THERE are many persons who think it a very proper matter to ask a friend for letters of introduction to public men or influential persons with whom he may be acquainted. Upon this the N. Y. World has the following sensible remarks:— There are at least three directions in which Americans should abbreviate their demonstrations. The custom of indiscriminate hand shaking, promiscuous introductions, and the writing of letters of introduction by the score, are all to be condemned utterly and emphatically. A man has no business to write a letter of introduction unless he is altogether sure that the introduction will be a matter of mutual pleasure and699advantage. This matter cannot always be ascertained, particularly if the correspondent is thousands of miles away, as is the case under consideration. This being true, the argument that the introduction will be agreeable must simply be unanswerable. The man who writes a letter of introduction is practically quartering one friend on another friend if the other friend resides in a strange country, and the utmost caution is demanded. In spite of all this, there are people who write letters of introduction with as little thought as they write notes to a tailor or a bootmaker, and these are the kind of people to whom this correspondent seems to have been accustomed.