CRAMP LETTER WRITING 808.6 C89 PROPERTY OF THE University of Michigan Libraries 1817 ARTES SCIENTIA VERITAS LETTER WRITING BUSINESS AND SOCIAL LETTER WRITING BUSINESS AND SOCIAL A MANUAL ON THE CRAFT OF LETTER WRITING, WITH INSTRUCTIONS AND SPECIMEN LETTERS Helen By H. CRAMP, PH.B. PHILADELPHIA THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY M.E.B. شتار فتح پور 33 Meu lib 7-18-1938 Preface LETTER writing is not difficult; it simply requires care—and perhaps a little help. This help the author has undertaken to give. Rightly used, the manual will make letter writing both pleasurable and profitable. The instructions and letters have been weighed in the balance and submitted only because the author knows and believes in their worth. The business man will find this work of value; for it contains letters that have been tested and found good. There are suggestions for all sorts of business letters-sales, follow-up, credit, collection, turn-down, etc. There are dollars in potential for the man who can master the few principles of modern business here laid down. But this work is not intended for the business man alone. It is for all classes of people. It is designed to help the woman in the home with her social and business correspondence; the foreign-born American who has not yet mastered the idiom of the language; and the young man or woman of any station who desires acquaintance with the correct forms of social or commercial intercourse. V Preface The social letters, like the business letters, have been chosen to cover as many contingencies as pos- sible. While it is not intended that they shall in any case be directly imitated, it is hoped that they will enable the reader to master correct forms and expressions, and to convey by means of these his own ideas. They are offered as sugges- tions rather than as models. So regarded and so employed, they will give the cue to fresh thoughts and bring increase of power. VI Contents PREFACE. • • PART I BUSINESS LETTERS ROMANCE OF THE BUSINESS LETTER CONSTRUCTING THE SALES LETTER VALUE OF THE FOLLOW-UP LETTER REPLY LETTERS IN THE MAKING COLLECTION AND CREDIT LETTERS BUSINESS LETTERS OF MANY SORTS PART II SOCIAL LETTERS PAGE V 3 23 46 54 58 68 PERSONALITY IN LETTER WRITING CONSTRUCTING THE SOCIAL LETTER SOCIAL LETTERS OF MANY SORTS 83 89 96 PART III USEFUL INFORMATION FORMS OF ADDRESS TITLES AND DEGREES IN COMMON USE POSTAL INFORMATION HELPS TO CORRECT ENGLISH VII . 131 . 135 • 138 147 PART I BUSINESS LETTERS Romance of The Business Letter HERE is a world of romance in THE the development of the business letter. Instead of being merely a vehicle for unimportant details it has become the engine of progress by which commercial enterprises are ex- tended in a thousand directions. The receipts of one large mail-order house run into the millions every month. Men discovered that if you could talk to your friend in a letter you could just as well talk to a stranger, even transact business, sell goods, col- lect money, interest agents, etc. The letter has many advantages over the personal representative: it does not eat, sleep, travel in a Pullman or demand a salary for services. It does not have to scheme for entrance to the sanctum sanctorum; it is not in danger of grow- 3 Advan- tages of the letter. 4 Letter Writing General form. ing weary or ill-tempered on the way. It can always reach the prospective buyer fresh, scintillating, appealing, convincing. It lacks the animation of the face, but it can be more expressive of per- sonality than the ordinary face. A pleasing style, too, happens to be more readily obtainable than a pleasing face. "We are as God made us," as the Irishman said, "and the Lord help some of us!" Business letters-that is the letters written by business men for purposes. of business-should be on business stationery with a business letter head. The choice of stationery is important, since it is the paper and the letter head that make the first impression upon the receiver. Poor paper or a flashy heading is sure to create in the mind of the reader a feeling of doubt as to the sincerity of the writer or the validity of the proposition. Good banking houses have neat, engraved letter heads, and use the finest grade Heading - - - - - - - A S Name Street Address ! Town and State Salutation - - - - - - - - - - A ----- Body of Letter Complimentary Close Signature Address [If not apparent from heading.] [Name of woman should precede address to indicate whether married or single.] BUSINESS LETTER 6 Letter Writing Paper. of bond paper, thus giving an impres- sion of solidity and strength. White paper is the most generally used, though cream, tan, pale gray or blue, and even light yellow are common. Highly colored paper should never be employed. The paper should be satis- factory for ink and for typewriter use. Envelopes should always match the paper and should bear in the upper left-hand corner the name and address of the business house. The usual size is 6x 3 inches, which will accommo- date a standard letter sheet (folded in half from top to bottom and then in three) and can be readily handled in the post-office. Eccentricities in envelopes as in paper are not in good taste. The business letter is now nearly always typewritten. It should present a neat appearance, and unless very lengthy or written in a column less than four inches wide, should never be in single spacing. In a great many business houses the initials of the dic- Business Letters 7 tator and of the stenographer are placed at the close of the letter to the left, as FMT-RE. These initials are frequently useful in referring to the unsigned carbon copies of the files. If there is a letter head, no written heading will be necessary except the date, well to the right. If there is no letter head, the name of the place should also be written. The name and address of the person to whom the letter is written are then written to the left. See the form on page 5. After the name and address follows the salutation. "Dear Sir," or "My dear Sir," or "Dear Mr. Jones," "Dear Madam," or "Dear Miss (or Mrs.) Jones" is the accepted form. In addressing several persons or a business house rather than an individual, "Gentle- men" is the proper form (or "Mes- dames" if addressing women). The most common close of the busi- ness letter is "Very truly yours or "Yours very truly." Where relations Heading. Address. Saluta- tion. Compli- mentary close. 8 Letter Writing Signa- ture. Don't are more friendly, "Sincerely yours is frequently used. In sales letters a variety of original closes are used with good effect. The letter should always bear a per- sonal signature. A rubber-stamp is not permissible. A firm name may, however, be written by the typewriter, with a personal signature beneath. The word "President," "Treasurer, etc., may be typewritten below the signature, if the signer is an officer of the company. of Where letters are manifolded, course, the author's time is too valuable to be wasted in signing. In such cases a clerk whose handwriting re- sembles the author's should do the signing. When signing a personal name UNDER a firm or corporation name don't use the words, "I," "me," "my," or "mine" in the letter. Use the plural "we," "us," our,” “ours,” and if a personal reference is necessary, say "the writer." 4. If something is to be inclosed, write Business Letters 9 the word "Inclosure" at the bottom of the letter to the left. In circular letters, as a rule, it is better to inclose no more than one or two pieces of printed matter. One piece may be read by the same person who would throw a half dozen into the waste- basket—and the letter with them. Thirty thousand misdirected letters reach the Dead Letter Office at Wash- ington daily-convincing proof of the carelessness of letter writers! In addressing an envelope, write first the name, then the post-office, then the state; or first the name, then the street address, then the city and state. If additional matter such as P. O. box number, "Hold till called for," "C/o Mrs. John Smith,” etc., is necessary, put it in the lower left- hand corner. Do not abbreviate the names of states unless you are a very careful penman. "N. Y." may readily be taken for "N. J."; "Pa." for "Va.," etc. Even in the case of large cities Inclo- sure. Address- ing the envelope. 10 Letter Writing it is wiser to write the name of the state; for there are in the United States five New Yorks, nine Phila- delphias, and twelve Bostons. BEVERIDGE AND CULBERT AMBLER, PA. Mr. J. Morgan Lowrie General Delivery Portland, Me. Inclosing stamp. If the name and address of the sender are not stamped in the upper left-hand corner, they should be writ- ten there. Then, in case of misdirection, the letter will be returned by the post- office. When a request is made, and the re- ply is to be wholly in the interest of the first writer, a stamp or, preferably, a stamped addressed envelope should be inclosed. It is a good plan to make a study of the letters that have "stuck" in your Business Letters 11 mind and determine, if you can, just why they have stuck. You will prob- ably find that the style, which is expres- sive of ease and good will, is a large factor, and that the language is simple and forceful in the extreme. a, It is a mistake to omit the particles "an," "the," or the subject of your sentence or the predicate or any part of it. They are just as necessary in the business letter as in the social, and the omission of any word creates the impression of carelessness and haste. Brevity should always be sought, but never at the expense of courtesy or clearness. Beware of superlatives. Some firms forbid their use altogether. Beware of too great intimacy. Beware of sar- casm. Beware of condescension. After all, probably it is the human element in a letter that is of first importance, the "man to man" rela- tion, that is kind, warm, and generous. You will not read a letter that is incon- siderate or dictatorial or insulting, just The human element. 12 Letter Writing Make letter personal. Opening the letter. as you will not listen to a man whose conversation is such. Make the letter as personal as pos- sible, and if you are using a multi- graphed form, be sure that the name and address are correctly filled in, using type and ink that match the body of the letter. Manifolding is so excellently done in these days that, with a reasonable amount of care, it is easy to "fool" the uninitiated. The opening sentence must be a telling one. Command attention. Don't begin talking about yourself or your firm; talk about the recipient; tell him how he can get personal help, make more money, increase his output, secure new customers, etc. Appeal to his imagination. Don't go to work hurriedly. Lean back in your chair and close your eyes and put yourself in the position of the receiver. If you don't know his habits of life and thought, it will pay you to go out into the world and study them. If your letters are academic, if Business Letters 13 they lack "ginger," they are only so much waste paper. Here are some good and bad ways of beginning the same letter: I Bad I am a successful salesman with ten years' expe- rience in a well-known clothing house. Good If you knew of a salesman who could do twice the work of an ordinary man in the same time and for the same money, you would want to get hold of him, wouldn't you? II Opening the letter. Bad I am sending you a copy of our latest catalog, and I am confident that it contains the best line of mail-order goods in the country. Good We thank you for your request of March 24, and think you will find on page 27 of the inclosed catalog just exactly what you are looking for. 14 Letter Writing III Opening the letter. Bad I am offering my beautiful country seat at Bellemont at a great reduction. Good If some one offered you $2,000, you would take it, wouldn't you? IV Bad We are in receipt of your letter of recent date and in reply would state that we have a splendid selling proposition, fully described under separate cover. Good Yes, we have a good selling proposition-and we are always on the lookout for live wires. V Bad We have received no reply to our letter of June 1, and would call your attention to the safety of our proposition. Business Letters 15 Good Don't you want to get in on the ground floor in an organization which is bound to become a power- ful factor in this community and which will give you both business and social prestige? Opening the letter. VI Bad I wish to call your attention to our new Dust- proof Vacuum Cleaner which has been so generously received by women all over the country. Good Did you ever stop to think how useless much of your sweeping and cleaning is, and how quickly it has to be done over again? VII Bad The Regal Addressograph stands for perfect service and economy in business. Good You will agree, won't you, that your easiest profits are made by curtailing expenses? 16 Letter Writing VIII Bad We should like to interest you in our new Auto- matic Dish-Washer. Opening the letter. Good Trouble with servants? IX Bad Our 5% Serial Notes are the safest in the market. Good You want more income? X Bad Our Multigraph will stand you in good stead. Good You pride yourself on knowing a good salesman when you see him. That's all the more reason why you'll agree that a good salesman is a rare find. Yet, here is more than a good salesman-here is a salesman extraordinary. And he wants to work for you-wants to increase your business. Business Letters 17 Scarcely less important than the opening sentence of a letter is the close. If the object of the opening has been to arouse interest, the object of the close is to arouse action-force the reader to send for further informa- tion or, better still, inclose his check for the amount of the goods offered. Above all, the close must not invite delay; it must, if possible, suggest immediate action. A good final sen- tence clinches the argument of the whole letter. Following are a few examples of good and bad closing sentences: Bad I Trusting that we may receive your order at an early date, we are Good Send us your check for three dollars today. If you do not wish to swear eternal gratitude to us afterward, we shall be only too glad to refund your money. Write NOW. Closing the letter. 18 Letter Writing Closing the letter. Bad II Thanking you for your letter and hoping that we may have the pleasure of numbering you among our customers, we remain Good We have during the past weck received orders from over 100 persons in your city, including John Wanamaker, Strawbridge and Clothier and Gimbel Brothers. May we not add your name to the list? III Bad Hoping that you will consider my application favorably, I am Good I shall be in New York on Thursday, October 28. May I not hope for an interview? IV Bad Promising the most careful attention to your order, we are Business Letters 19 Good Don't take the trouble to write to us. Your signature on the back of the inclosed postal will bring you a Cleaner for a seven-day free trial. Sign the card now. Closing the letter. V Bad Should you care to consider our offer, we shall be glad to send one of our agents to call upon you. Good Our agent will be in your town next week. Won't you let him call and leave one of the machines for free trial? Sign the inclosed postal card and send it to us today. That's all it takes to "do the trick." VI Bad May I hope to hear from you at your convenience? Good If you want good summer business AND a bigger fall patronage, don't miss a single issue of Cosmopolitan. Use your rate and get your copy in at the earliest possible moment. 20 Letter Writing Closing the letter. VII Bad Bear this matter in mind. We shall be glad at any time to serve you. Good Only an inkling of what you can accomplish with this salesman extraordinary is given here. If you have imagination-can see the wonderful possibilities-it is enough. The post-card, already addressed, will bring a fund of additional informa- tion. Sign, stamp and mail it. Don't let the most efficient salesman in the world get away. Bad VIII Trusting that you will think favorably of the matter. Good You can do more to eliminate the Summer "Dog Days" by advertising in SYSTEM than in any other one way. So send me your copy-with an order. Mail it now-first forms for August close June 25, and you will want to see proofs. Yes -now Business Letters 21 IX Bad We earnestly solicit your enrolment. Good How does that six-cylinder income proposition appeal to you? X Closing the letter. Bad We assure you our proposition is sound. Good Our Just figure out on your desk pad how much would save you in a month, in a year, in five years. Then fill out the inclosed order blank and send it to us. You can't afford to wait another day. DO IT NOW. When money is inclosed in a letter, the amount and kind of remittance should be mentioned (check, money order, etc.). Large amounts of cash should never be intrusted to the mails. The receipt of money should be ac- knowledged. Much needless anxiety would be avoided if this rule were always observed. Sending and acknowl- edging money. WHAT TO SAY We have your letter, NOT your favor or yours. We have your letter of June 23, NOT June 23rd. We have your letter of June 23, NOT 23rd ult. (or prox. or inst.). We have your letter, NOT are in receipt of. We inclose it, NOT the same. The price quoted in the preceding, NOT the above paragraph. We acknowledge, NOT beg to acknowledge. *We shall be glad, NOT will be glad. *We should like to know, NOT would like to know. We inclose check, NOT inclosed find check. Please let us know, NOT kindly advise. We thank you, NOT thank you kindly. * For the correct use of shall and will, should and would, see page 156. 23 Constructing the Sales Letter THE 'HE sales letter is perhaps the most important of business letters-cer- tainly no other requires such careful forethought and unerring wisdom. While originality is to be desired, a letter that is too fantastic wastes the reader's time, and irritates rather than interests him. The questions you must continually ask yourself are, What will interest the man who gets the letter? What arguments will " get under his skin"? What method will "land" his order? Wide-awakeness is an all-essential qualification for the successful sales- man. "To be alive in every fiber and at all times-to be alert always, always awake, always at the top of perfection, until we are wholesomely and thankfully tired; and then, dear God, to sleep like the dead!" Wide- awake- ness. 24 Letter Writing Poet made practical. That is the ideal of a poet, but it is just as good for a letter-writer. He, too, must be a poet-heir of all the wisdom of the past, seer of all the possibilities of the future, with the gift of fresh phrases and white-heated words. The wide-awake correspondent has his eyes always open for catch phrases, inspirational material, valuable valuable sta- tistics, opinions of customers, telling arguments, live material of any sort. Sometimes he keeps notebooks and scrapbooks of these; sometimes he has them in files, carefully indexed; some- times he pastes or pins them to the walls of his office: seldom does he rely wholly upon his memory or the in- spiration of the moment. poet made practical. miracles! He is the Miracle of Mere "hot air" will not land orders. There is no sense in arousing interest. if you have nothing of value to say. Get your iron hot and then strike. Be specific. Don't say, "This pro- Business Letters 25 duct is the best on the market," and "Hundreds of customers have testified to its value." Tell why your product is better than others of the same class. Explain (using figures if you can) just how much it has benefited some par- ticular customer. If you know certain objections that are usually made by customers, answer those objections before they arise. In describing the article, examine it carefully and tell, point by point, exactly what you see. Don't exag- gerate; don't overstate; but use your eyes and your nose and your ears- all your senses, plus your common sense. In all probability there are on the market other articles similar to yours. Show in detail why yours is better. Perhaps your price is higher and the competitor's price is well known. That makes no difference if you believe in your goods. Do not run down your competitor's, but make your own product appear so attractive, so superior, that it will be bought at any price. Be specific. Describ- ing your product. 26 Letter Writing Avoid technical terms. Structure of the business letter. Never mention your competitors by name. That rule is good policy as well as business courtesy. Don't use technical terms in describ- ing your product unless you are sure that the reader will understand them. If in doubt, use plain every-day Eng- lish and inclose a scientific description in a printed folder. As a rule, men are more interested in processes and technical information than women; and good correspondents usually consider the sex of their readers so far as to make their letters to men more logical and to women more sentimental. Of course when women have the vote there will be less cause for discrimination! A good sales letter usually follows a course something like this: 1. Arouses interest. 2. States proposition with clearness, force and emphasis. 3. Presents arguments and induce- ments. 4. Galvanizes into action. Business Letters 27 The circular letter itself has become so common, and is so generally ignored that some correspondents now inclose a personal note for the purpose of winning attention. Let this note be as interesting as possible; let it show why, though the letter may be sent to thousands, it has some particular significance for the one. The wisdom of inclosing a postal card or stamped envelope for reply has been well tested. Coin cards are also used to advantage. Make the reply or the purchase as easy as possible. If it is necessary to quote a price in your letter, try to link a selling talk with it. On the whole it is better policy to inclose a price list, simply referring to it in the letter. The printed price list, moreover, saves much time and eliminates the possibility of error. Let the prices there be clearly stated-so clearly that there shall be absolutely no room for doubt as to the size, style or quantity to which the price refers. Personal note. Quoting prices. 28 Letter Writing Special prices. Here are several good ways of quot- ing prices in a letter: Our long experience in manufacturing has en- abled us to reduce the cost of making to the lowest possible figure, and our customers profit accordingly. The reading lamp, number 127, which you specify, we are able to sell for $10. You will be interested in knowing that we have reduced our prices thirty per cent in the last three years. Machines that once sold for $100 are now selling for $70. And the machines are better than ever before! Compare any of our machines with others on the market and see if you are not abun- dantly satisfied that the Standard is the BEST as well as the CHEAPEST. Only scientific method and infinite attention to detail have enabled us to accomplish this result. If you are making a special offer, be sure to make it perfectly clear that the offer is a special one. Don't leave the value of the offer alone to do the work: use some persuasion; tell why you are able to make such an offer; emphasize the necessity of buying NOW. Usually it is well to quote the former price for comparison. The smallest retailer today knows the value of the marked-down ticket. Business Letters 29 Special offers can often be inserted into letters of ordinary business, with good result. Here are some special- offer paragraphs: Could you use in addition some extra-heavy, art, mounting papers? We can make you a special offer on these (see memorandum attached), as we have just purchased the entire bankrupt stock of Stern, Trowbridge & Co. at 50 cents on the dollar. You can see from the samples the quality and beauty of the goods. If you will stop at the show rooms the next time you are in town we think we can show you some dining-room chairs that will interest you. We are offering our entire stock at a 25% reduction in order to make room for incoming fall goods. Are you in a position to take advantage of some special prices in carpets and rugs? As you prob- ably know, our building was recently damaged by fire, and although much of the stock was scarcely touched by flames or water, all of the goods are being offered at extraordinary bargain prices. In sales letters it is often good policy to refer to customers who have used your products and are pleased with them. When you find on your lists a man who is thoroughly satisfied, follow him up and ask permission to Refer- ences. 30 Letter Writing The lure of the written word. He may use his name as reference. refuse to be bothered, of course, but there is always somewhere the man who is ready to talk and to do another a good turn. Your best references, of course, are the goods themselves; but many cus- tomers appreciate and even request references. The following paragraphs may offer suggestion: In response to your request we refer you to Mr. William Mason of your city, of the firm of Mason and Mason, Bleek Street and Kenyon Avenue. He has been a customer of ours for twenty years, and is therefore well qualified to speak of our service and our goods. We have installed our hot-water heating system in hundreds of office buildings throughout the country. We ask you to visit one of these in your neighborhood and inquire its value of any occupant of the building. The Wright-Nessau and Equi- table Buildings in your neighborhood use our system, and we feel confident that you will be satisfied after an examination of one of these. Read the sales letters that follow. Maybe you have written better; maybe you can write better; but maybe, also, you can get suggestions from Business Letters 31 these. Pick out the one that interests you most. Study it. Determine why it interests you. Then go to work and interest the "other fellow." Believe in your product; believe in your method of selling it; believe in yourself. But, remember the "other fellow's" interests must seem to come first. You cannot bewitch him into buying your goods unless he is abso- lutely sure that your goods are for his good. Startle him into attention; lure him gently with your arguments; spur him into acting AT ONCE. There is your business letter in a nutshell. Gentlemen: I You can throw away money if you want to, but we do not ask you to do that. In the purchase of a commercial utility, like an interior telephone system, intended for permanent, everyday use, the important things to know about it in advance before you have risked a dollar in the investment-are these: 1. Will it stand the wear and tear of con- tinuous service? Sales letter. 32 Letter Writing Sales letter. 2. Will it fulfil in actual service the promise made for it at the time of sale? 3. Will it accomplish the saving of time, foot- steps and money claimed for it by the vendor? 4. Will it add anything to the efficiency of your organization, facilitate and simplify the transactions of the office so that officers and subordinates will be able to achieve the maximum in a day's per- formance with the minimum of wasted motions? This is the yardstick by which the value of the system you put in your office must ultimately be measured. If it stands the test, every dollar you spend on such a system will be worth ten to you every day, in the additional opportunities it will furnish you for getting more work, better work and quicker work out of your organization— by turning into creative, constructive work, time ordinarily frittered away in non-pro- ductive delays and running around doing things that you and your associates and employés are enabled to do without leaving their desks. In the accompanying booklet is presented the story of the Dictograph-not from the stand- point of the seller, but from the standpoint of the user, by men and corporations, who, having paid for the system, are so pleased with their invest- ment that they are willing to testify publicly to that fact. Be sure to read these testimonials and note particularly the wide variety of business Business Letters 33 institutions represented in the list, and their uni- formly high character in the business world. What do these unqualified endorsements from so many representative business houses mean? They mean that the Dictograph merits your confidence as it has won theirs. It means that in actual use the Dictograph realizes every pledge, claim and promise made for it-that it accomplishes exactly what we say it will and that in purchasing it you take no risk of being disappointed by the character of service it will furnish you either next month or next year, and that you will get a system that will pay you as substantially as it has paid them. Could there be any more convincing evidence of the striking merits-striking superiority-strik- ing value of this inter-department system of com- munication than this? Could there be any better reason why you should order an installation of this epoch-making system for your establishment NOW instead of later?- the system that saves you every year, time valued at three times its initial cost. The system without an operator, a switch- board or waits. Before it slips your mind, write us today about it. Yours for business efficiency, Dear Madam: II Are you tired of the drudgery of the kitchen? Are you worried over the high cost of living? Would you like a range that would reduce your Sales letter. 34 Letter Writing Sales letter. grocery bill and cooking expenses one fourth or more? One that would bake your bread, pies, and cakes all at the same time, and brown them all over equally without your looking at them? One that would keep them in perfect condition if left in the oven two or three hours after they are baked, and that would boil your vegetables per- fectly without your stirring them and not scorch them? Would you like a range that would fry or broil your steaks or roast your meats-the toughest- so tender you could cut them with a spoon, and that would make the poorest cuts juicy and delicious? Would you like a range that would cook cereals and beans for ten hours or more and never scorch them-a range that would cook an entire meal at once and superbly well-a range that would use very little fuel, and never heat up the kitchen, even in the hottest weather-that would do your entire cooking better than you have ever done it, and do it without your even thinking about it? It sounds like a fairy-tale, but it isn't. Such a range is the a wonderful invention indeed. Read about it in the accompanying book- let. You will be more interested in this booklet than in a summer novel. One lady writes that the down her grocery bill $10 a month. "The way never fails. to be enthusiastic in its favor." A that he would not take $300 for his. Range has cut Another says, To try it is banker states You will note that our ad appears under the "Money back" columns in Good Housekeeping. Business Letters 35 It is also approved by the Good Housekeeping Institute. It will be approved by you. Let us ship you a free-trial in your own no obligation to buy. Range for fifteen days' home. You will be under Have two weeks of comfort and economy at our expense. All you need to do is to fill in and mail the inclosed card today. Sales letter Yours very truly, III Gentlemen: "The man who does not advertise will soon have the sheriff doing it for him." You will admit that John Pierpont Morgan knew something about business when he said this. But you can waste more money in advertising than in any other way. The secret of success over failure lies largely in finding the right medium in which to advertise. An advertiser in recently sold the Pretty entire output of his factory for two years ahead to one of the subscribers of good, wasn't it? And both parties wrote to con- gratulate us on bringing them together. What can we do for you? Gentlemen: IV You wouldn't put your bookkeeper in the ship- ping room to nail up and label boxes. You wouldn't put your chief engineer in the engine room to stoke furnaces. 36 Letter Writing Sales letter. Exactly the same principles apply to your mail- ing lists, pay-roll lists, shipping tags, statements, factory records-anything having to do with names. For whereas it takes a skilled typist, working hard and continuously a whole day to turn out 800 addresses, the JONES ADDRESSING MACHINE, with a fifteen-year-old boy as operator, will print typewritten addresses at the rate of 1,000 in less than half an hour. Or, comparing the results in a day for manual work and the JONES ADDRESSING MACHINE, the machine will do practically thirty times as much. There is really no question as to the saving of this machine-its place in office equipment is assured. But for the sake of being concrete, let's consider this efficiency method of handling names in its application to your different departments. First, take your lists of prospects and customers, to whom circulars, form letters and various mail matter is sent at intervals. You must admit that it throws an extra burden on regular clerks, stenographers, etc., to get out even a small amount of mail matter, if hand- or typewriter-addressed. And to hire extra help for the work of sending matter to a list at all representative in size is costly, often too costly—and unsatisfactory. Consequently, today sees you, perhaps, like many others, losing the chances to draw and influence trade through circular matter simply because of the handi- cap of old-fashioned methods of handling the work. See what the JONES ADDRESSING MACHINE will do here. A fifteen-year-old boy addresses at the rate of 3,000 an hour. Business Letters 37 How many days would it take at that rate for one boy to reach your prospective trade with selling talk? Is not the value of the JONES ADDRESSING MA- CHINE clearly shown here? The facts and figures we could show you as applied to your own office would open your eyes. When our Mr. Brown calls you will be vitally interested in what he has to say. Yours for efficiency, Sales letter. V Dear Madam: You are tired of dishwashing? Of course! You say that you are interested in the Dishwasher, and I am going to give you a chance to try it at once AT MY EXPENSE. Think of being able to wash your dishes with- out putting your hands in the water to wash and rinse each individual dish, doing the work in LESS THAN HALF THE TIME, yet CLEANING and STERILIZING each one as you never could do it in the old way! It sounds too good to be true, but it is true, and I am going to let you prove it to your own satisfaction IN YOUR OWN HOME. If you will fill out the inclosed order blank and return to me (being careful to give your correct shipping address) I will ship you by freight, PRE- PAID, one of my latest Model Dishwashers. You are to keep it and use it for 30 days. Wash your dishes in it EVERY DAY FOR A WHOLE MONTH. When the 30 days are up, I believe you will 38 Letter Writing Sales letter. not want to keep house without the Dish- washer, and if so, you can pay me the price in easy payments of $1.00 or $2.00 a month, or you may take advantage of the cash discount. I am inclosing a catalog and a few testimonials, picked at random from the many letters I have received. Note the happy and enthusiastic tone of all. Attend When you read what others say of the Dishwasher, you cannot fail to want one. to this TODAY and do away with the drudgery and worry of dishwashing. Health Boards and Physicians everywhere are urging the sterilization of all dishes. This is VITALLY IMPORTANT! It is done in a perfect way by the Dishwasher. You will notice I have three sizes one for families of not more than 3 or 4, at $8.00 on the easy payment plan or $6.50 cash; one for families of not more than 5 or 6, at $14.00 on the easy pay- ment plan or $12.00 cash; and one for families of not more than 10 or 12, at $22.00 on the easy payment plan or $19.00 cash. These are REMARKABLE TERMS. But don't send any money. Just state on the order blank the dishwasher you choose and let me send it to you. Please DON'T WAIT, for every day means more dishwashing in the old hard way. You will have a month to decide about wanting the dishwasher after you get it. Don't try to decide that now. Awaiting your selection, I am Yours very truly, Business Letters 39 Dear Sir: VI If you read the story in a recent issue of the Saturday Evening Post, entitled "The Efficient Salamander," you will probably remember the expression of Philip to Kaidin & Sift: "THE TROUBLE WITH YOU FELLERS IS YOŲ NEVER READ A BOOK ABOUT BUSINESS IN ALL YOUR LIFE AND NEVER WOULD.” This is only too true of many business men, who, if they investigated certain publications, would thank the publishers for calling their attention to them. Crane's "BUSINESS LAW FOR BUSINESS MEN" is a publication of this kind. It is prepared especi- ally FOR THE BUSY BUSINESS MAN. It is the only work of like purpose that is FREE FROM TECHNICAL LANGUAGE. It applies to EVERY STATE in the Union; it is DOWN-TO-DATE in every particular; IT SERVES SILENTLY as Counselor; NEVER MAKES MISTAKES; and NEVER ASKS A FEE. You will find it fully described in the inclosed circular, and we ask you to note particularly the Table of Contents. SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER. By special arrangement with the publishers, we are permitted to sell Crane's "BUSINESS LAW FOR BUSINESS MEN" at the special price of $2.50. It is published at $3.50. This special offer is open for a LIMITED TIME ONLY. It is made to introduce the work by getting it in the hands of practical people who will use it and recommend it to others. Sales letter. 40 Letter Writing Sales letter FURTHERMORE, we will send you a copy of this work FREE, all charges prepaid, for your exami- nation. If you are not convinced of its value, you can return it at our expense. Otherwise, remit the special price and the book is yours. Take advantage of this opportunity of examin- ing the work by filling in and mailing the inclosed card TODAY. Yours very truly, Dear Mr. Brown: VII Write the words "Captain Scott's Diary" on the Monday, June 23, leaf of your desk calendar, before you forget it. Its title is "The Undying Story of Captain Scott." The July issue of Everybody's Magazine, con- taining the first instalment of the most dramatic and tragic story of polar research ever printed, will reach you on that day. Mr. Trumbull White has returned from London with the manuscript and photographs. The tragic disappointment that Captain Scott met when he reached the South Pole and found that Amundsen had been there before him, and the brilliant but hopeless fight he made to bring his party back in safety-all this is told in the Captain's own words. There will also be a photographic reproduction of Scott's touching appeal to the British nation, which evidently was written after his companions had died and when the explorer himself was almost Business Letters 41 at the point of death. It was written in pencil, without a single erasure, on three pages of a note- book, a little bigger than a postal card. I could tell you many more thrilling incidents, but what's the use of taking up your time now- read the original story. The complete diary will appear in Everybody's Magazine, beginning with the July number and running through August, September and October. Very sincerely yours, Dear Sir: VIII We ask the privilege of sending you, all charges prepaid and without any obligations on your part, a copy of our NEW UNIVERSAL SELF-PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY, 1911 Copyright Colored-Plate Edition, which you will find described on the inside pages. We are sure that the logical arrangement of this new dictionary will appeal to you, as the most satisfactory and practical work of the kind pub- lished for use in your office or home. If you will fill in and mail us the inclosed card, we will gladly send you the dictionary in flexible Morocco binding, indexed, all charges prepaid, sub- ject to examination. If it does not please you, return it to us at our expense. If it pleases you, remit the special price, $1.50. We are making this special offer for a short time only as a method of advertising the work by getting it in the hands of practical people who will use it and recommend it to others. Sales letter. 42 Letter Writing Sales letter. We hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity by filling in and mailing the card at once. Dear Mr. Brown: Yours very truly, IX There is a transportation system in New York City that carries 8,000,000 passengers a day- and charges no fares. And the passengers are safer in its cars than when walking on the street. What is it? You will find a most interesting answer in the July number of St. Nicholas. Also read what happens in the peach basket masts of a battle-ship when the 12-inch guns speak their minds. The pleasant duties of a baseball manager make interesting reading, especially for you fans. If you are interested in gardening, a fine article will tell you what to get, and how to treat it so that you can raise enough plants to supply your- self and Mr. and Mrs. Jones and family, next door. Everything in the July St. Nicholas is worth while; read it and feel your brain expand. Get acquainted with St. Nicholas and see for yourself if the claims I am making for this magazine are not well founded. Yours very sincerely, Business Letters 43 My dear Sir: Look ahead two years. X You will be working out bigger business plans and making more important decisions. You will have developed in every way. Your inquiry regarding our Course and Service shows that you are in search of a practical means of adding to your efficiency and income. You want to secure equipment that will make your next two years a period of rapid growth and achievement. OVER FIFTEEN THOUSAND business men are now following our Reading Course and using our Con- sulting Service. Why? Because they have found a definite, practical plan for increasing their busi- ness knowledge and power. STOP FOR A FEW MOMENTS AND CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: Powerful underlying forces drive all prices sometimes up and sometimes down. Do you understand how business policies can be ad- justed to these movements? A great deal is said about the currency and banking systems of the country and their defects. Could a more centralized banking system help us? Why? How does this ques- tion affect you as a business man? Is your accounting system so conducted that it is a productive force? Does it help you to get more business at less cost, or is it an expensive and tiresome drag? Do you know what factors determine the profits of individuals and of corporations? Sales letter. 44 Letter Writing Sales letter. Do the letters that you dictate get the maximum percentage of response and results? The big successes in business have resulted from following a definite, well-thought-out financial plan. Have you such a plan clearly in mind? There are six important things to know when entering into a formal agreement. There are five different methods to terminate a contract. Do you know them? All of these subjects and many others are taken up in the Institute Course. From the opening sentences of the first assignment, straight through to the closing sentence of the last assignment, only subjects of live interest are considered. Here is the main point I want to impress. Our Course is broad. It deals with bed-rock principles in every important field of business. Through a systematic study of these principles, you will be broadened and strengthened in your work. The Course is laid out so that in return for a minimum investment of time, it yields a maximum of results. BETTER WAYS, SHORTER WAYS, EASIER WAYS, MORE PROFITABLE WAYS-these are what a consistent reading of our Course will disclose to you. University schools of commerce which cover the same fields as the Hamilton Institute Course main- tain an average fee of $150 per year. This fee does not include text books or any other expense. Our regular fee of $120, then, is low-for it includes Texts, Lectures, Talks, Problems and the Service for the full term of two years. OUR SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY DISCOUNT OF $24.00 Business Letters 45 brings the present fee down to $96.00. This 20% reduction surely calls for prompt action. More- over, while this reduced rate is maintained, we will accept enrolments on a basis of small monthly payments of $8. That means that you need only fill out the inclosed enrolment application and send it back in the inclosed envelope with your check for $8, in order to take over our Course and Service IMMEDIATELY. On the same day that your enrolment comes in, the twelve volumes of the Modern Business Text and the first regular reading assignment will go out-all charges prepaid. You can begin at once to get ready for the bigger things that lie in front of you. Look two years ahead—and act. Yours very truly, Sales letter. 46 Value of The Follow-up Letter Functions of the follow-up. 'HE follow-up letter answers various THE needs. Sometimes it is used merely to keep in touch with customers or patrons (for the sake, of course, of future custom or patronage); some- times it is used to clinch a bargain (perhaps with a prospective buyer, who may have written for information and failed to respond to your first appeal); sometimes it serves to remind a debtor of an unsettled account; sometimes it "follows up" a known purchase with the suggestion of something which the purchase may naturally lead to (as the purchase of diamonds with their in- surance). In general it is a sales letter and must have all the virtues of a sales letter. If one in a series, it must occupy a logical relation to the letter Business Letters 47 that precedes and place an opening wedge for the letter that is to follow. In a series, say of four good sales letters, the first may go unread, the second may excite a casual interest, the third may set the reader thinking, the fourth may persuade him to buy. The old adage "Try, try again," applies to selling by mail as well as to anything else. Only don't make the mistake of making your first letter final. Don't say "This is your last chance, when you mean next-to-the-last, or next-to-the-next-to-the last. The letters that follow may offer suggestion: Value of persist- ence. Dear Sir: I Are you a "time crank?” If so, you were interested in the booklet, Every Hour of the Day, which we mailed to you a few days ago. The time crank believes in accuracy, and he wants his watch to be accurate. He is a man whose word is as good as his bond. He is always satisfied with the watch. Follow-up letter. 48 Letter Writing Follow-up letter. Do you know why? Because the is made right. a watch It takes from seven months to a year to make timekeeper. The average time required is nine months. No watch is ever made in less than seven months, and two months is consumed in the finishing room alone. Here all the more delicate parts are weighed on scales so delicate that they, too, must be made on the premises, because no other scales are accurate enough for the Company. The gauge by which the finer parts are tested for size are kept in an even temperature every minute of the year and are handled with tweezers so that they will not expand under the heat of the hands, even to the twenty-thousandth part of an inch. Watches-because made with such care- are bound to be better timekeepers than those which are hastily and rudely put together. Ask any jeweler what he thinks about the watch. Ask any man who carries one. Eventually you will buy the not Now? watch. Why Very truly yours, II Gentlemen: You are seeking efficiency in your business. I am sure of it, and that is why I know you are still interested in our JONES ADDRESSING MACHINE. In the mechanical handling of lists as well as in the use of them, the JONES ADDRESSING MACHINE means efficiency for you. Business Letters 49 If tomorrow morning one of our machines were set down in your office, any fifteen-year-old boy or girl in your employ could, without previous instruction, readily operate it and by noon be addressing envelopes, cards, statements, pay-roll forms-anything, everything, at the rate of 1,000 an hour. By night he would increase his speed to a 2,000 pace, and by the next day would have acquired the average speed of 3,000 addresses an hour without the errors and omissions which are liable in the most careful hand work. The Automatic Envelope Feed addresses envel- opes, cards and circulars at the rate of 7,500 per hour-all automatically. And the value of the JONES ADDRESSING MACHINE lies not only in the speed with which the addresses are printed, but also in the quality of the addresses, which are a perfect fac-simile of typewriting, and in its many conveniences-it has every feature of a modern card index. So flexible and complete are the card-index features of the JONES ADDRESSING MACHINE that, by means of colored identification cards which are carried in the address plates, geographical, alphabetical and numerical index tabs, lists so maintained can be arranged and classified to meet the most exacting requirements. With such a system your important lists can be placed in the hands of an inexperienced boy or girl with the assurance that they will be kept up to date at all times and the required addressing executed with absolute accuracy in one twentieth of the time required by the best typist or penman. When all of the real features of a complete card Follow-up letter. 50 Letter Writing Follow-up letter. index and perfect addressing machine are com- bined, as in the JONES ADDRESSING MACHINE, the goal of highest efficiency in the handling of a mail- ing list has been reached. Here's a proposition: Tell us the size and nature of your regular lists of names, and send us samples of the circulars, cards, envelopes, and special forms you address from these lists-and without obligation on your part we will show you in dollars and cents just what the JONES ADDRESSING MACHINE will save you. If it doesn't pay for itself within a stipulated time we will take it back and refund the purchase price. Send us the necessary data NOW-or 'phone for our Mr. Brown to call if you are in a hurry. Yours for efficiency, Dear Mr. Jones: III You don't throw away the checks that come in your morning mail. Nor will you throw away this letter when you realize that its message means MANY DOLLARS IN YOUR POCKET. Your letter is interesting, and represents a phase of character that we often "run up against." You say you are satisfied with our Standard Lights, but that you think you will wait another year before buying. Do you realize just what such a postponement would mean to you? It would mean that you would pay just twice as much for your gas bills Business Letters 51 as you will pay when you have installed Standard Lights. If you order now you will in one year save many times the cost of installing the Standard Lights. We are prepared to "make good" when we say that our lights will cut your gas bills in half- increase your own comfort and the comfort of your customers-and consequently INCREASE YOUR SALES. Send us your order TODAY. Just fill in the inclosed blank. You can have the Standard Lights in your building next week. Think of cutting next year's gas bills in half! Fill in the order blank NOW. Follow-up letter. Yours very truly, IV My dear Sir: '. The paper you are now holding in your hands represents an opportunity. Unfold it. Study carefully the printed matter under the words "Enrolment Application." First of all, you will find a list of the men who are back of us and with us. The information which they have collected, classified and organized has a definite money value. That is why over 10,000 business men have enrolled during the last three years. There's nothing strange or magical about it. You can tell a man in ten minutes what it has taken you that many months, or perhaps years, to learn. And he can cash in on that information from that time on. 52 Letter Writing Follow-up letter. That's the principle of the Reading Course; the Consulting Service enables you to command the special knowledge and training of our specialists in connection with your personal business plans. The $24 reduction from $120 to $96 is an intro- ductory offer and is subject to withdrawal at any time without notice. By acting TODAY you can secure the special reduced fee, and convenient monthly payments of $8. Tear off the application along the perforated line NOW. Fill it out and start it on its way to New York. We'll act with equal promptness at our end. Very truly yours, V Dear Sir: Five minutes' hard contemplation of the solid facts contained in this letter will work a radical change in your life. You say in your letter that you intend to buy a home SOMETIME. No doubt you said the same thing ten years ago. Did you ever stop to calculate how much more money you would have now, if you had bought ten years ago? Here is an example to make you think: Mr. Blake of Stanton, whose house you know, bought his place through me just nine years ago for $8,000. Last week he refused an offer of $10,000! In the meantime he has had nine years of pleasure out of it. Did you ever see him stretched full length on that big veranda? Business Letters 53 Mr. Smith, another customer of mine, bought a house only four years ago, paying $500 in cash and signing a contract for the outstanding $3,000. Last April he sold the same property for $4,500 cash. Pretty good investment, wasn't it? You see there's a chance to make money in real estate, whether you buy a large house or a small one-if only you BUY WISELY. Let me help you choose the house. You can profit by my fifteen years' knowledge of real estate values. I can show you some houses that I would buy TODAY if I had the cash. You can select any one of them that satisfies your requirements. Besides, you want that home for the joy of it. You never feel quite so happy in a rented house. You like to look around and feel "THIS IS MINE. You don't want to put improvements on another man's property. You don't want to plant shrub- bery for others to enjoy. You don't want to pay money to the other fellow when you can be MAKING MONEY YOURSELF. Call me up today and let me show you several houses that are exceptional bargains. You are under no obligation to purchase. Just have a look at them. My 'phone number is Chilton 365. You may find me in the office this very minute. If not, leave a message and I will call you. Very truly yours, Follow-up letter. 54 Reply Letters in the Making Brevity. L ETTERS should never lie around unanswered. Courtesy demands immediate attention. To answer every letter the same day it is received is to gain a reputation for good business methods and to lay the foundation of real efficiency. Many business houses make it the rule to reply to every letter received, whether it calls for an answer or not. A letter in such a case is regarded as a favor, needing acknowledgment. The reply should be brief and to the point. It should mention the receipt of the letter to which it is an answer. It should repeat enough of that letter to make the meaning clear without requiring the reader to refer to the files. In opening the letter avoid such Business Letters 55 stilted expressions as "We have your esteemed favor," "Yours received and contents noted," "Yours of the 16th inst. to hand," etc. Here are some better beginnings: We thank you for your letter of May 7. We have your letter of May 7, and are glad to have you state your grievances so openly. The matter which you suggest in your letter of May 7 is well worth consideration. Your complaint of May 7 is well grounded. All objections should be frankly met. Admit, if admission be the truth, that objections made by your customers have weight. Turn the objection into real value by showing how, for instance, your goods could not be manufactured so cheaply but for the very thing re- ferred to, how the adulteration in no sense interferes with the working value of the goods, how the thing objected to has been seized upon by your com- petitors because there is no real objec- tion to be made, how false (if high price Opening the reply. Meeting com- plaints. 56 Letter Writing Cancel- ing orders. is the objection) is the economy of buying cheap articles, etc. The following sentences may offer suggestions for the opening sentence: We regret exceedingly that you feel obliged to drop our goods from your stock. Before doing so, will you not explain the difficulties more fully? We have your letter of June 16, concerning slow sales. Will it help you to know that we are planning the biggest advertisement campaign in our history? We are glad to have you write us as you did on May 10, making comparison between our pro- ducts and the Regal. We can readily understand your objection to our price; but we believe that if you once visited our manufacturing plant you would agree that the tires you are using could not be made for less. We are extremely sorry that the failure of the tin-roofer to call upon you at the expected time should have caused you such annoyance. No matter how angry you may be, never let your annoyance appear in the letter. Be alway's dignified, always polite. The canceling of orders is one of the knotty problems of business corre- spondence. Be generous, but not too Business Letters 57 generous. If the cancelation seems unnecessary, insist upon knowing the reason. If you agree to cancel, let the customer feel that you are con- ferring a special favor: We have your letter of June 16, asking us to cancel your order of June 10. While the cancel- ation of orders is one of the things we are obliged to guard against ordinarily, we have decided to comply with your request. The following is one example of an unnecessary but effective reply letter, with a pleasing personal note: My dear Sir: It is a genuine pleasure to learn of your interest in the Hamilton Course and Service. Your interest will grow, I am sure, as you learn more about our work. Thousands of ambitious business men are using our Course and Service as a definite means of preparing for greater responsi- bilities and larger incomes. Our Mr. Smiley is writing you today, at con- siderable length, explaining just what we have to offer. This note is merely to express my personal pleasure at receiving your inquiry and my hope that you will find it possible to take advantage of the special reduced fee now available. Very truly yours, A courte- ous reply. 58 Collection and Credit Letters Necessity of tact. IF F the sales letter is important, the collection letter is almost equally so. It is of no advantage to sell goods if you cannot collect the bills. Yet the man who is successful in selling goods by mail is the man who will know how to get the cash. He will "go after' it with wisdom and tact, and in nine cases out of ten will succeed. You do not want to resort to a club in the beginning; you do not want to insult a man who may be guilty only of carelessness; you want to give him another chance-or two, or three. If you create unpleasant feelings, the chances are that you will lose a cus- tomer. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," of course; but it is foolish to kill sales of thousands of Business Letters 59 dollars in the future for the sake of a hundred now. A simple, kind reminder, or a man- to-man appeal will usually be enough. These failing, you can place the account in the hands of your collection agent or attorney. The following series of letters are not particularly original, but are good for general service. Where relations between creditor and debtor are closer, a more friendly letter may be written. Dear Mr. Benson: In looking over the books this morning I noticed that your bill for goods delivered in April has not been paid. The matter is not worrying me at all, but I thought you might be glad to have it brought to your attention. If convenient, perhaps you will send us a draft before the close of the month. Dear Mr. Benson: Cordially yours, Your account is now considerably overdue and we have received no reply to our letter of June 1. We inclose a statement of the account, which we shall be glad to have you compare with the statement on your own books. If it agrees, may we not receive your check by return mail? Very truly yours, Collection letters. 60 Letter Writing Dear Sir: We have twice called your attention to your unpaid account, but have received no reply to our letters. As our terms to all customers are thirty days, we cannot make a longer extension with you except by special agreement. May we expect your check by return mail? Very truly yours, Small accounts. Dear Sir: You have not answered our requests for pay- ment of your April account of $184.63. As this account is long overdue, and as we have received no explanation of the delinquency, we feel that we can no longer carry it on our books. We will turn it over to our attorneys for collection unless it is paid before the 15th. Very truly yours, The next letter has been used with excellent results in dealing with small accounts where the debtors are not particularly familiar familiar with business methods and are easily "bluffed." Dear Sir: Please advise us just wHAT YOU INTEND TO DO regarding your account. We have written you several times and feel that we are at least entitled to the COURTESY OF A REPLY. Business Letters 61 We try to believe that there is some satisfactory reason why we have not heard from you; but if we do not receive an answer by return mail, we shall think otherwise, and it will be necessary for us to take up the matter from AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT STANDPOINT. We hope, however, to hear from you at once, and in the meantime beg to remain, Yours very truly, Invoice inclosed. In settling small accounts the two letters that follow have been used to good purpose. Dear Sir: You have paid no attention to the several state- ments that we have sent you, so we attach hereto a duplicate of the bill representing the small account that you owe us, in order that you may see exactly what it is for. If there ever was any profit in this transaction, it has been almost dissipated by the expense of having been obliged to write you several times about it, and while the matter may be small, we feel that IT SHOULD HAVE ATTENTION. You will find inclosed a self-addressed envelope that will add to the convenience of sending a remit- tance, which we hope to receive BY RETURN MAIL. Send stamps if more convenient to you. Yours very truly, Collection letter. 62 Letter Writing Collection letter. Dear Sir: "For want of a nail the shoe was lost, For want of a shoe the horse was lost, For want of a horse the rider was lost." It is a habit with some people to regard as "trifles" small accounts, not realizing that credit accounts of this kind are greater accommodations to them than larger accounts, for the reason that there is little or no profit in them. It is the custom for all business houses to have a routine by which statements are sent out at regular intervals, and therefore if any profit ever existed in a small account it is very quickly dissi- pated by the expense and postage attached to sending out statements. The loss to every business house in small accounts amounts to considerable in a year's time, for "Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow." We hope that a remittance from you by return mail to cover the inclosed small account will show that this little preachment has not been lost. Kindly relieve your mind of the matter by attend- ing to it right now. We inclose self-addressed envelope for convenience in replying. (Postage stamps acceptable.) } Yours very truly, Business Letters 63 Where goods are bought on the in- stalment plan, there is less chance of further sales and less reason, perhaps, for using kid-glove methods of collec- tion. The kid-glove methods, how- ever, are usually by far the most efficacious. In addition to the usual arguments there is in the collection of instalment accounts the possibility of appealing to the buyer's honor and his obligation to abide by his contract. This failing, the usual severer measures must be sought. Instal- ment accounts. The granting or the refusing of Credit. credit is an every-day occurrence in the business world. It is a matter requiring both wisdom and tact. You can, of course, refer to a com- mercial agency. Frequently you can find out more from the man himself. Do not be arbitrary or inconsiderate or imperious. Inspire friendliness, con- fidence. Ask kindly; grant kindly; refuse kindly. The following letters have been used with excellent results. 64 Letter Writing Credit letter. Dear Sir: We thank you for the order you have placed with our representative, Mr. Blank. According to our records, we have not had the pleasure of doing business with you before, but we shall aim to serve you so well that we can expect a continuance of your patronage. As is customary with all business houses, we are obliged to seek information that will enable us to determine the line of credit to which a new cus- tomer is entitled. To facilitate these investiga- tions, we should appreciate your giving us the names of a few houses with whom you have been dealing. For your convenience in replying, we inclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. May we hear from you by return mail? Dear Sir: Yours very truly, We have your letter of June 8, with order for We shall be pleased to ship this order immediately upon receipt of the amount specified in the accompanying memorandum. As you no doubt know, we are a large whole- sale house, and do not open accounts with indi- viduals for small amounts. With this explanation, you will understand that our request for a remittance is not a reflection upon you personally, but merely the application of a rule which has been established by our Company. We hope to receive your remittance by return mail, so that we can give early attention to your order. Yours very truly, Business Letters 65 Dear Sir: We acknowledge your order of (date, or for— naming goods ordered) for which accept our thanks. According to our Credit Department records, it seems that we have not had the pleasure of doing business with you before, and under the circum- stances we are obliged to make the necessary investi- gations before opening a credit account. We are, however, unable to obtain sufficient information to warrant our shipping the goods that you have ordered. This is no reflection upon you, for the only avenue we could employ for obtaining informa- tion was through the reports of the commercial agencies. We should therefore be pleased to have you send us the names of houses with whom you have been dealing and other information that will enable us to base a line of credit. As you no doubt are aware, it is customary with all business houses to obtain information of this kind before opening new accounts, and a full and frank statement is of as much benefit to the buyer as it is to the seller, and leads to mutually pleasant business relations. We have your order ready to ship and hope that we may hear from you by return mail. Yours very truly, Credit letter. Dear Sir: We thank you for the order you placed with our representative, Mr. Blank. According to our Credit Department records, it seems that we have not had the pleasure of doing business with you before, and under the 66 Letter Writing Turn- downs. circumstances we are obliged to make the neces- sary investigations before opening a credit account. We are, however, unable to obtain sufficient in- formation to warrant our shipping the goods that you have ordered. Please understand, this is no reflection upon you, for the only avenue we could employ for obtaining information was through the reports of the commercial agencies. Unfortunately, we were unable to receive from this source information upon which we could base a line of credit. Under the circumstances, we hope that you can arrange to send a remittance to cover the present order and we will allow you % cash discount; and if you wish you can at the same time give us the names of houses with whom you have been dealing and other information that will enable us to base a line of credit. We have your order ready to ship, and hope that we may hear from you with remittance by return mail. Yours very truly, When the policy of the house makes a refusal necessary, make it as friendly and impersonal as possible. If you are not really disposed to be kind, remem- ber that the bad pay of today may be the good pay of tomorrow. Don't turn a man down "cold." Try to say something courteous or complimentary. Business Letters 67 "Do unto others as ye would that they should do to you.' A refusal may be worded in some such fashion as these: We are extremely sorry that your financial con- dition does not warrant us in extending credit to you. If you can satisfy your present obligations, we shall be glad to reconsider your order. Our relations in the past have been so pleasant that we regret to refuse the extension of further credit. But you will naturally appreciate our position and the necessity of this refusal. We have your order of January 6, but owing to an extraordinary rush of business we are obliged to refuse many orders. We therefore suggest that you avoid delay by placing yours elsewhere. We conclude from your letter of January 6 that you are not familiar with the policy of our house. Our terms are cash. We will therefore hold your order until we hear again from you. We have your letter of January 6, and althougli we have all confidence in your credit, we make it a rule never to ship more goods until the previous shipment is paid for. Can you aid us by conforming with this custom? Tactful refusals. 68 Business Letters of Many Sorts Recom- mending a book- keeper. I TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: January 5, 19—. Mr. John T. Byer has been employed as book- keeper for our house for the past two years. He has proved himself accurate, painstaking and thor- ough, and has shown remarkable understanding of business methods. He leaves us of his own accord because he wishes to locate farther West; and we most heartily recom- mend him for any position which he feels he is qualified to fill. Very truly yours, POWERS AND WRAITH, E. H. Powers, President. II Recom- mending a servant. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: June 27, 19-. Sarah Manders has been in my employ for two years as housekeeper, and has performed the work with entire satisfaction. She is an excellent cook Business Letters 69 and a baker of extraordinary skill. She keeps an immaculate house. She is cheerful and kind, and has the rare faculty of seeing what is needed with- out being told. I heartily recommend her to any one in search of a faithful servant. I part with her only because it is necessary to break up my own home. Mrs. John M. Pryor, 34 Chester Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. Very truly yours, Harriet D. Pryor. [Ι] Portland, Maine, July 16, 19—. Letter of Mr. Thomas Winthrop, introduc- Metropolitan Building, tion. New York City. Dear Mr. Winthrop: This letter will introduce to you Mr. James E. Smith, a young mechanical engineer, recently graduated from Cornell University. I know him as a man of energy and ability, and have found his services in my office during his vacation periods invaluable. He is willing to do almost anything to gain a foothold in New York, and if you or any of your friends can put him in the way of a position, I am sure you will not regret it. Sincerely yours, Stephen Morton. 70 Letter Writing Answer- ing adver- tisements. X 73, IV BOY, about 15 years of age, for office work in Kensington. X 73, Press Employment Bureau, 7th and Chestnut Streets. Philadelphia, June 28, 19-. Press Employment Bureau, Philadelphia. Gentlemen: I am looking for work and I live in Kensington. May I call to see you? Although I have never done office work, I think I could easily learn. I had a good record at the School, from which I graduated last week. My teacher, Miss Brown, said that I might use her name as reference. I am fifteen years of age and strong and eager to work. 1216 E. Clifton Street. Respectfully yours, Raymond Altman. V HOUSEWORK-Middle-aged woman for house- work; home in Downingtown. C 115 Ledger Office. May 16, 19—. C 115, Public Ledger, Philadelphia. Dear Madam: Your advertisement interested me, as I am looking for employment outside of the city. I am forty-five years of age and in good health. Business Letters 71 I am a good cook and, though I prefer not to wash, can do all kinds of housework well. I had my own home until two years ago. Since then I have lived with Mrs. Beeman, in the position of working housekeeper. I inclose a copy of a letter from her. Respectfully yours, Mrs. Sarah Manders, 5219 Sedgwick Avenue, Philadelphia. VI Sarah Manders. STENOGRAPHER, for work in the office of railroad supervisor; position out of the city; $50 a month. X 239 Bulletin. X 239, Bulletin, Philadelphia. Philadelphia, October 4, 19-. Applying for position. Gentlemen: I am a stenographer of two-years' experience, and am looking for a position because my present employer, an attorney, is retiring. I inclose a letter of recommendation from him. I am a graduate of the Commercial High School, can write 125 words a minute, and read my notes easily. I am willing to go out of the city. May I hope for an interview? Miss Miriam C. Norton, 1318 N. Twelfth Street, Philadelphia. Very truly yours, Miriam C. Norton. 72 Letter Writing Applying for position. VII A LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE wanted; no canvassing or soliciting required; good in- come assured. Address Co-operative Realty Realty Co., 148 Mason Building, Washington, D. C. New York, June 7, 19—. Co-operative Realty Co., 148 Mason Building, Washington, D. C. Gentlemen: Do you want a representative who will always be "on the job," who has had five years' expe- rience in live real estate work, and who can write letters that bring in cash? Then you want me. I am a college man (A.B., Columbia, 1907) and after three years of successful selling for Strong and Rodgers, real estate brokers, became their head correspondent, handling a large publicity campaign for certain outlying districts. That I have made good the accompanying report will show. May I know details of your proposition and what income may reasonably be expected? I inclose copies of letters of recommendation and shall be glad, if your offer is satisfactory, to come to Wash- ington for an interview. Business Address: 1468 Broadway, New York City. Home Address: 16 Ridge Street, East Orange, N. J. Very truly yours, Howard B. Snyder. Business Letters 73 The Mandell Company VIII Lincoln, April 24, 19—. Ordering goods. 16 Spring Street, Chicago, Illinois. Gentlemen: Please send me your $2.50 camera as advertised in the Literary Digest. I inclose money order. Miss Elsie N. Smalley, 36 Nelson Street, Lincoln, Nebraska, IX Very truly yours, Elsie N. Smalley. Seattle, September 8, 19-. Sydney, Korbeck and Co., 724 Washington Street, Seattle, Washington. Gentlemen: Please send me the following: 1 doz. cans "Sweet as Sugar" peas 2 pkg. cornstarch ½ doz. pint bottles grape-juice 1 bu. potatoes 25 lbs. "Gold Medal" flour Charge to my account. Mrs. Ludlow E. Johnson, 18 Lincoln Street, Very truly yours, Mary B. Johnson. Ordering goods. 74 Letter Writing X Hurry-up letter. Seattle, September 15, 19—. Sydney, Korbeck and Co., Excusing absence. 724 Washington Street, Seattle, Washington. Gentlemen: On September 8 I sent you an order for goods to be charged to my account. They have not yet been delivered, and unless you can fill the order immediately I will make the purchase elsewhere. The order was: 1 doz. cans "Sweet as Sugar" peas 2 pkg. cornstarch ½ doz. pint bottles grape-juice 1 bu. potatoes 25 lbs. "Gold Medal" flour Please let me know whether you are sending the goods. Mrs. Ludlow E. Johnson, 18 Lincoln Street. Very truly yours, Mary B. Johnson. XI Dear Miss Brown: Philadelphia, September 2, 19— Please excuse Mary's absence from school Thursday and Friday of last week. She had a severe cold, with fever. Very truly yours, Cornelia P. Blake. Mrs. Benjamin Blake, 2216 N. 13th Street. Business Letters 75 XII Jenkintown, June 1, 19—. Mr. Alfred M. Carino, Hotel Seaview, Asbury Park, N. J. Dear Sir: Please let me know your terms for two com- municating rooms with bath for the months of July and August. The accommodations are for husband, wife, and two children, aged ten and twelve. Mrs. Roger Sweeney, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. Very truly yours, Katherine T. Sweeney, Letter re- questing terms. XIII Philadelphia, June 16, 19—. Letter The Frazier Preparatory School, request- Washington City, ing school catalog. New York. Gentlemen: Will you please send me a catalog of your school and let me know whether a boy who has completed the work in the elementary schools of Philadelphia could enter without examination. Mrs. Benjamin Corder, 3840 Trenton Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Very truly yours, Miriam J. Corder. 76 Letter Writing Letter engaging board. XIV June 8, 19-. Mr. Alfred M. Carino, Hotel Seaview, Dear Sir: Asbury Park, N. J. Please reserve rooms 316 and 318 for eight weeks beginning July first, at the terms stated in your letter of June third. We shall arrive on the train that reaches Asbury Park at 4.30 P. M. Please send conveyances for four persons and three large trunks. Mrs. Roger Sweeney, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. Very truly yours, Katherine T. Sweeney. XV Official letter of recom- menda- tion. Harvard University, Cambridge, March 26, 1838. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I certify that Henry D. Thoreau, of Concord, in this State of Massachusetts, graduated at this seminary in August, 1837; that his rank was high as a scholar in all branches, and his morals and general conduct unexceptional and exemplary. He is recommended as well qualified as an instructor, for employment in any public or private school or private family. Josiah Quincy, President of Harvard University. Business Letters 77 XVI Ashbourne, Pennsylvania, Subscrib- April 16, 19-. ing to magazine. The Century Company, Union Square, New York. Gentlemen: I inclose check for eight dollars ($8.00) for two yearly subscriptions to the Century Magazine, beginning with the May issue, tɔ be sent to and Mrs. John E. Stephens, Ashbourne, Pa. Mr. Johnson S. Treuby, 217 State Street, Chicago, Ill. With receipt for check please send a catalog of your publications. Very truly yours, John E. Stephens. XVII Thomson-Smith Company, Inc., Buffalo. Gentlemen: April 1, 19-. Testi- monial letter. On March 6 you submitted to this Institute a Machine, for our testing purposes. We are pleased to inform you that we have given this device a most thorough trial and find that we can approve it. It will appear in some future number of the Good Housekeeping Magazine, under our seal of approval as follows: 78 Letter Writing Letter request- ing samples. "Tested and Approved by the Good House- keeping Institute, conducted by the Good House- keeping Magazine." A certificate bearing your number and the rules under which this seal of approval may be used, will be sent you later. Very truly yours, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING INSTITUTE, ALW-G Albert L. Wyman, Director. XVIII "The Linden," Asbury, February 24, 19—. Bailey, Banks and Biddle Company, 1218 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Gentlemen: Please send me specimens of the best styles in present use for wedding invitations-for a church wedding to be followed by a reception to limited number. Please give prices and state the length of time required to complete an order of one thousand. Miss L. G. Wilmot, Asbury, Pennsylvania. Very truly yours, L. G. Wilmot. Business Letters 79 XIX Chicago, November 15, 19-. Testi- Institute, New York City. monial letter. Gentlemen: I have followed your Course for several months and I must say that it has more than fulfilled my expectations. The various subjects are covered in a most practical yet interesting manner, and each volume of the text is a source of information as well as inspiration. The treatment of Economics of Busi- ness is a radical departure from the usual methods of treating this subject, and I believe that it is well worth while for every business man, however successful, to study this text closely. In fact, every subject covered in the Course has been handled in a most masterly way. Every man who succeeds attributes his advance- ment to some specific cause. What measure of success I have attained has been secured by hard work and close study of business principles, and I consider your Reading Course and Consulting Service one of the active causes for my increased business efficiency and knowledge. I thank you for having brought the Course to my attention. You may rest assured that I am ever ready to say a good word in behalf of the work you are doing. JPB-RT Sincerely yours, John P. Brown. PART II SOCIAL LETTERS 83 ! Personality in Letter Writing It matters not what men assume to be; Or good, or bad, they are but what they are. BAILEY, Festus. THE HE best rule for social letter writing is to have no rule. Read good literature; think good thoughts; but above all else, be yourself. It is a fine thing to cherish high ideals, and a very foolish thing blindly to copy or imitate. Inspiration or suggestion is the only benefit to be derived from good models: mere following is idle. Your own per- sonality is the largest factor, and though you may find new ways and better forms of expression for the seeking, you must be a living soul if you would succeed. Read the letters of Charles Lamb, of Robert Louis Stevenson, or of any of the world-loved letter-writers, and see if their charm is not due to the charm of The stamp of personal ity. 84 Letter Writing The pleasure of letter writing. the personality behind them—whim- sical, affectionate, lovable, without pretense or pose. If all of my friends should send me typewritten letters, unsigned, I should still recognize each, finding the stamp of the personality as plainly upon the sheet of paper as upon the face. I have learned the features of each one, and though they change with mood and time and place, they are always recognizable, always dear. It seems a pity that so few persons should realize the pleasure that is to be derived from letter writing. If you enjoy talking to a friend, why should you not enjoy writing to him? It should not be any more difficult to put words on paper than to voice them through the lips. The paper medium is less used, of course, and like any machinery is likely to become clogged or rusty; but, being a hardy machine, it can at any time be oiled and set in motion. What delicious fun you may get from a bantering letter; what help Social Letters 85 from one that is thoughtful and warm with the life of the spirit! "To my friend I write a letter," Emerson says; "from him I receive a letter- a spiritual gift worthy of him to give and me to receive." I wonder what Emerson would think if he heard some people talk about the "drudgery” of letter writing. "But letter writing is a gift," one reader objects, "and I hate letter writ- ing." I admit that some people are peculiarly gifted, have a sort of genius for finding, as Walter Pater puts it, "the one word for the one thought, the one thought amid the multitude of thoughts"; yet since the day of the long, friendly, chatty letter is vanishing, and since anyone can learn to write a few paragraphs that will express the thought, there is no cause for despair. As we have grown less pedantic and formal in our spoken intercourse, so have we grown less pedantic and formal in our correspondence. Black is black and white is white, and there is no time Present infor- mality. 86 Letter Writing Talking of self. for euphuism. Even the opening "I," which polite ladies of the last century sought by various ingenious devices to avoid, is no longer objectionable. Half of the business man's mail goes into his scrap basket unread. He is a man of affairs; his time must not be wasted; his attention must be aroused. What will interest him most? He does not care anything about the writer's wants; he does care very much about his own. Talk about his business or his interests, and he is all attention. In social correspondence the problem of arousing interest is much the same. Unless one has a very charming per- sonality--and who of us is bold enough to lay claim to that?-it is wiser not to talk too much about one's self, except, perhaps, to a friend especially near and dear. If the self-centered person is odious in conversation, he is still more odious in correspondence. On the other hand, it is foolish to indulge in vague generalities and unim- portant news items for the sake of Social Letters 87 of self. avoiding the subject of self. The expression of an honest opinion is never foolish, and such expressions are the heart of friendly correspondence. It is not given to every one to produce literature, but the men and women whose published letters are thumbed in many libraries have written words of value, not because they strove for literary excellence so much as because they were full of the breath of life, endowed with a certain finer appre- ciation of the complexities of thought and human love. "Out of the abund- ance of the heart the mouth speaketh” -and also the pen. Carried to its logical conclusion a book on letter writing would include little essays on the art of living-on right thinking, character, good cheer, friendship, love, all the sweet human things that make up the better part of every-day happiness. The limits of this volume will not permit; but it is not too much to hope that some of the letters here gathered together will Possibil- ities of book on letter writing. 88 Letter Writing set in motion forgotten trains of thought and open up closed avenues of feeling. There is nothing in the world finer than sentiment; just as there is nothing more despicable than sentimentality. To keep the balance to write letters which need no apology-is to put one's self in the class of those big people who have mastered the fine art of living. 89 Constructing the Social Letter DELICATELY tinted papers are frequently used by women of fashion; but on the whole it is better to let the quality of the paper rather than its color indicate one's preferences, and it would be difficult to choose a tint in better taste than plain white or ivory. Lined paper is not permissible. Note The most common note paper is a folded sheet measuring about 61 x 51 paper. inches. For short notes a smaller sheet is sometimes used. For business letters, which form a part even of the society woman's correspondence, the unfolded typewriter sheet, or half sheet is frequently used. The note sheet should be folded neatly (with the first page in) to fit the envelope, and slipped in, folded edge down, with the salutation half of Salutation Heading 1 1 4 - - - - - - - - Complimentary Close Signature SOCIAL LETTER The social letter admits of greater variety of arrangement than the business letter, but this form is neat and generally acceptable. Letter Writing 91 the page next to the addressed side of the envelope. Persons in mourning generally use black-bordered stationery. In England the border varies in width according to the nearness of the relative deceased; but in this country a wide border is considered bad form. Black ink, or blue ink that turns black is the best to use. Colored inks usually try the eyes, and have, more- over, a provincial look. Sealing wax has almost fallen into disuse for the social letter. Good form demands that the envel- ope shall match the paper used, and shall be properly (and legibly) directed. The name and address of the sender should be placed in the upper left- hand corner. The address should be made to conform to the size of the envelope. Mourn- ing. The There is room for variety in the heading of the social letters. Many heading. persons have their monogram, address, or name and address, engraved as a C. G. Sumner 1024 Blye Street Cleveland, Ohio. Mrs. Gordon K. Kennedy 1634 Elmwood Street Cleveland, Ohio C. G. Sumner Jenkintown, Pa. Mrs. Gordon K. Kennedy 1634 Elmwood Street Cleveland Ohio Social Letters 93 letter head. The date is then written to the right below, or to the left at the bottom of the letter. Address and date are sometimes both written to the left at the close of the letter; but the most usual form is to place them, the date below the address, to the right, somewhere near the top of the page, flush with the margin. "Dear Mr. Jones," or "Dear Jones" or "Dear John," according to the degree of familiarity, is the usual form of salu- tation in the social letter. "My dear Mr. Jones" is considered slightly more formal than "Dear Mr. Jones." "Dear Friend," and "Friend Mary" are no longer considered good form. The social letter should be easy and cordial in style, but not more intimate than the relations-and conventions- allow. Grammar, diction, spelling, punctuation, etc., should be faultless, and the handwriting should be as neat and legible as possible. Poor or eccen- tric penmanship is no mark of social or intellectual superiority (I happen to The salu- tation. The body of the letter. 94 Letter Writing The compli- mentary close. be a very bad penman myself) and it is a poor compliment to send your friend a letter which he cannot read. Social letters are not usually type- written, although when the handwriting is poor, it is, perhaps, no discourtesy to use a machine. A social letter de- mands a personal signature, however. It would be decidedly bad form to have one's stenographer sign a personal message. "Very truly yours" is the most common form of closing the business letter; "Sincerely yours," which is also used where business relations are more cordial, is the most common form for social correspondence, varied, of course, to "Very sincerely yours" and "Sin- cerely your friend." "" "Faithfully "Fraternally yours, yours, "Affectionately yours," "De- votedly yours," etc., may be used, according as the occasion and the degree of sentiment demand. Social letters should never close with "Very truly yours" or "Truly yours. Social Letters 95 Business letters must be signed with the full name, or with the initials and surname, as "J. P. Smith." Social let- ters may be signed with the given name only, provided the person who is to receive the letter is in the habit of using the given name. The sig- nature. 96 Social Letters of Many Sorts Formal invita- tion. I Mr. and Mrs. John P. Brown request the pleasure of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Prichard's company at dinner on Wednesday, April seventh at eight o'clock, 1632 West Ashley Street Formal accept- ance. II Mr. and Mrs. Howard Prichard accept with pleasure Mr. and Mrs. John P. Brown's polite invitation for dinner on Wednesday, April seventh, at eight o'clock. 16 Bent Road, Arlington, March twenty-fifth. Social Letters 97 III Mr. and Mrs. Howard Prichard regret that owing to a previous engagement they are unable to accept Mr. and Mrs. John P. Brown's polite invitation for dinner on Wednesday, April seventh, at eight o'clock. 16 Bent Road, Arlington, March twenty-fifth. Formal regrets. IV 14 Elizabeth Street, January the fourth. Note of invita- tion. My dear Mrs. Palmer: Will you and Mr. Palmer dine with us informally on Thursday evening, January the eighteenth, at seven o'clock? Sincerely yours, Mary L. Saunders. V 1270 Ashburton Place, January the fifth. Note of accept- ance. My dear Mrs. Saunders: Mr. Palmer and I shall be very glad to dine with you informally on Thursday evening, January the eighteenth, at seven o'clock. Sincerely yours, Clara M. Palmer. 98 Letter Writing Note of regret. My dear Mrs. Saunders: VI 1270 Ashburton Place, January the fifth Mr. Palmer and I appreciate the honor of an invitation to dine with you on Thursday evening, January the eighteenth, at seven o'clock, and heartily regret that an earlier engagement will deprive us of the pleasure. Sincerely yours, Clara M. Palmer. Letter of congratu- lation. Dear George, VII Congratulations! I just learned of your good luck through John McCarthy-and yet I should not say "good luck," for I am sure you deserve the honor which the new duties carry with them. Best wishes always, Frederick K. Jones. On the birth of a son. Dear Mrs. Baird, VIII If Mr. Powelton and I did not have a fond "son and heir" of our own, perhaps we could not realize so fully just what your great gift means. Congratulations to you and Mr. Baird upon the arrival of John Addington. Sincerely yours, Clara J. Powelton. Social Letters 99 IX Santa Maria, October 30, 19—. Letter of intro- duction. My dear Mrs. Bennett, This will introduce to you my good friend Miss Margaret Slocum, whose mother knew your mother in her girlhood. As she is a stranger in your city, I am sure she will be grateful for any kindness you can show her, and I am equally sure that you will soon love her for her own sake. Affectionately yours, Sarah K. Tryon. X Dear Margaret, I am sure you are very happy today, and I am happy, too, and glad that you are graduating with rosy cheeks and light heart as well as a head full of Latin and Greek. "O this learning, what a thing it is!" as Gremio says. I suppose it's a very good thing usually; but I have seen so many students spending all their time learning and none of it living, that I grow fearful whenever I see any of my young friends sitting too long at the book. You will not do that, I am sure, for I remember what you said in your letter about leaving Cler- mont to go out into the "big school." My love and good wishes will go with you always. Affectionately yours, Sarah P. Turner. Congrat- ulations to a girl graduate. 100 Letter Writing Letter of introduc- tion. XI 1934 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, January 16, 19—. Prof. T. C. Harrison, Ph.D., University of Dear Professor Harrison: May I introduce to you my friend Dr. Trescott Fordyce, with whose work in the field of astronomy you are probably familiar. He is very anxious to visit your observatory and to discuss a matter which he believes will be of interest to you. Sincerely yours, XII Clement R. Jones. Congrat- ulations from one girl to another. Dear Margaret, I want to offer my congratulations and good wishes and to say that I am very glad to have for a friend such a "sweet girl graduate." Isn't it As school doesn't close until the end of June, I cannot come to the commencement. too bad? I did want to see you and Mildred graduate-almost more than I ever wanted any- thing. Please think of me on the great day, and wear my little remembrance, and tell me all about it when I come home. Lovingly yours, Hortense. Social Letters 101 Dear John, XIII Hearty congratulations! I am delighted to hear that you have completed your high-school course, and with such honors. I am very proud of you, boy. I suppose that your heart is full of high hopes and that you are already trimming your sails for the voyage next fall, which is to mean college, and a degree, and then the great, big, bustling world. I can remember the valedictory address of my own class, forty years ago, with its beautiful- sounding phrases about the sea of life. It's not all smooth sailing, John, but the sunny days more than make up for the storms, and I would give much to begin the voyage all over again—if I could begin again with the heart of a boy. Yours with all good wishes, Congrat- ulation to a boy graduate. Henry P. Morgan. XIV From John Ruskin to Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his wife.* Denmark Hill, Sept. 4.-This is the first letter have written since my return. I specially wished to congratulate you and Ida by word of mouth rather than by letter, but I could not get your address at Chatham Place yesterday. Please let ine come and see you as soon as you can, and believe *From E. T. Cook's Life of Ruskin. Reproduced by per- mission of the Macmillan Company. Congrat- ulation upon a marriage. 102 Letter Writing in my sincere affection and most earnest good wishes for you both. Ever affectionately yours, J. Ruskin. I am trying to get into a methodical way of writing letters, but when I had written this, it looked so very methodical that I must put on a disorderly postscript. I looked all over the book of sketches at Chatham Place yesterday. I think Ida should be very happy to see how much more beautifully, perfectly, and tenderly you draw when you are drawing her than when you draw anybody else. She cures you of all your worst faults when you only look at her. New-Year Greeting. XV From James Smetham, an artist friend of D. G. Rossetti's, to Mrs. Taylor. Many best wishes to you at the beginning of 1861. I hope it may be the happiest year of your life, as I think each succeeding year of every- body's life should be, if only everybody were wise enough to see things as they are; for it is certain that there really exists, laid up and ready to hand, for those who will just lay hands upon it, enough for every one and enough for ever. I am quite sure that the central mistake of all lives that are mistaken is the not taking this simple unchangeable fact for granted, not seeing that it is so, and cannot but be so, and will remain so "though we believe not." A man in prison, with Social Letters 103 a signed and sealed permission to leave it and walk at liberty lying on the table beside him, untouched, unopened, yet bemoaning himself and unhappy in his cell, is just the image of us unbe- lievers who have even a fragment of unhappiness about us. I think I can trace every scrap of sorrow in my own life to this simple unbelief. How could I be anything but quite happy if I believe always that all the past is forgiven and all the present furnished with power, and all the future bright with hope, because of the same abiding facts, which don't change with my mood, do not crumble, because I totter and stagger at the promise through unbelief, but stand firm and clear with their peaks of pearl cleaving the air of Eternity, and the bases of their hills rooted unfathomably in the Rock of God? Mont Blanc does not become a phantom or a mist because a climber grows dizzy on its sides, and yet we make mistakes just as great as if we fancied, being climbers, that it did. XVI From Joseph Addison to Mr. Dashwood. Dear Sir: About three days ago Mr. Bocher put a very pretty snuff-box in my hand. I was not a little pleased to hear that it belonged to myself; and was much more so, when I found it was a present from a gentleman that I have so great an honour for. You did not probably foresee that it would draw on you the trouble of a letter, but you must Humor- ous letter of thanks. 104 Letter Writing blame yourself for it. For my part I can no more accept a snuff-box without returning my acknowl- edgments, than I can take snuff without sneezing after it. This last I must own to you is so great an absurdity that I should be ashamed to confess it, were I not in hope of correcting it very speedily. I am observed to have my box oftener in my hand than those that have been used to one these twenty years, for I can't forbear taking it out of my pocket whenever I think of Mr. Dashwood. You know Mr. Bays recommends snuff as a great provocative to wit, but you may produce this letter as a stand- ing evidence against him. I have, since the begin- ning of it, taken above a dozen pinches, and still find myself much more inclined to sneeze than to jest. From whence I conclude that Wit and Tobacco are not inseparable. But whatever you may think me, pray, Sir, do me the justice to esteem me Your most obliged and humble servant, Jos. Addison. XVII A cry of distress. From Charles Lamb to Samuel Taylor Coleridge. My dearest Friend: September, 1796. White, or some of my friends, or the public papers, by this time may have informed you of the terrible calamities that have fallen on our family. I will only give you the outlines; my poor dear, dearest, sister, in a fit of insanity, has been the death of her own mother. I was at Social Letters 105 hand only time enough to snatch the knife out of her grasp. She is at present in a madhouse, from whence I hear she must be moved to a hos- pital. God has preserved to me my senses; I eat, and drink, and sleep; I have my judgment, I believe, very sound. My poor father was slightly wounded, and I am left to take care of him and my aunt. Mr. Norris of the Blue-Coat School has been very kind to us, and we have no other friends, but, thank God, I am very calm and composed, and able to do the best that remains to do. Write as religious a letter as possible, but no mention of what is gone and done with. With me "the former things are passed away," and I have something more to do than to feel. God Almighty have us all in His keeping. C. Lamb. Mention nothing of poetry, I have destroyed every vestige of past vanities of that kind. Do as you please, but if you publish, publish mine (I give free leave) without name or initial, and never send me a book, I charge you. Your own judgment will convince you not to take any notice of this yet to your dear wife. You look after your family; I have my reason and strength left to take care of mine. I charge you, don't think of coming to see me. Write. I will not see you if you come. God Almighty love you and all of us. C. Lamb. The following sympathetic answer was sent: 106 Letter Writing Answer of condol- ence. S. T. Coleridge to Charles Lamb. Sept. 28, 1796. Your letter, my friend, struck me with a mighty horror. It rushed upon me and stupefied my feelings. You bid me write you a religious letter. I am not a man who would attempt to insult the greatness of your anguish by any other consolation. Heaven knows that in the easiest fortunes there is much dissatisfaction and weariness of spirit, much that calls for the exercise of patience and resig- nation, but in storms like these, that shake the dwelling and make the heart tremble, there is no middle way between despair and the yielding up of the whole spirit unto the guidance of faith. And surely it is a matter of joy that your faith in Jesus has been preserved; the Comforter that should relieve you is not far from you. But as you are a Christian, in the name of that Saviour, who was filled with bitterness and made drunken with wormwood, I conjure you to have recourse in frequent prayer to "His God and your God," the God of mercies, and Father of all comfort. Your poor father is, I hope, almost senseless of the calamity, the unconscious instrument of Divine Providence knows it not, and your mother is in heaven. It is sweet to be roused from a frightful dream by the song of birds and the gladsome rays of the morning. Ah, how infinitely more sweet to be awakened from the blackness and amaze- ment of a sudden horror by the glories of God manifest and the hallelujahs of angels. As to what regards yourself, I approve alto- gether of your abandoning what you justly call Social Letters 107 vanities. I look upon you as a man called by sorrow and anguish and a strange dissolution of hopes into quietness, and a soul set apart and made peculiar to God. We cannot arrive at any portion of heavenly bliss without in some measure imitating Christ; and they arrive at the largest inheritance who imitate the most difficult parts of His character, and, bowed down and crushed under foot, cry in fulness of faith, “Father, Thy will be done.” I wish above measure to have you for a little while here; no visitants shall blow on the naked- ness of your feelings; you shall be quiet, and your spirit may be healed. I see no possible objection, unless your father's helplessness prevent you, and unless you are necessary to him. If this be not the case, I charge you write me that you will come. I charge you, my dearest friend, not to dare to encourage gloom or despair. You are a temporary sharer in human miseries that you may be an eternal partaker of the Divine nature. I charge you, if by any means it be possible, come to me. I remain your affectionate Dear Marion, XVIII S. T. Coleridge. I am so sorry for you-and your loss is partly my loss, too, for I loved your mother dearly, as you know. It is not the time for words, but I did want to press your hand in sympathy and love. Sincerely your friend, Margaret Munroe. Letter of condol- ence. 108 Letter Writing Letters of condol- ence. A friendly chat. My dear Mrs. Carter, XIX I have just learned of your great loss. There is little I can say to comfort you, but I am sure that the Father is with you and that He will give you peace. And if the sympathy of friends will help to sustain you, there is a wealth of it for you and the girls in the hearts of many. Affectionately yours, XX Eleanor T. Brand. Dear Ned, I'm not sentimental, you know, but I'm sorry for you, old man. I never had a mother-not that I can remember, at least-but I always envied you yours. All the fellows are asking about you and won- dering when you will be back. We miss you, old man. T XXI Bob. From Edward Fitzgerald to F. Tennyson. My dear Frederic, Boulge, Woodbridge, Dec. 8, '44. What is a poor devil to do? You tell me quite truly that my letters have not two ideas in them, and yet you tell me to write my two ideas as soon as I can. So indeed it is so far easy to write down Social Letters 109 one's two ideas, if they are not very abstruse ones, but then what the devil encouragement is it to a poor fellow to expose his nakedness so? All I can say is, to say again that if you lived in this place, you would not write so long a letter as you have done, full of capital description and all good things; though without any compliment I am sure you would write a better letter than I shall. But you see the original fault in me is that I choose to be in such a place as this at all; that argues a talent for dullness which no situation nor inter- course of men could much improve. It is true; I really do like to sit in this doleful place with a good fire, a cat and a dog on the rug, and an old woman in the kitchen. This is all my live stock. The house is yet damp as last year; and the great event of this winter is my putting up a trough round the eaves to carry off the wet. There was discussion whether the trough should be of iron or zinc, iron dear and lasting; zinc the reverse. It was decided for iron: and accord- ingly iron is put up. Why should I not live in London and see the world? you say. Why then I say as before, I don't like it. I think the dullness of country people is better than the impudence of Londoners; and the fresh cold and wet of our clay fields better than a fog that stinks per se; and this room of mine, clean at all events, better than a dirty room in Charlotte Street. If you, Morton, and Alfred, were more in London, I should be there more; but now there is but Spedding and Allen whom I care a straw about. I have written two notes to Alfred to ask him to notify his existence to me; but you A friendly chat. 110 Letter Writing 1 A friendly chat know he is obstinate on that point. I hear from Carlyle that he (Alfred) had passed an evening at Chelsea much to C.'s delight; who has opened the gates of his Valhalla to let Alfred in. Thackeray is at Malta, where I am told he means to winter. As I have no people to tell you of, so have I very few books, and know nothing of what is stir- ring in the literary world. I have read the Lifc of Arnold of Rugby, who was a noble fellow; and the letters of Burke, which do not add to, or detract from, what I knew, and liked in him before. I am meditating to begin Thucydides one day; perhaps this winter. Old Seneca, I have no doubt, was a great hum- bug in deed, and his books have plenty of it in word, but he had got together a vast deal of what was not humbug from others, and, as far as I see, the old philosophers are available now as much as two thousand years back. Perhaps you will think that is not saying much. Don't suppose I think it good philosophy in myself to keep here out of the world, and sport a gentle Epicurism; I do not; I only follow something of a natural inclination, and know not if I could do better under a more complex system. It is very smooth sailing hitherto down here. No velvet waistcoat and ever-lustrous pumps to be considered, no bon mots got up, no information necessary. There is a pipe for the parsons to smoke, and quite as much bon mots, literature, and philosophy, as they care for without any trouble at all. If we could but feed our poor! It is now the 8th of December; it has blown a most desperate east wind, all razors; a wind like one of those blades Social Letters 111 one sees at shops in London, with 365 blades all drawn and pointed; the wheat is sown; the fallows cannot be ploughed. What are all the poor folks to do during the winter? And they persist in having the same enormous families they used to do; a woman came to me two days ago who had seventeen children! What farmers are to employ all these? What landlord can find room for them? The law of generation must be repealed. The London press does nothing but rail at us poor country folks for our cruelty. I am glad they do so; for there is much to be set right. I want to know if the Editor of the Times is more attentive to his devils, their wives and families, than our squires and squiresses and parsons are to their fellow parishioners. Punch also assumes a tone of virtuous satire, from the mouth of Mr. Douglas Jerrold! It is easy to sit in arm chairs at a club in Pall Mall and rail on the stupidity and brutality of those in High Suffolk. But Come, I have got more than two ideas into this sheet, but I don't know if you won't dislike them worse than mere nothing. But I was determined to fill my letter. Yes, you are to know that I slept at Woodbridge last night, went to Church there this morning, where every one sat with a purple nose, and heard a dismal well-meant sermon; and the organ blew us out with one grand idea at all events, one of old Handel's Coronation Anthems; that I dined early, also in Woodbridge, and walked up here with a tremendous east wind blowing sleet in my face from over the German Sea, that I found your letter when I entered my room; and reading it through, determined to spin you off a sheet A friendly chat. 112 Letter Writing A friendly chat. incontinently, and lo! here it is! Now or never! I shall now have my tea in, and read over your let- ter again while at it. You are quite right in say- ing that Gravesend excursions with you do me good. When did I doubt it? I remember them with great pleasure; few of my travels so much so. I like a short journey in good company; and I like you all the better for your Englishman's humours. One doesn't find such things in Lon- don; something more like it here in the country where every one, with whatever natural stock of intellect endowed, at least grows up his own way, and flings his branches about him, not stretched on the espalier of London dinner-table company. P. S. Next morning. Snow is on the ground. We have our wonders of inundation in Suffolk also, I can tell you. For three weeks ago such floods came, that an old woman was carried off as she was retiring from a beer house about 9 p. m. and drowned. She was probably half seas over before she left the beer house. And three nights ago I looked out at about ten o'clock at night, before going to bed. It seemed perfectly still, frosty, and the stars shining bright. I heard a continuous moaning sound, which I knew to be, not that of an infant exposed, or female ravished, but the sea, more than ten miles off! What little wind there was carried to us the murmurs of the waves circulating round these coasts so far over a flat country. But people here think that this sound so heard is not the waves that break, but a kind of prophetic voice from the body of the sea itself, announcing great gales. Sure enough we have got them, however Social Letters 113 heralded. Now I say that all this shows that we in this Suffolk are not so completely given over to prose and turnips as some would have us. I always said that being near the sea, and being able to catch a glimpse of it from the tops of hills, and of houses, redeemed Suffolk from dullness, and at all events our turnip fields, dull in them- selves, were at least set all round with an un- deniably poetic element. And so I see Arnold says; he enumerates five inland counties as the only parts of England for which nothing could be said in praise. Not that I agree with him there either; I cannot allow the valley of the Ouse about which some of my pleasantest recol- lections hang to be without its great charm. W. Browne, whom you despised, is married, and I shall see but little of him for the future. I have laid by my rod and line by the willows of the Ouse for ever. "He is married and cannot come." This change is the true meaning of those verses, "Friend after friend departs, and so on. Who has not lost a friend?” If I were conscious of being steadfast and good-humoured enough, I would marry to- morrow. But a humourist is best by himself. XXII From Charles Dickens to John Forster. Tues. night, 12th November, 1844. I must not anticipate myself. But, my dear fellow, nothing in the world that ever you have heard of Venice, is equal to the magnificent and A friendly chat. A traveler's letter. 114 Letter Writing A traveler's letter. stupendous reality. The wildest visions of the Arabian Nights are nothing to the piazza of Saint Mark, and the first impression of the inside of the Church. The gorgeous and wonderful reality of Venice is beyond the fancy of the wildest dreamer. Opium couldn't build such a place, and enchant- ment couldn't shadow it forth in a vision. All that I have heard of it, read of it in truth or fic- tion, fancied of it, is left thousands of miles behind. You know that I am liable to be disappointed in such things through over-expectation, but Venice is above, beyond, out of all reach of coming near, the imagination of a man. It has never been rated high enough. It is a thing you would shed tears to see. When I came on board here last night (after a five miles' row in a gondola, which, somehow or other, I wasn't at all prepared for); then, from seeing the city lying, one night, upon the distant water, like a ship, I came plashing through the silent and deserted streets; I felt as if the houses were reality-the water, fever madness. But when, in the bright cold bracing day, I stood upon the piazza this morning, by Heaven the glory of the place was insupportable! And diving down from that into its wickedness and gloom-its awful prisons deep below the water; its judgment chambers, secret doors, deadly nooks, where the torches you carry with you blink as if they couldn't bear the air in which the frightful scenes were acted; and coming out again into the radiant, unsubstantial Magic of the town; and diving in again, into vast churches, and old tombs-a new sensation, a new memory, a new mind came upon me. Venice is a bit of my brain from this time. Social Letters 115 My dear Forster, if you could share my trans- ports (as you would if you were here) what would I not give. I never saw the thing before that I should be afraid to describe. But to tell what Venice is, I feel to be an impossibility. And here I sit alone, writing it: with nothing to urge me on, or goad me to that estimate, which, speak- ing of it to anyone I loved, and being spoken to in return, would lead me to form. In the sober solitude of a famous inn; with the great bell of Saint Mark ringing twelve at my elbow; with three arched windows in my room (two stories high) looking down upon the grand canal and away, beyond, to where the sun went down tonight in a blaze; and thinking over again those silent speaking faces of Titian and Tintoretto; I swear (uncooled by any humbug I have seen) that Venice is the wonder and the new sensation of the world! you could be set down in it, never having heard of it, it would still be so. With your foot upon its stones, its pictures before you, and its history in your mind, it is something past all writing of or speaking of-almost past all thinking of. You couldn't talk to me in this room, nor I to you, without shaking hands and saying "Good God, my dear fellow, have we lived to see this!" If XXIII From Pliny the Younger, to his wife. You write that you are no little troubled by my absence, and find your only solace in making my books take my place, and setting them where I ought to be. I am glad that you miss_me. For Describ- ing the beauty of Venice. Letter to a wife. 116 Letter Writing Letter to an invalid. my part I read and reread your letters, taking them up in my hand many times, as though they were newly come. But this only stirs in me a keener longing for you. Write nevertheless, as often as you can, though this, while it delights, still tortures me. XXIV These two letters are from Eleanor Hallowell Abbott's delightful story of Molly Make-Believe, published by The Century Company, New York. Dear Lad, I could have cried yesterday when I got your letter telling me how sick you were. Yes!-But crying wouldn't "comfy" you any, would it? So just to send you right-off-quick something to prove that I'm thinking of you, here's a great, rollicking, woolly wrapper to keep you snug and warm this very night. I wonder if it would interest you any at all to know that it is made out of a most larksome Outlaw upon my grandfather's sweet-meadowed farm-a really, truly Black Sheep that I've raised all my own sweaters and mittens on for the past five years. Only it takes two whole seasons to raise a blanket-wrapper, so please be awfully much delighted with it. And oh, Mr. Sick Boy, when you look at the funny, blurry colors, couldn't you just please pretend that the tinge of green is the flavor of pleasant pastures, and that the streak of red is the Cardinal Flower that blazed along the edge of the noisy brook? Goodby till tomorrow, Molly. Social Letters 117 Dear Honey, XXV There are so many things about your sickness that worry me. Yes there are! I worry about your pain. I worry about the horrid food that you're probably getting. I worry about the cold- ness of your room. But most of anything in the world I worry about your sleeplessness. Of course you don't sleep. That's the trouble with rheu- matism. It's such an old Night-Nagger. Now do you know what I'm going to do to you? I'm going to evolve myself into a sort of a Rheumatic Nights' Entertainment-for the sole and explicit purpose of trying to while away some of your long, dark hours. Because if you've simply got to stay awake all night long and think-you might just as well be thinking about ME, Carl Stanton. What? Do you dare smile and suggest for a moment that just because of the Absence between us I cannot make myself vivid to you? Ho! Silly Boy! Don't you know that the plainest sort of black ink throbs more than some blood-and the touch of the softest hand is a harsh caress compared to the touch of a reasonably shrewd pen? Here now, I say this very moment: Lift this letter of mine to your face, and swear-if you're honestly able to that you can't smell the rose in my hair! A cinnamon rose, would you say—a yellow, flat- faced cinnamon rose? Not quite so lusciously fragrant as those in your grand mother's July A trifle paler? garden? Perceptibly cooler? Something forced into blossom, perhaps, behind brittle glass, under barren winter moonshine? ་ Letter to an invalid. 118 Letter Writing And yet-A-h-h! Hear me laugh! You didn't really mean to let yourself lift the page and smell it, did you? But what did I tell you? I mustn't waste too much time, though, on this nonsense. What I really wanted to say to you was: Here are four-not "Sleeping potions," but waking potions-just four silly little bits of news for you to think about at one o'clock, and two, and three and four, if you happen to be so miser- able tonight as to be awake even then. With my love, Molly. Love letter of a musician. XXVI From Myrtle Reed's Later Love Letters of a Musi- cian, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London. There are only three days more before I go to you, but ah, My Lady-those three days! The first bugle of March has blown and the earth has thrilled in answer. Buds are swelling on the bare branches, so soon to change into the green-gold boughs of spring. The King of Day has turned his chariot wheels toward the Summer Solstice, and at the distant sound all living things have trembled into growth. The twigs of pussy-willow have put out their climbing maltese catkins, sweet with a subtle fragrance which defies the searching sense, and the sap is rising in the hidden labyrinths of the orchard to break into pink and white bloom. But there are dark and rainy days still to come. We will light the maple logs in the fireplace and sit by the cheerful blaze hand in hand, our clasped Social Letters 119 fingers making a path for love and understanding to cross from one to the other. Above all other charm, I think you have the home gift. Only the stars might be our light and only the sands of the desert our resting-place, and yet, with you, it would be truly home. I wonder now how I have lived through all these months away from you. I think it is because we are so nearly one that it has not been possible to separate thought from thought and soul from soul, though many leagues have lain between the touch of lips and hands. In three days I shall hear your voice again, and then, through all the coming nights, the little candle in the window will guide me to the doorway where you wait, with the love-light in your eyes. We will walk among the lilacs together, when the white and purple bloom drifts through the aisles of springtime, and the delicate, haunting perfume sets the heart to thrilling with the beauty of the world. There is a little phrase which seems to me to hold all the sweetness of the lilac, and its inmost meaning is beyond translation. Someway it brings a vision of the early summer, before the freshness of the early spring is quite gone-some parting which is not farewell. It is only to be used by those who love. And so, when one writes for the last time to her whose little hands have held his heart for many years in a true and tender clasp, and whose ex- quisite womanliness, hath ever made his soul to bend in worship, it is the word of all others. And so—“auf Wiedersehen." Love letter of a musician. 120 Letter Writing XXVII Evanston, Illinois, April 1, 19—. Uncon- ventional letter of invitaton. Dear Margaret, Your postal from Boston was a surprise. Aren't you ashamed of yourself for passing through Chicago without stopping to see me? Surely you are not going to repeat the offense on your return? It will rest you to break the trip, and we should like to have a week at least of your time. Write and tell me when you will arrive. The children send their love, and Billy says he'll let you ride in his new pushmobile. Maybe you don't appreciate the compliment implied in that offer, but Mary does. Let me know what train you are likely to make. I inclose a time-table. Affectionately yours, Laura V. Knowlton. Uncon- ventional bread- and-butter letter. XXVIII Golden, Colorado April 16, 19—. Dear Mrs. Knowlton, The train steamed into Denver two hours late; but my brother was at the station, and I was soon at home-safe and sound, as all good children should be. The stay with you was a delightful break in my trip, and it was very kind of you to think of it. I wonder now how you contrived to crowd so much entertainment into forty-eight hours, and to give Social Letters 121 me a chance to rest as well. I shall always remember the bright two days in Chicago, and especially the wonderful Meistersinger, so rare a treat to a humble ranch girl. The Prize Song is still ringing in my ears, and then above that the voice of Gadski- soaring. If I must die, I wish it might be while listening to music like that. But I'm not thinking of dying at present, and, thanks to you, I am not even tired from the trip. Please remember me to Mr. Knowlton, and give Mary and Billy each a kiss for me. I will tuck them (the kisses, I mean) somewhere in the corners of the envelope. I hope they arrive safely. Sincerely your friend, 4 XXIX Margaret. Dear Billy, Will you really let me ride in your pushmobile if I come to see you? Of course I will accept the invitation. If I were another little boy, instead of just a great big grown-up girl, I'd say that you were a "brick." Do you remember the last time we played together, when you were an Indian in your wigwam and Mary and I came to see you? We toasted marshmallows, too-delicious, juicy ones-by your camp fire. I don't believe real Indians do that, though, do they? What care I what Indians do When goodies are in question? I'd rather be a sport like you, And exercise digestion. Letter to a little boy. 122 Letter Writing Do you still like rhymes as much as ever? I found a book the other day which I think you will like. We'll read it together when I come. I found another for Mary, too-just the kind she will like, all about a little girl named Mary. Affectionately yours, Margaret P. Ilton. XXX Letter of thanks. Dear Jessica, Hotel Raymond, Pasadena, February 16, 19—. In the excitement of sight-seeing I had completely forgotten that Father Time was marking off another year for me; but Uncle Sam came this morning to remind me, and in his hand was a box from you. It was very sweet of you to remember, and remem- brances are doubly acceptable when one is far away from one's friends. The collar and cuffs are beautiful, and very precious because they are your own work. Many, many thanks. I will think of you whenever I wear them-though I do not need a reminder. I have wished many times that you were here in this sunny land. How did you manage to have the gift arrive on the very morning of my birthday? You must be a particular friend of Uncle Sam's. Love and all good wishes to you! Sincerely your friend, Mary. Social Letters 123 XXXI From Mark Twain to one of his numerous “doubles.” My dear Sir- Many thanks for your letter, with inclosed photo- graph. Your resemblance to me is remarkable. In fact, to be perfectly honest, you look more like me than I look like myself. I was so much impressed by the resemblance that I have had your picture framed, and am now using it regularly, in place of a mirror, to shave by. Yours gratefully, S. L. Clemens. A humorous letter. XXXII From Charles Dickens to Mr. Felton.* My dear Felton, Broadstairs, Kent, Sept. 1, 1843. If I thought it in the nature of things that you and I could ever agree on paper, touching a certain Chuzzlewitian question whereupon Forster tells me you have remarks to make, I should imme- diately walk into the same, tooth and nail. But as I don't, I won't. Contenting myself with the prediction, that one of these years and days, you will write or say to me: "My dear Dickens, you were right, though rough, and did a world of good, though you got most thoroughly hated for it." To which I shall reply: "My dear Felton, I looked a long way off and not immediately under my At which sentiment you will laugh; and I shall laugh; and then (for I foresee nose. A friendly letter, full of humor. 124 Letter Writing Friendly letter. this will all happen in my land) we shall call for another pot of porter and two or three dozen of oysters. Now, don't you in your own heart and soul quarrel with me for this long silence? Not half so much as I quarrel with myself, I know; but if you could read half the letters I write to you in imagination, you would swear by me for the best of correspondents. The truth is, that when I have done my morning's work, down goes my pen, and from that minute I feel it a positive impossibility to take it up again, until imaginary butchers and bakers wave me to my desk. I walk about brimful of letters, facetious descriptions, touching morsels, and pathetic friend- ships, but can't for the soul of me uncork myself. The post-office is my rock ahead. My average number of letters that must be written every day is, at the least, a dozen. And you could no more know what I was writing to you spiritually, from the perusal of the bodily thirteenth, than you could tell from my hat what was going on in my head, or could hear my heart on the surface of my flannel waistcoat. This is a little fishing place; intensely quiet; built on a cliff, whereon-in the centre of a tiny semi-circular bay-our house stands; the sea rolling and dashing under the windows. Seven miles out are the Goodwin Sands (you've heard of the Goodwin Sands?) whence floating lights perpetually wink after dark, as if they were carry- ing on intrigues with the servants. Also, there is a big lighthouse called the North Foreland on a hill behind the village, a severe parsonic light, Social Letters 125 which reproves the young and giddy floaters, and stares grimly out upon the sea. Under the cliff are rare good sands, where all the children assemble every morning and throw up impossible fortifica- tions, which the sea throws down again at high water. Old gentlemen and ancient ladies flirt after their own manner in two reading-rooms and on a great many scattered seats in the open air Other old gentlemen look all day through tele- scopes and never see anything. In a bay-window in a one-pair sits, from nine o'clock to one, a gentle- man with rather long hair and no neck-cloth, who writes and grins as if he thought he were very funny indeed. His name is Boz. At one he disappears, and presently emerges from a bathing-machine, and may be seen-a kind of salmon-coloured por- poise-splashing about in the ocean. After that he may be seen in another bay-window on the ground floor, eating a strong lunch; after that, walking a dozen miles or so, or lying on his back in the sand reading a book. Nobody bothers him unless they know he is disposed to be talked to; and I am told he is very comfortable indeed. He's as brown as a berry, and they do say is a small fortune to the innkeeper who sells beer and cold punch. But this is mere rumour. mere rumour. Sometimes he goes up to London (eighty miles, or so, away), and then I'm told there is a sound in Lincoln's Inn Fields at night, as men laughing, together with a clinking of knives and forks and wine glasses. I often dream that I am in America again, but, strange to say, I never dream of you. I am always endeavouring to get home in disguise, and have Friendly letter. 126 Letter Writing Friendly letter. a dreary sense of distance. A propos of dreams, is it not a strange thing if writers of fiction never dream of their own creations; recollecting, I sup- pose, even in their dreams, that they have no real existence? I never dream of any of my own characters, and I feel it so impossible that I would wager Scott never did of his, real as they are. I had a good piece of absurdity in my head a night or two ago. I dreamed that somebody was dead. I don't know who, but it's not to the purpose. It was a private gentleman, or a particular friend; and I was greatly overcome when the news was broken to me (very delicately) by a gentleman in a cocked hat, top boots, and a sheet. Nothing else. "Good God!" I said, "is he dead?" "He is as dead, sir," rejoined the gentleman, "as a door-nail. But we must all die, Mr. Dickens, sooner or later, my dear sir." "Ah!" I said, "yes, to be sure. Very true. But what did he die of?" The gentleman burst into a flood of tears, and said in a voice broken by emotion: "He christened his youngest child, sir, with a toast- ing fork." I never in my life was so affected as at his having fallen a victim to this complaint. It carried a conviction to my mind that he never could have recovered. I knew that it was the most interesting and fatal malady in the world; and I wrung the gentleman's hand in a convulsion of respectful admiration, for I felt that this explanation did equal honour to his head and heart. Social Letters 127 XXXIII From Hans Christian Andersen.* Dear little Marie: Papa and Mamma can read this letter to you, as you can not read it yourself yet; but only wait till this time four years; ah, then you'll be able to read everything, I know. I am in the country now like you. . . It is so nice, and I have had some strawberries-large, red strawberries, with cream. Have you had any? One can taste them right down in one's stomach. Yesterday I went down to the sea and sat on a rock by the shore. Presently a large white bird that they call a gull came flying along. It flew right toward me, so that I fancied it would have slapped me with its wings; but, mercy on us, it said, "Mamaree.” "Why, what's the matter?" I asked. "Mama-ree!" it said again, and then, of course, I understood that "Ma-ma-ree" meant Marie. "Oh," said I, "then you bring me a greeting from Marie, that's what it is, eh?" "Ya- ya! Ma-ma-ree, Ma-ma-ree," it said. It couldn't say it any better than that, for it only knew the gull language, and that is not very much like ours. "Thanks for the greeting," said I, and off flew the gull. After that, as I was walking in the garden, a little sparrow came flying up. “I suppose you now have flown a long way?" said I. "Vit, vit" (far, far), it said. "Did you see Marie?" I asked. "Tit, tit, tit” (often, often, often), it said. "Then * Reproduced by permission of Dodd, Mead & Co., from R. N. Bain's Biography of Hans Christian Andersen. Letter to a little girl. 128 Letter Writing Letter to a little girl. give my greeting to Marie, for I suppose you are going back?" I said. "Lit, lit" (a little, little), it replied. If it has not come yet, it will come later on, but first, I'll send you this letter. You may feed the little bird, if you like, but you must not squeeze it. Now greet for me all good people, all sensible beasts and all the pretty flowers that wither before I see them. Isn't it nice to be in the country, to paddle in the water, to eat lots of nice things, and to get a letter from your sweet- heart? H. C. Andersen. PART III USEFUL INFORMATION 131 Forms of Address THE HERE is often question as to the proper form of addressing officials of Church or State. Following are some of the most needed forms: Ambassador His Excellency James Brown, ----) • Sir: Archbishop The most Reverend James Brown, Most Reverend and dear Sir: Attorney James Brown, Esq., Dear Sir: ---- ----- 132 Letter Writing Forms of address. Bishop The Right Reverend James Brown, Right Reverend and dear Sir: (In the Methodist Church a bishop prefers the simple title of "Reverend.") Cabinet Officer To the Honorable Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Dear Sir: Cardinal His Eminence James Brown, Your Eminence: Chief Justice To the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Mr. Chief Justice, Sir: Clergyman or Priest Rev. James Brown (D.D., if he bears that title), Reverend and dear Sir: Useful Information 133 Consul Hon. James Brown, • Dear Sir: Doctor James Brown, M.D. (or Ph.D. or LL.D., etc.), Dear Sir: Governor His Excellency, The Governor of New York, Sir: Judge Hon. Judge Brown, Dear Sir: Justice of the Supreme Court Hon. James Brown, Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C. Sir: Forms of address. 134 Letter Writing Forms of address. Mayor Hon. James Brown, Sir: Mayor of New York City, Member of Congress Hon. James Brown, Dear Sir: Officer, Army (or Navy) General James Brown, United States Army. Washington, D. C. Sir: President of the United States To His Excellency, The President of the United States, Washington, D. C. Mr. President, Sir: President of University To Arthur T. Hadley, LL.D., President of Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Dear Sir: 135 Titles and Degrees in Common Use A.B., Bachelor of Arts. A.M., Master of Arts. B.A., Bachelor of Arts. B.Agr., Bachelor of Agriculture. B.D., Bachelor of Divinity. B.L., Bachelor of Laws. B.M. or B.Mus., Bachelor of Music. B.Pd., Bachelor of Pedagogy. B.Ph., Bachelor of Philosophy. B.S., Bachelor of Surgery. B.S. or B.Sc., Bachelor of Science. D.C.L., Doctor of Canon Law. D.D., Doctor of Divinity. D.D.S. or D.M.D., Doctor of Dental Surgery. D.Lit., Doctor of Literature. D.M. or D.Mus., Doctor of Music. D.O., Doctor of Osteopathy. D.Ph., Doctor of Philosophy. D.Sc., Doctor of Science, Dr. P. L. oder 136 Letter Writing Titles and degrees. D.V.S., Doctor of Veterinary Surgery. E.E., Electrical Engineer. E.D., Doctor of Electricity. J.C.D., Doctor of Civil Law. J.D., Doctor of Laws. J.P., Justice of the Peace. Jr., Junior. Lit.B. or Litt.B., Bachelor of Litera- ture. Lit.D. or Litt.D., Doctor of Litera- ture. LL.B., Bachelor of Laws. LL.D., Doctor of Laws. M.A., Master of Arts. M.Agr., Master of Agriculture. M.C., Member of Congress. M.D., Doctor of Medicine. M.P., Member of Parliament. M.P.C., Member of Parliament in Canada. M.S., Master of Science. Mus.B., Bachelor of Music. Mus.D., Doctor of Music. Pd.B., Bachelor of Pedagogy. Pd.D., Doctor of Pedagogy. Ph.B., Bachelor of Philosophy. Useful Information 137 Ph.D., Doctor of Philosophy. P.M., Postmaster. Rev., Reverend. S.B. or Sc.B., Bachelor of Science. Sc.D., Doctor of Science. S.T.B., Bachelor of Sacred Theology. S.T.D., Doctor of Sacred Theology. Rt. Hon., Right Honorable. Rt. Rev., Right Reverend. V.Rev., Very Reverend. Titles and degrees. 138 Rates Postal Information DOMESTIC Postage. Ist Class.-Letters, sealed packages and all matter closed against inspec- tion, cents each ounce or fraction thereof. Postal cards, 1 cent each. 2d Class.-Newspapers and period- icals that have been entered as second- class matter, mailed by publishers, 1 cent per pound or fraction thereof. Newspapers and periodicals not mailed by publishers, 1 cent for four ounces or fraction thereof. 3d Class.-Circulars, books and mat- ter wholly in print (when weighing less than 8 ounces), engravings, lithographs, wood-cuts, photographs (checks, deeds, insurance policies), in blank, etc., proof with manuscript accompanying same, mimeograph reproductions, etc., Useful Information 139 visiting and business cards, 1 cent for each two ounces or fraction thereof. 4th Class.-Merchandise and matter not included in any of the above classes, which is not in its form or nature liable to destroy or damage the contents of the mail-bag, or harm persons engaged in the mail service. Under the law which went into effect January 1, 1913, all mailable matter not included in the first, second and third classes was included under the Parcel Post regulations as fourth-class matter. Letters, postal cards, newspapers, periodicals, books, printed matter, photographs, wood-cuts, etc., remained in the first three classes; but books, catalogues and booklets weighing over eight (8) ounces were later admitted to the Parcel Post (March 16,1914). Parcel Post matter is mailable only at post-offices, branch post-offices, lettered and local-named sta- tions and such numbered stations as may be desig- nated by the postmaster, or it may be delivered to a rural or other carrier duly authorized to receive such matter. All Parcel Post packages must bear the return card of the sender; otherwise they will not be accepted for mailing. Parcels must be prepared for mailing in such manner that the contents can be easily examined. Admissible articles, which, from their form or nature, might damage other mail matter or equip- Parcel Post. 140 Letter Writing Parcel Post. ment, or injure the person of any postal employee, may be mailed only when packed in accordance with special requirements provided by law. The Business houses may inclose invoices for goods. Articles sent by Parcel Post must not exceed twenty (20) pounds in weight (or 50 in the first and second zones), nor measure more than seventy-two (72) inches in length and girth combined. latter requirement is most easily observed by the aid of a 72-inch tape or string; the portion of the tape not required to measure the length must be sufficient to encircle the package at its thickest part in order to bring it within the limit allowed by law. Packages weighing not more than four ounces carry a straight rate of one cent for each ounce or fraction thereof regardless of distance. The postage rates on heavier packages are based on a graduated scale (according to distance). The rates increase with respect to a series of circles or "Zones," as shown on the opposite page. Seeds, cuttings, bulbs, roots, scions and plants carry a special rate of one cent for each two ounces or fraction thereof regardless of distance, but come under the Parcel Post regulations as to size and weight of packages. The Parcel Post rate between any point in the United States and any point in the Hawaiian Islands, the United States Postal Agency at Shang- hai, and any point in Alaska, and between any two points in Alaska (except for parcels weighing four ounces or less, in which the rate is one cent for each ounce or fraction thereof) shall be twelve cents for the first pound and twelve cents for FIRST ZONE WEIGHT Local rate Second- Third- Fourth- Fifth Sixth- Seventh- Eighth- zone rate zone rate zone rate zone rate zone rate zone rate zone rate Zone rate 50 miles. 150 miles. 300 miles. 600 miles. 1000 miles. 1800 over 1800 miles. miles. 1400 miles. 1 pounds.. $0.05 $0.05 $0.05 $0.06 $0.07 $0.07 $0.08 $0.09 $0.09 $0.11 $0.11 2 pounds. $0.12 .06 .06 .06 .08 .11 .14 .17 .21 .24 3 pounds. .06 .07 .07 .10 .15 .20 .25 .31 .36 4 pounds. .07 .08 .08 .12 .19 .26 .33 .41 5 pounds. .48 .07 .09 .09 .14 .23 .32 .41 .51 .60 6 pounds. .08 .10 10 .16 .27 .38 .49 .61 .72 7 pounds. .08 .11 .11 .18 .31 .44 .57 .71 8 pounds. .84 .09 .12 .12 .20 .35 .50 .65 .81 .96 9 pounds. .09 .13 .13 .22 .39 .56 .73 .91 1.08 10 pounds. .10 .14 .14 .24 .43 .62 .81 1.01 1.20 11 pounds.. .10 .15 .15 .26 .47 .68 .89 1.11 1.32 12 pounds. .11 .16 .16 .28 .51 .74 .97 1.21 1.44 13 pounds. .11 .17 .17 .30 .55 .80 1.05 1.31 1.56 14 pounds. .12 .18 .18 .32 .59 .86 1.13 1.41 1.68 15 pounds. .12 .19 .19 .34 .63 .92 1.21 1.51 1.80 16 pounds. .13 .20 .20 .36 .67 .98 1.29 1.61 1.92 17 pounds. .13 .21 .21 .38 .71 1.04 1.37 1.71 2.04 18 pounds. .14 .22 .22 .40 .75 1.10 1.45 1.81 2.16 19 pounds. .14 .23 .23 .42 .79 1.16 1.53 1.91 2.28 20 pounds .15 .24 .24 .44 .83 1.22 1.61 2.01 2.40 142 Letter Writing Parcel Post. each additional pound or fraction thereof. These rates also apply to parcels mailed in the United States for delivery in the Canal Zone, and to parcels between the Philippine Islands and any portion of the United States, including the District of Columbia and the several Territories and posses- sions. The eighth zone rate of postage (except on parcels weighing four ounces or less, on which the rate is one cent for each ounce or fraction thereof) applies to all parcels of fourth-class matter mailed in the United States for delivery in Canada, Mexico, Cuba and the Republic of Panama; but parcels for delivery in Canada or Cuba must not exceed two kilograms (4 lbs. 6 ozs.) in weight, in accordance with the existing Parcel Post conventions with these countries. A mailable parcel on which the postage is fully prepaid may be insured against loss to an amount equivalent to its actual value, but not to exceed $50, on payment of a fee of ten cents in stamps, such stamps to be affixed. A receipt showing the delivery of such a package will be mailed to the sender if so requested at the time the package is insured. Parcel Post packages may be sent C. O. D. for values up to $100 upon payment of a fee of 10 cents for collection. This fee will be represented by stamps affixed to the package. The sender will be given a receipt showing the amount to be collected, which will also appear on a tag attached to the parcel. The recipient will sign this tag and it will be considered as an application for a money order. Fragile articles, such as millinery, toys, musical Useful Information 143 instruments, etc., and articles consisting wholly or in part of glass, or contained in glass, must be securely packed and the parcel stamped or labeled "fragile." Parcels containing perishable articles must be marked “perishable.” Butter, lard and such perishable articles, when so packed or wrapped as to prevent damage to other mail matter, will be accepted for local delivery. The following are among those articles declared unmailable: Intoxicating liquors, poisons, poisonous animals, inflammable materials, devices or composi- tions which may ignite or explode, live or dead (and not stuffed) animals (except such as are mailed in accordance with the instructions of the depart- ment of agriculture); or any article having a bad odor. Mexico, Canada, and Islands of Cuba, Tutuila, Puerto Rico, Philippines, Ha- waii, Guam, Panama, The Canal Zone, and Shanghai, have the same rates as for domestic matter. Registration. Letters or packages can be registered by adding stamps to the amount of 10 cents to the regular rate. Reforwarding. First-class matter will be forwarded from one post-office to another upon the written request of the person addressed, without additional Parcel Post. Refor- warding. 144 Letter Writing Special delivery. charge; but other mail cannot be for- warded until stamps are furnished to pay the additional postage. Special delivery stamps, at 10 cents each, used in addition to regular rates, insure delivery immediately on arrival at office of destination. These stamps can be used for no other purpose. Or, by putting on 10 cents in ordinary stamps additional to the regular postage and writing under them "Special Deliv- ery" the same result is attained. Unmailable Matter.-Harmful, poi- sonous, explosive, offensive, obscene, defamatory, fraudulent material or com- munications are not mailable. DOMESTIC MONEY ORDERS Domestic money orders are issued by money order post-offices for any amount up to $100.00 at the following rates: For sums not exceeding $2.50. Over $2.50 5.00" 10.00" 20.00' " 3 cents " 5.00. 5 10.00. 8 " 20.00. 10 44 こ ​30.00.. 12 " ་ • • • Useful Information 145 Over $30.00 not exceeding $40.00......15 cents " 40.00 " "" 50.00. 18 • • • 50.00 " 60.00. .20 " 60.00 " " 75.00. .25 • " 75.00 " 100.00......30 For every additional hundred or frac- tion thereof, another order must be obtained. FOREIGN POSTAGE England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Newfoundland, for each ounce or frac- tion, 2 cents. Germany, quickest delivery, per ounce or fraction, 5 cents; each additional ounce, 3 cents; ordinary delivery, per ounce or fraction, 2 cents. Other foreign countries (except Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii, Philippine Islands, Panama, Shanghai), for one ounce or fraction, 5 cents; each additional ounce, 3 cents. Single postal cards, each, 2 cents; double postal cards, each, 4 cents; news- Domestic money orders. 146 Letter Writing Foreign Parcel Post. papers and other printed matter, per 2 ounces, 1 cent. Packets not in excess of 10 ounces, 5 cents; packets in excess of 10 ounces, for each 2 ounces or fraction thereof, 1 cent. Packets not in excess of 4 ounces, 2 cents; packets in excess of 4 ounces, for each 2 ounces or fraction thereof, 1 cent; registration fee on letters or other articles, 10 cents. Packages of samples must not exceed 12 oz. in weight, 12 inches in length, 8 inches in breadth and 4 inches in depth (if a roll, 12 inches in length and 6 inches in diameter). Ordinary letters for any foreign coun- try (except Canada and Mexico) must be forwarded, whether any postage is prepaid on them or not. All other mailable matter must be prepaid at least partially. Packages (not over 4 pounds, 6 ounces weight, 3 feet, 6 inches length, or 6 feet, combined length and girth), per pound, 12 cents. 147 Helps to Correct English THE ready use of good language is largely the result of practice in speaking and writing. In the choice of words, the first consideration should be exactness. Frequently there is one, and only one, word that will express the precise shade of meaning. Ability to make the right choice is born of close scrutiny of definitions and inde- pendence of current fashions. A Cultivate the habit of observing the derivation and history of words. word of which you know the etymology defines itself; you feel its force intui- tively, and need not depend on a dic- tionary. Enlarge your vocabulary by diligent study of usage in the best writers. The true meaning of words is expressed only when they are interwoven with Value of Etymol- ogy. 148 Letter Writing Good other words. English. Good usage cannot be acquired from the dictionary. Beware of "fine" writing. By fine writing is meant the use of pretentious terms for trivial ideas. THE USES OF THE ARTICLES A or An, The.-The use of "a" or "an" is determined by sound and not by spelling. Before a consonant sound "a" is used; before a vowel sound "an is used; "the" is used to point out some particular person or thing. Examples.-A barn, an orchard, a history, an honor, a unit, an uncle. THE USES OF ADJECTIVES An adjective describes or limits the noun or pronoun to which it is joined. Adjectives are usually placed before the noun or pronoun they qualify. The ascending comparison of adjec- tives is formed by adding "er" and "est" or "more" and "most" to the positive form, and the descending com- parison by adding "less" and "least." Useful Information 149 The comparative degree is used in comparing two objects; the superlative, when more than two are compared. Some adjectives can not be compared, and no adjective will admit of a double comparison. The adjectives that can not be compared are "right," "unique," "alone," "single," "prompt," etc. THE USES OF THE ADVERB An adverb limits or emphasizes a verb, an adjective or another adverb. Adverbs, "soon," "often," "early," “late,” etc., are compared regularly by adding “er,” “st," "est"; those ending in "ly" are compared by prefixing "more" and "most.' The following are compared irregularly: "" Good English. Positive Comparative Superlative Well Better Best Badly Worse Worst Little Less Least Much More Most Some adverbs do not admit of a comparison; as "dead," "square,” etc. 150 Letter Writing Good English. Adverbs should be placed as near the word or words they modify as possible. Observe the different uses of the word "only" in the following sentences: "Only John dropped his cane"; "John only dropped his cane"; "John dropped his cane only"; "John dropped only his cane" cane"; "John dropped his only cane." Two negative forms are not permis- sible. Good, Well.-"Good" is always an adjective. "Well" may be an adjective, but usually it is an adverb; as, "I slept well," "Father looks well.” Most, Almost.-Do not use "most" for "almost." Say, "He passes here almost every day," not "most every day." Latest, Last.-Do not say "last" for "latest." Latest has reference to time, but "last" is a contraction of "latest," and has no reference to time, but has reference to that which comes at the end of a series. Here and There.-Never use "here" and "there" after "this" and "that, Useful Information 151 as, "This here boy," etc., "That there boy," etc. Always, Continually.-Do not confuse "Always" refers these two words. to what we do at all times. We do "continually" what we do without intermission. Further, Farther.-"Further" is com- parative and means more, as, "Nothing further was said." "Farther" has reference to distance, as, "He can go farther." APPROPRIATE PREPOSITIONS Good usage requires proper preposi- tions to express one's meaning well. At, In, Into.-Usually "in" implies inclosure, as presence inside of; "into" implies movement to the inside of. One cannot live in a house until he has moved into it. "At" implies position attained by motion to, but has many different uses. It is common instead of "in" with names of small towns. We say, "He is staying in London," but "at Stratford." Further, we say, “He is Good English. 152 Letter Writing Good English. living in New York at the Hotel." >" Beside, Besides.-"Beside" means "at the side of," as "The house beside the sea. "Besides" means "in addition to," as, "Besides his farm he has some personal property.' Among, Between.-"Among" should be used when more than two are referred to; "between" when reference is made to two only. Wait on, Wait for.-"Wait on" means attend to; "wait for" means to tarry, to await. CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS The correlative conjunctions are as follows: as.. SO. neither. either. ..as .as nor or “So.... as" is generally employed after a negative instead of "as . . . as." Thus: "This is as good as that"; but "This is not so good as that." Useful Information 153 THE USES OF PRONOUNS The Possessive of Pronouns.—In form- ing the possessive the letter "s" only is added to the singular. Examples.-Yours, hers, theirs, its. The possessive of "who" is "whose" The relatives "that" and "those" have no possessive forms. Singular and Plural Pronouns.-The pronoun should be in the same number as its antecedent. The relative "who" is used to refer to persons; "which," to inferior animals and things without life; "what" is used to refer to things, and "that" to both persons and things. Euphony, as a rule, determines between the uses of "who" or "which" and "that." "Either" refers to "one of two"; but when more than two are referred to, "any one" should be used. "Neither,' refers to "no one of two"; but when more than two are referred to, “no one' should be used. "Each" refers to numbers separately; "all" refers to numbers collectively. Good English. 154 Letter Writing Good English. THE USES of Nouns The Possessive Case.-The possessive of nouns in the singular number is formed by adding an apostrophe and the letter "s." Example. The girl's bonnet. Sometimes the possessive is formed by adding the apostrophe only. This is done where the added "s" makes an unpleasant sound. Examples.-For goodness' sake; Dickens' Tale of Two Cities. When the plural of a noun in the nominative case ends in "s," the pos- sessive is formed by adding the apos- trophe (') only, but if the plural does not end in "s" then the apostrophe (') and an "s" are added. Example.-Men's and boys' hats are for sale. The possessive of compound nouns is formed by adding the sign of the possessive to the end of the compound. Example.-I drove my brother-in- law's horse. Singular and Plural Number.-The Useful Information 155 plural of nouns is usually formed by adding "s" to the singular, but if the sound of "s" makes an additional syllable then "es" is added to form the plural. Examples.-Hand, hands; church, churches. Nouns ending in "o" preceded by a vowel form the plural by adding "s" only to the singular, but when the final "o" is preceded by a consonant the plural is formed by adding "es" to the singular. Nouns ending in "y" form their plurals by adding "s" to the singular, but if the final "y" is preceded by a consonant, "y" is changed to “i” and "es" is added to form the plural. Examples.-Money, moneys; lady, ladies. In forming the plural of compound nouns the sign of the plural is added to the significant word and not to the descriptive part of the phrase. Examples.-Aide-de-camp, aides-de- camp; knight-errant; knights-errant. Good English. 156 Letter Writing Good English. THE USES OF VERBS Verbs and Number.-Plural verbs re- quire plural subjects (even when not plural in meaning); as "you were," not "you was. The Uses of the Auxiliary Verbs.- Shall, Will.-"Will" expresses the will or pleasure of its own subject. "Shall" subordinates the will of its subject to that of the speaker. In question, the "shall" and "" asking a will" of the question should be the "shall" and "will" that will be voiced in the answer; as, "Shall you go?" "Yes; I shall go." To express simple futurity say: I shall go We shall go You will go You will go He will go They will go To express determination or command say: I will go We will go You shall go You shall go They shall go He shall go Should, Would.-"Should" is the past tense of "shall," and "would," the past Useful Information 157 tense of "will," and the rules governing one form govern also the other. "We should go to town if we were able." "His wife would attend if you asked her." Can, Could; May, Might.—“Can” and "could" express ability or possi- bility, while "may" and "might" express permission. These words are often confused. Lie and Lay.-Remember that “lie” implies rest and "lay" implies an action affecting some object. Examples. The watch lies on the piano. I will lay the watch on the piano. Mother laid your gloves away for you. Sit and Set.—“Sit" means to be in position, to rest, to repose. "Set" is an active, transitive verb and means to put, to place, to plant, to place in a condition, a state, or a posture. Examples. Come sit in the easy chair. Set the table in the dining room. Don't (Do Not), Doesn't (Does Not).- These words are often misused. When Good English. 158 Letter Writing Good English. you are in doubt about their use, com- pare the full forms with the verb; as, "He don't know." If the full form be used, the absurdity is quickly seen, as, "He do not know." The correct form is "He does not know." Had Rather, Had Better, Had Ought.- These are incorrect forms for "would rather," "might better," and "ought." Note the following verb forms: Present Alight Past Past Participle Alighted Alighted Begun Begin Began Bid Bade Bidden or Bid Bid (anation) Bid: Bid Burst Burst Burst Choose Chose Chosen Do Did Done Eat Ate Eaten Lay Laid Laid Lie Lay Lain Rise Rose Risen Raise Raised Raised See Saw Seen Set Set Set Sit Sat Sat Useful Information 159 COMMON ERRORS TO BE AVOIDED Administer.-Blows are dealt; medi- cine is administered. Afraid.-Say I fear it will rain, not I am afraid. Ain't.-Incorrect always, even as a contraction of Am not. Alike. Do not couple this word with both. Allow.-Do not say, He allows he will do it. Amateur.-Not necessarily a beginner. And.-Say try to go, not try and go. Angry.—Angry with a person and at a thing. Anticipate.-Distinguish from expect. Anyone, Anybody.-Does anyone miss his or her (not their) book? As. Say not that I know, instead of not as I know. At all.-Superfluous after any, as any at all. Balance.-Not to be used for rest or remainder. Beautifully.-Looked beautiful, not beautifully. Common Errors. 160 Letter Writing Common Errors. Belongs to.-Do not use for is a member of. Between.-Between two; among more than two. Blacking. This word is not blacken- ing. Brakeman.-Not brakesman. Certain.-Distinguish from sure. Character.-Distinguish from reputa- tion. Deal.-Great deal, not good deal. Die with.-Persons die of, not with disease. Don't.-Say He doesn't sing, not, He don't sing. Either.-Means the one or the other of two. Equally well.-Do not say equally as well. Every.-Follow by a verb in the singular. Expect.-Refers to future time. Fix.-Incorrectly used for arrange or prepare. Folk.-Folk implies plurality as well as folks. Useful Information 161 Good.-It looks well, not good. Got.-Omit got in I have got a dollar. Guess.-Do not use this word for suppose. Hardly.-Do not use with don't and can't. Healthy.-Distinguish from whole- some. Hundred.-Use the singular form with numerals. Learn. To receive instruction. See teach. Less.-Relates to quantity; fewer to number. May.-Distinguish from can. Near.-Do not use in the sense of nearly. New.-A pair of new boots; not a new pair. Nice.-See definition of this word. Nothing like, nowhere near.-Collo- quial expressions to be avoided in writing. Otherwise than.-Not otherwise but. Party. Do not use for person. Perpetual.-Distinguish from con- tinual. Common Errors. 162 Letter Writing Common Errors. Portion.-Often incorrectly used for part. Posted.-Do not use instead of in- formed. Prevalent.-Distinguish from prevail- ing. Promise.-Distinguish from assure. Propose.-Distinguish from purpose. Real. The adverb is really; as, really good. Seem.-Distinguish from appear. Stop.-We stay at a certain hotel, not stop. Summon.-Summon is a verb, sum- mons a noun. Teach. To give instruction. learn. See Those kind.-Say that kind. Kind is singular. Transpire.-Do not use for to happen. Without.-Do not use without for unless. INDEX Index Abbott, Eleanor H., 116 Abbreviations, titles and degrees, 135-136 Acceptance, 96, 97 Accounts, opening, 63-66 Accounts, settlement of, 58-63 Acknowledgment, 21, 54 Action, 26 Addison, Joseph, 103 Address, 7 Address, envelope, 10, 90 Address, forms of, 131-134 Addressing envelope, 9-10, 90 Adjectives, 148 Advantages of the letter, 3 Adverbs, 149 Advertisements, answering, 70–72 Andersen, Hans Christian, 127 Annoyance, 56 Answer, of condolence, 106 Answering advertisements, 70-72 Answering letters, 54-57 Application for position, 70–72 Arguments, 26 Articles, 148 Birth of son, 98 Body of letter, 93 Bread-and-butter letter, 120 Brevity, 54 Business letters, 1-80 Canceling orders, 56-57 Child, letter to, 121, 127 Church officials, addressing, 131– 134 Circular letter, 8, 12, 27 Clemens, S. L., 123 Closing the letter, 7, 17-21, 94 Coleridge, Samuel T., 104, 106 Collection and credit letters, 58-67 Common errors, 159–162 Common sense, 25 Complaints, 55–56 Complimentary close, 7, 94 Condolence, 106-108 Congratulation, 98, 99, 100, 101 Constructing the sales letter, 23 Constructing the social letter, 89 Correct English, 147–162 Correlative conjunctions, 152 Courtesy, 57, 66 Credit, 63 Credit letters, 63-67 Dashwood, Mr., 103 Degrees in common use, 135–136 Describing product, 25 Dickens, Charles, 113, 123 Dictionary, 147 "Don't," 8 Duplicating letters, 12 Emerson, 85 Ending a letter, 7, 17-21, 94 Engaging board, 76 English, correct, 147-162 Envelope, 6, 91 Envelope addressing, 9-10, 90 Envelope, return, 10, 27 Excusing absence, 74 Felton, Mr., 123 Fitzgerald, Edward, 108 Follow-up letter, 46-53 Foreign postage, 145-146 Form, business letter, 4-8 Form, social letter, 89-95 Formal acceptance, 96 Formal invitation, 96 Frmal regrets, 97 Forms of address, 131–134 (165) 166 Index Forster, John, 113 Forwarding mail, 143 Friendly letter, 108, 123, etc. Functions of the follow-up, 46 General form, business letter, 4-8 General form, social letter, 89-95 Goods, ordering, 73 Goods, selling, 23–45 Government officials, addressing, 131-134 Graduate, congratulations, 99, 100, 101 Greeting, New-Year, 102 Handwriting, 8, 93 Heading, 7, 91 Helps to correct English, 147 Human element, 11 Humorous letter, 103, 123 Hurry-up letter, 74 Inclosing stamp, 10 Inclosure, 9 Inducements, 26 Informality, 85 Instalment accounts, 63 Interest, 23, 24, 26, 31, 47, 86 Introduction, letter of, 69, 99, 100 Invalid, letter to, 116, 117 Invitation, formal, 96 Invitation, note of, 97 Invitation, unconventional, 120 Lamb, Charles, 83, 104, 106 Legibility, 93 Letter-head, 7, 91 Letter of application, 70-72 Letter of condolence, 106-108 Letter of congratulation, 98, 99, 100, 101 Letter of introduction, 69, 99, 100 Letter of invitation, 96, 97, 120 Letter of recommendation, 68, 76 Letter of thanks, 103, 122, 123 Letter paper, 4, 6, 89 Letters, business, 1-80 Letters, circular, 8, 12, 27 Letters, collection, 58, 63 Letters, credit, 63-67 Letters, follow-up, 46-63 Letters, reply, 54-57 Letters, sales, 23-45 Letters, social, 81-128 Literature, 83, 87 Little boy, letter to, 121 Little girl, letter to, 127 Love letter, 118 Lure of the written word, 30 Mail, domestic, 138-145 Mail, foreign, 145-146 Manifolding, 12 Mark Twain, 123 Marriage, congratulations, 101 Meeting complaints, 101 "Molly Make-Believe," 116 Money, acknowledging, 21 Money orders, 144 Money, sending, 21 Mourning, 91 Musician, love letter of, 118 Neatness, 6 Necessity of tact, 58 Note of acceptance, 97 Note of invitation, 97 Note of regret, 98 Note paper, 89 Nouns, 154 Objections, 55-56 Officials, addressing, 131-134 Opening the letter, 12-16, 54 Ordering goods, 73 Paper, 4, 6, 89 Parcel post, domestic, 139–143 Parcel post, foreign, 146 Pater, Walter, 85 Index 167 Persistence, 47 Personal element, 12 Personal note, 27 Personal reference, 8 Personality, 4, 83, 86 Pleasure of letter writing, 84 Pliny, 115 Poet made practical, 24 Position, applying for, 70-72 Possessive case, 154 Possibilities of book on letter writ- ing, 89 Postage, domestic, 138-145 Postage, foreign, 145–146 Postal information, 138-146 Prepositions, 151 Prices, 25, 28 Prices, special, 28 Product, 25 Pronouns, 153 Proposition, 26 Quoting prices, 27-28 Rates of postage, 138 Receipt of letter, 54 Receipt of money, 21 Recommendation, letter of, 68, 76 Reed, Myrtle, 118 References, 29-30 Reforwarding mail, 143 Refusals, 67 Registration of letters, 143 Regrets, 97, 98 Reply letters, 54-57 Reply, making easy, 27 Requesting samples, 78 Requesting school catalog, 75 Requesting terms, 75 Romance of business letter, 3 Rossetti, Dante G., 101, 102 Ruskin, John, 101 Sales letter, 23-45 Salutation, 7, 93 Samples, requesting, 78 Scientific terms, 26 Self, talking of, 86 Sending money, 21 Senses, 25 Sentiment, 88 Settlement of accounts, 58-63 "Shall" and "will," 156 Signature, 8, 95 Signing letters, 8, 95 Small accounts, 60 Smetham, James, 102 Social letters, 81 Solicitation. See Sales letters. Spacing, 6 Special delivery, 144 Specific, necessity of being, 25 Specimen envelope, 10, 90 Specimen letter, 5, 92 Spelling, 93 Stamp of personality, 83 Stamp for reply, 10, 27 Stevenson, Robert Louis, 83 Structure of business letter, 26 Study of letters, 10 Style, 11 Subscribing to magazine, 77 Superlatives, 11 Tact, 58, 67 Taylor, Mrs., 102 Technical terms, 26 Tennyson, Frederic, 108 Testimonial letter, 77, 79 Thanks, letter of, 103, 122 Titles in common use, 135-136 Traveler's letter, 113 Turn-downs, 66 Typewriter, use of, 6, 94 Unconventional bread-and-butter letter, 120 Unconventional letter of invita- tion, 120 Unmailable matter, 144 Useful information, 129 168 Index Value of persistence, 47 Venice, description of, 113 Verbs, 156 Vocabulary, 147 Wide-awakeness, 23-24 Wife, letter to, 115 "Will," 156 Word, choice of, 85 Word, lure of, 30 Writing, passim Writing, “fine,” 148 Writing (hand-), 8, 93 **** Į UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 3 9015 00883 0716 ཨཱརཱ DO NOT REMOVE OR MUTILATE CARDS A.