CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD LETTER

277

Good Letters Consider the Person Addressed. - Do you not feel that this letter is a genuine expression? It was written because the writer had something she wished to say to her sister. We feel sure, too, that the one who received the letter read it with interest and pleasure. In writing a letter the first thing to keep in mind is the person addressed. You do not write exactly the same kind of letter to your mother as to your sister, even if you write about the same things; the personality of your mother and your relation to her call for a different kind of expression from that in a letter to your sister. A boy's account of a football game written to a chum on his team would differ greatly from what he would tell a girl about the same game.

Naturalness and Simplicity. — This letter uses simple words. It goes straight at what it has to say, without straining for effect. It is written naturally. This naturalness in letter writing is quite possible without the use of slang and such expressions as "Gosh!" and "Oh, boy!" so commonly found in some young people's letters.

Interest. The letters we write to our friends must be interesting or they are as well left unwritten. What interests us in a letter? Is it not the familiar things the writer and the reader have in common? Undoubtedly the familiar background of life furnishes a great part of the interest in friendly letters. We may not be greatly interested in a fire that destroys a half million dollars' worth of property in Paris, but we are at once on the alert when we read that a fire in our attic at home has consumed our father's army uniform. Sometimes, however, our friends are away from home, and so unable to write about the familiar facts of life. They must then have skill in selecting the material that will interest the reader.

Why is the following letter uninteresting?

New York, N. Y.
Feb. 19, 1922

Dear Lucy,

We arrived in New York Friday afternoon at three o'clock and we went straight to the McAlpin Hotel, which is on the corner of Broadway and 34th Street. After we had washed our faces and straightened up a bit we went out on Broadway. As you have never been in New York I will tell you about Broadway. It is the main street and has lots of stores on it and the theaters are all around Broadway too. After we had walked around looking at the stores we came back to the hotel and had a good dinner. Then we went to the theater and saw Sally, a fine musical comedy. So we came back to the hotel and went to bed, tired but happy. Saturday we got up late and had breakfast at half past nine. Then we went over to Fifth Avenue and took a bus and rode down to Washington Square and saw the Flatiron Building on Twenty-third Street. That isn't its real name. It is the Fuller Building but everybody calls it the Flatiron Building. We had lunch in Greenwich Village and it's very interesting down there in the village. In the afternoon we went to the aquarium and saw lots of different kinds of fishes. Then we came back on the subway just in time for dinner. We went to the Capitol, a moving picture place, at night and stayed till after eleven. We were very tired when we went to bed. This is Sunday morning and we haven't done anything yet, so I thought I would write to you before we started out.

Yours lovingly,

Beth

Do you think Broadway would make any appeal to Lucy on account of what Beth has written? Is there any reason for thinking Greenwich Village interesting or Sally a fine show? Of what interest is it to know that Beth ate her three meals?

The next letter, from a girl in junior high school to an old friend, congratulates him on receiving the athletic insignia of his school:

LETTERS FROM DISTINGUISHED PEOPLE

Dear George,

279

Ethel has written me about the exciting day you had in the Edgerly School last week. How I wish I could have looked in on the assembly when the awards were being made! Ethel said it was very impressive when Mr. Clark read the names of those who had achieved the much-desired insignia for athletics. And just to think that your name was one of that list! Congratulations from the bottom of my heart. It certainly sounds good to say that George Charleton is one of the best athletes in the famous Edgerly School, and I'm proud to know you, George.

I'll just have to hurry and try for some honors myself. We have a mighty good basket-ball team in our school, and I am working hard to get on as a regular player. I'd like to be a guard, but there are so many good players that I'm afraid my chances are slim. Anyway, I can hope.

Well, it's time to go to gym. now for practice, and I'll have to bring this letter to a close, but I want to tell you how glad I am of your

success.

Sincerely yours,

Louise

Letters from Distinguished People. The charm of letters lies in the expression of the writer's personality. The following letters from Thomas Carlyle and Abraham Lincoln illustrate what we mean by personality:

Dear old Mother,

Chelsea, December 4, 1853

Weak and sick and dear to me, while I live in God's creation, what a day this has been in my solitary thought; for, except a few words to Jane, I have not spoken to any one, nor indeed, hardly seen any one, it being dusk and dark before I went out - a dim, silent Sabbath day, the sky foggy, damp with dark, and a universal stillness the consequence, and it is this day gone fifty-eight years since I was born. And my poor mother! Well, we are in God's hands. Surely God is good. Surely we ought to trust him, or what is there for the sons of men? Oh, my dear mother! Let it ever be comfort to you, however weak you are,

that you did your part honorably and well while in strength, and were a noble mother to me and to us all.

I am now myself grown old and have had various things to do and suffer for so many years; but there is nothing I ever had to be so much thankful for as for the mother I had. That is a truth which I know well, and perhaps this day again it may be some comfort to you. Yes, surely, for if there has been any good in the things I have uttered in this world's hearing, it was your voice essentially that was speaking through me; essentially what you and my brave father meant and taught me to mean, this was the purport of all I spoke and wrote. And if in the few years that may remain to me, I am to get any more written for the world, the essence of it, so far as it is worthy and good, will still be yours.

May God reward you, dearest mother, for all you have done for me! I never can. Ah no! but will think of it with gratitude and pious love so long as I have the power of thinking. And I will pray God's blessing on you, now and always, and will write no more on that account at present, for it is better for me to be silent.

Your devoted son,

Thomas

The following is a letter from Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby, of Boston:

Dear Madam,

November 21, 1864

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice on the altar of freedom.

Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln

Since all of us have occasion to write and to reply to invitations, we should know the accepted forms for this kind of correspondence.

Formal Invitations. The formal invitation is written in the third person and not signed. It is used only for large and rather formal affairs. The following is the usual form of invitation to an afternoon tea, at which Miss Holmes is the honor guest:

Miss Holmes

Although it is not necessary to reply to an invitation to tea, it is, nevertheless, thoughtful and courteous to inform your hostess if you cannot attend.