through this "snail mail." But I am among those who still believe that sympathy is diluted by two- thirds when it arrives over the Internet transom.

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Extract

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A Letter Becomes the Icon of an Old-Fashioned New Fashion

I would no more send an e-condolence than an e-thank you or an e- wedding invitation. There are rituals you cannot speed up without destroying them. It would be like serving Thanksgiving dinner at a fast-...

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