schools of various grades, but also of private learners and of society at large. Most of the materials employed have been gathered from original sources, and now appear in print for the first time. This is especially true of the articles on Notes and Cards, Titles, and Forms of Address and Salutation. No pains have been spared to ascertain the best present usage in regard to all the subjects presented. Concerning official and professional titles and forms, information has been sought and obtained from various Heads of Departments of our National and State Governments, from military and naval officers, from the leading colleges, and from other high sources; and on social matters the author has been kindly favored with the advice and suggestions of many ladies and gentlemen in the principal cities, who, if he were permitted to name them, would at once be recognized as persons of the highest culture and refinement. To these, and to all others who have in any way afforded him assistance and encouragement in his labors, he proffers his grateful acknowledgments. His special thanks are due, and are hereby cordially tendered, to Mr. William S. Schofield of Philadelphia, whose tireless zeal, sound judgment, and excellent taste, constantly and variously exercised in the interest of the work, have added greatly to its value and completeness. And now, with many hopes and a few fears, the author submits his little book to the great tribunal of public opinion, adding only the assurance that, whatever may be its merits or its faults, it is the result of an earnest desire to promote the literary and social culture of our schools and people. MILLERSVILLE, PA., February 2, 1876. CONTENTS. [A GENERAL INDEX MAY BE found on page 263.] Supplement.-Type-Writer Correspondence............ CHAPTER III.-THE RHETORIC OF LETTERS.. Section I. General Principles........... Section II. Special Applications.. Sub-Sec. I. Style and Specimens of Social Letters... 91 Sub-Sec. II. Style and Specimens of Business Letters. 108 CHAPTER IV.-THE LITERATURE OF LETTERS............ 121 DIVISION II.-NOTES AND CARDS... Introduction................. ........................ DIVISION I.-APPELLATIVE TITLES...... USE AND ABUSE OF TITLES......................................... LETTER-WRITING. INTRODUCTION. OUTLINE. 1. Business. I. IMPORTANCE. 2. Social. 3. Intellectual. II. PLAN OF THE WORK. Importance. As letter-writing is the most generally practiced, so also it is the most important, practically considered, of all kinds of composition. This will more fully appear from the following considerations :— 1. Letter-writing is indispensable in business. All persons To be able to write a good have business of some kind to transact, and much of it must be done by means of letters. letter is greatly to a person's advantage in any occupation. Many good situations are obtained by teachers, clerks, and others, on account of this ability; and quite as many are lost for the want of it. 2. It is a social obligation. We are naturally social beings; and pleasure, interest, and duty equally demand that our friendships and other social ties should be maintained and strengthened. In many cases this can be done only by means of letters. No one would willingly lose out of his life the joy of receiving letters from absent friends, nor withhold from others the same exquisite pleasure. It may be stated, also, that a person's social, intellectual, and moral culture are indicated in his letters, as plainly as in his manners, dress, and conversation; and it is as great a violation of propriety to send an awkward, careless, badly written letter, as it is to appear in a company of refined people, with swaggering gait, soiled linen, and unkempt hair. 3. It gives intellectual culture. Letter-writing is one of the most practical and interesting exercises in English composition-one that is suitable for persons of all grades, from the child just learning to write, to the man of highest attainments. It affords exercise in penmanship, spelling, grammar, diction, invention-in short, in all the elements of composition, and gives ease, grace, and vivacity of style. Many who have become distinguished in other kinds of writing, have acquired much of their power and fluency of expression by their practice of writing letters. Of these Robert Burns is a notable example. In fact the letters of distinguished men and women form a distinct and important department of literature; and some who are recognized as standard authors would long ago have been forgotten but for their admirable correspondence. Of the latter it is sufficient to mention Madame de Sévigné, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and Horace Walpole. Plan of the Work.-For convenience, this treatise is divided into three parts:— PART I. LETTERS, NOTES, AND CARDS. PART II. ORTHOGRAPHY AND PUNCTUATION. PART III. MISCELLANEOUS, containing Titles, Forms of Address and Salutation, Abbreviations, Foreign Words and Phrases, Postal Information, and Business Forms. Suggestion to Teachers.-In view of the great educational and literary value of letter-writing, teachers should to a great extent substitute this exercise for the writing of ordinary "compositions." They will thus secure greater ease and freedom of expression than by the old method, and will at the same time give their pupils a prac tical acquaintance with the forms and peculiarities of letters. |