* 
 
.-r 
 
 v 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SUCCESS 
 
 IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 BUSINESS AND SOCIAL 
 
 BY 
 
 SHERWIN CODY 
 
 AUTHOB OF u THE ART OF WHITING AND SPEAKING 
 
 THB ENGLISH LANGUAGE," EDITOB OF "THB 
 
 WORLD'S BEST "SERIES, ETC. 
 
 SIXTH EDITION 
 
 CHICAGO 
 A. C. McCLURG & CO. 
 
 1913 
 
COPYRIGHT 
 
 A. C. MCCLURG & CO, 
 
 1906 
 
 Published Jane 25, 1906 
 Second Edition, December 20, 1906 
 Third Edition, July 22, 1907 
 Fourth Edition, April, 1903 
 Fifth Edition, March, 191 1 
 Sixth Edition, March, 1&13 
 
 W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE . . . . . . vii 
 
 PART I 
 
 BUSINESS LETTER WRITING 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS IN BUSINESS 
 
 LETTER WRITING . . .17 
 
 II. FORMS AND CUSTOMS IN LETTER WRIT- 
 ING 35 
 
 III. THE PROPER STYLE IN LETTER WRIT- 
 ING, AND How TO GAIN FLUENCY 53 
 
 IV. THE BUSINESS VALUE OF CORRECT 
 
 ENGLISH . . . .83 
 
 V. MODEL LETTERS . . . .91 
 VI. FOLLOW-UP SYSTEMS . . .107 
 
 VII. DEALING WITH HUMAN NATURE BY 
 
 MAIL 115 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART II 
 
 SOCIAL LETTER WRITING 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. FORMS AND CUSTOMS IN SOCIAL COR- 
 RESPONDENCE . . .133 
 
 II. How TO BE AGREEABLE IN A SOCIAL 
 
 LETTER . . . .153 
 
 III. How TO DECLINE WITHOUT OFFENCE 165 
 
 IV. How TO MAKE AND KEEP FRIENDS . 175 
 
 V. How MEN SHOULD WRITE TO WOMEN 
 
 FRIENDS . . . .185 
 
 VI. MEN'S LOVE LETTERS, THEIR POS- 
 SIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS . 195 
 
 VII. WOMEN'S LOVE LETTERS . . 203 
 VIII. MODEL LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP . 215 
 
PREFACE 
 
PREFACE 
 
 rTjHE days when people wrote charming 
 * long letters to their friends are past, for 
 the newspapers nowadays tell all the news and 
 describe the many minor happenings of the world 
 we like to know about. 
 
 For all that, letter writing is a finer and 
 more important art to-day than it ever was in 
 the past. Cheap postage lays open the entire 
 country, even the most inaccessible village, to 
 every man, woman, or child who can write a 
 letter. We are learning the art of shopping in 
 New York, Chicago, and San Francisco on the 
 same day, and important businesses are set up 
 in New Mexico, Maine, and Alaska, whose 
 customers may be in Florida, Hawaii, or 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 And then in a social way, why should we 
 be limited in the society we enjoy by the con- 
 fines of a small village or a single city clique, 
 ix 
 
PREFACE 
 
 when we can make friends and enjoy them by 
 mail in the great centres of the entire world? 
 Why should our school advantages be limited 
 when we can study with the greatest teachers 
 in New York, London, or Paris ? 
 
 The one thing to open all these gateways 
 is to know how to talk fluently and correctly 
 on paper, and make people do what one de- 
 sires by the words one writes. This is the fine 
 and delicate art of letter writing. 
 
 So far as I know there has never been printed 
 a book which actually tells how to deal with 
 human nature by mail, that really puts the stu- 
 dent in the way to succeed in letter writing. In 
 fact, nothing is more certain to produce failure 
 than to follow the directions of the books which 
 profess to teach the art. They belong to an 
 ags that is gone. There is in them no sugges- 
 tion of the new art that has been making such 
 rapid progress during the past ten years. 
 
 The present volume is in part the outgrowth 
 of a somewhat unusual experience, which the 
 author may be pardoned for narrating. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Quite a number of years ago, while con- 
 nected with a newspaper that was trying to as- 
 sist its readers in an educational way, the author 
 became aware of a wide popular demand for 
 instruction in this art of expression for practi- 
 cal purposes. A series of lessons was prepared, 
 which were tested, found useful, and finally 
 put forth in book form. 
 
 When the books were printed they had to 
 be sold. One day a friend offered to print a 
 page advertisement of the books at his own 
 expense, in a business men's magazine, and 
 furnished the heads for the advertisement. 
 The page was written and printed, and brought 
 nineteen two-dollar orders the first day, and 
 several hundred dollars ' worth within a month. 
 
 One might suppose that after this it was 
 only necessary to print the advertising and take 
 in the dollars. No mistake could be greater. 
 Each different magazine required a different 
 statement. One error in statement might cost 
 one hundred to three hundred dollars, and such 
 errors did many times result in loss, 
 xi 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Circular letters were tried. One letter cost 
 twenty-five dollars to send out and brought noth- 
 ing back. Another did little better. Then one 
 brought fifty dollars and the loss was made good. 
 This letter was used month after month with 
 fair profit. One day the advertiser thought of 
 another method of statement, formulated it in a 
 letter, and multiplied the cash returns by three. 
 
 It takes an experience like this, in which the 
 value of every word is measured in dollars, to 
 make one fully realize what an immense power 
 lies in written expression. 
 
 When it became known that the author of 
 these books had not only given forth his theory, 
 but was making successful tests of his own powers 
 in selling what he had written, the heads of im- 
 portant business houses, who were already 
 widely successful, came to him to get help to 
 become still more successful. Some did in- 
 crease their business many thousands of dol- 
 lars. The advice was formulated into a system, 
 a series of cards, which proved their worth by 
 helping to raise salaries and augment incomes, 
 xii 
 
PREFACE 
 
 As my "System in Business Correspond- 
 ence and Advertisement Writing" was prepared 
 for successful business men who wish to per- 
 fect themselves in the technique of dealing with 
 human nature by mail, and so get more money 
 for themselves or for those who employ them, 
 so this volume has been prepared as a sort of 
 introduction to the entire subject of letter writ- 
 ing, for all who wish to succeed in making peo- 
 ple do things by the words they write on a piece 
 of paper. Here will be found stated the fun- 
 damental elements of a great subject, the start- 
 ing points, the outlook, the requirements for 
 success. The subject is too large, the art too 
 technical, to be taught in a few easy lessons. The 
 boy in school may exhaust his text-books, but 
 when he gets into the shop or the laboratory 
 he finds that he must begin all over again from 
 an entirely different point of view. 
 
 But this book is one that all may understand 
 
 and profit by, however many or however few 
 
 letters may have to be written. Numerous 
 
 business men who write many letters do not 
 
 xiii 
 
PREFACE 
 
 even know what a power is within their reach 
 or that a real science of letter writing exists. 
 For such, a reading of this book should be 
 helpful. The novice, on the other hand, sus- 
 pecting that letter writing with success is not so 
 easy as it seems, will find out what the diffi- 
 culties are and how to begin to meet and 
 overcome them. 
 
 SHERWIN CODY. 
 CHICAGO, May 1, 1906. 
 
 xiv 
 
PART I 
 
 BUSINESS LETTER WRITING 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER 
 WRITING 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS IN BUSINESS 
 LETTER WRITING 
 
 rTlHE growth of the mail-order business in 
 ** the United States during the past five 
 years has been enormous. Two concerns in 
 Chicago doing an exclusive mail-order busi- 
 ness handle over twenty-five million dollars a 
 year each. But the important thing is that 
 almost all mercantile houses are now trying to 
 develop a mail-order branch. They find that 
 they can get business by mail at less expense 
 than they can by travelling salesmen. Even 
 the book canvasser is giving way to the can- 
 vassing letter. One large subscription book 
 17 
 
fttf ffiffis f s-:;i;N LETTER WRITING 
 
 concern in New York, handling only very high- 
 priced sets of books on the instalment plan, 
 does its entire business by mail, without a single 
 personal solicitor. Of course over one hundred 
 thousand dollars a year is spent in magazine 
 advertising; but the final success of the busi- 
 ness depends on the skill with which the letters 
 are written. 
 
 There are two kinds of business letters writ- 
 ten, mere memorandum notes, and letters 
 which are intended to do the work of the per- 
 sonal visitor. These memorandum notes, such 
 as are sent when a check is mailed, an item of 
 information required, or an order given, would 
 be more satisfactory if they were written on 
 special memorandum slips instead of on letter- 
 heads, after the manner now so generally adopted 
 of sending orders on special order blanks. Then 
 they would not become confused with real let- 
 ters, which should be works of art to win a cus- 
 tomer and get his business. It is of this artful 
 letter writing that I am going to speak in this 
 chapter. 
 
 18 
 
ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS 
 
 Keeping Out of the Wastebasket 
 The art of getting business by mail cannot 
 be said to be a new one, for it has been practised 
 ever since the development of the post-office. 
 The trouble has been that circular letters go into 
 the wastebasket and do no good. Business men 
 have only recently begun to find out how to keep 
 their communications away from the waste- 
 basket. The mechanical production of things 
 that look like letters is only the first step in the 
 true art of letter writing. 
 
 That letter writing is an important business 
 is indicated by the fact that there are some three 
 thousand business schools in the country, and 
 at least as many more small typewriting schools, 
 turning out from twenty-five to one thousand 
 graduates apiece every year, a total of many 
 thousands, each capable of writing at least ten 
 thousand letters a year. 
 
 The marvellous fact is, however, that of all 
 these thousands, scarcely one becomes a really 
 efficient letter writer. The standard of Amer- 
 ican letters is preposterously low. 
 19 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 Poor Stenographers 
 
 A prominent business man, who has em- 
 ployed a great many stenographers, wrote to 
 me the other day, "Ninety per cent of steno- 
 graphers are disqualified for their work by their 
 poor use of English. As a class they are stand- 
 ing still and grumbling because many of them 
 have to work for pitifully small salaries." The 
 stenographer fails because he cannot write even 
 a correct English letter. How far, how very 
 far is that from a successful business-getting 
 letter! 
 
 Because stenographers are so poorly edu- 
 cated, and are so often devoid of mental capa- 
 city for conducting correspondence on their 
 own responsibility, correspondents are chosen 
 from among accountants, clerks, and salesmen. 
 They have the business instinct, but, as a rule, 
 know nothing of such matters as punctuation 
 or even spelling, and leave the English of their 
 letters and all minor details of form and cor- 
 rectness entirely to their stenographers. 
 
 It will therefore be seen that, while business 
 20 
 
ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS 
 
 letter writing as a profession has immense pos- 
 sibilities, from the fact that so much business is 
 now being done by mail, the profession of the 
 business letter writer is in its infancy, scarcely 
 developed at all. 
 
 Big Salaries for Correspondents 
 
 To-day the big salaries in the commercial 
 world are paid to the salesmen, who get from 
 two thousand to ten thousand dollars a year. 
 The salaries of correspondents at present sel- 
 dom exceed the lowest of these figures; but the 
 reason is that there are no good correspondents 
 available to whom the business man can afford 
 to pay more. Usually the important letter writ- 
 ing has to be done by the head of the house him- 
 self. Advertising men are sometimes paid high 
 salaries, and they undertake to write important 
 letters; but too often they do not understand 
 the difference between a display advertisement 
 and a personal letter. So, while the profession 
 of advertisement writing has developed rapidly 
 and successfully, the profession of business let- 
 21 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 ter writing is still a matter of the future. The 
 writer believes that the time will come, and not 
 far in the future, when the display advertisement 
 writer will be subordinate to the business letter 
 writer, or when advertisement writing will be 
 but a branch of the larger profession of "pub- 
 licity. " 
 
 Since there is no School of Business Letter 
 Writing which really does anything to teach the 
 art and the profession as such, an ambitious 
 young man or woman must educate himself 
 or herself. We will now try to indicate how this 
 self-education may be carried on. 
 
 Self-Education 
 
 First, letters should be correct in form. This 
 is a matter primarily for the stenographer. 
 Second, letters should be written in simple, 
 effective English, which will produce the same 
 effect on the reader as personal conversation. 
 Third, the correspondent should become a stu- 
 dent of human nature as revealed in letters, 
 and should learn to write one kind of letter to 
 22 
 
ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS 
 
 one kind of person, and another kind of letter 
 to another kind of person. Fourth, he should 
 have a well-developed system in letter writing, 
 so that each letter in a series will perform its 
 own office, and the campaign as a whole will 
 be as artfully devised as a military manoeuvre. 
 Fifth, he will master each detail by itself, and 
 do it so thoroughly that, when he comes to dic- 
 tating one hundred or two hundred letters a day, 
 he can make every one a masterpiece, because 
 each will be but a new combination of elements 
 he has carefully worked out in advance. 
 
 Grammar in Business 
 
 In the first place, why need a business let- 
 ter be correct ? A few years ago we often heard 
 business men say, " What do I care for the gram- 
 mar of a letter, so long as it gets the business ? " 
 Now business men quite generally recognize 
 that grammar is an important element in get- 
 ting business. Grammar is the science of the 
 logical relationship of words in sentences. If 
 words are not put together grammatically, they 
 23 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 fail to express the meaning clearly. Bad gram- 
 mar and confusion are one and the same. So, 
 too, the man who does not punctuate his letters 
 correctly fails to express his meaning quite com- 
 pletely. The impression on the mind of the 
 reader is not quite so clear and sharp. An 
 incorrect letter is like a slightly blurred 
 photograph. You can tell whom the hazy 
 photograph represents, but a picture that is 
 startlingly clear and sharp has a vast commer- 
 t cial advantage over one that is not. 
 
 A few errors of punctuation and grammar 
 in one letter do not matter much, but the same 
 errors in a hundred letters, accumulating one 
 on top of another, weigh vastly in the final suc- 
 cess of a business. Successful men recognize 
 this, and now the largest retail store in the world 
 pays one dollar for each error in English any 
 one of its employees finds in any of the printed 
 matter issued by the house. Already many 
 other business houses are following this 
 example in one way or another. The most 
 striking evidence in the matter is the fact that 
 24 
 
ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS 
 
 stenographers who can write correct English 
 may get twice the salaries paid to ordinary 
 stenographers. The president of a concern in 
 Minneapolis widely known all over the country, 
 employing fifty stenographers, said publicly 
 not long ago, "If all my stenographers, clerks, 
 salesmen, etc., would learn to write correct 
 and effective business letters, they would be 
 worth twenty-five per cent more to me, and 
 I should be willing to pay the full value of their 
 services. " We believe that the average steno- 
 grapher could get his or her salary raised by 
 dint of patient study of correct English during 
 a period of six months. 
 
 What is Good Business English? 
 
 The correct English that counts is that which 
 makes the expression clearer and sharper. Some 
 grammarians try to impose arbitrary rules, 
 taboo idioms, the life of the language, and 
 would teach a literary style to the letter writer in 
 place of the colloquial style absolutely required 
 for success in business letter writing. It is well 
 25 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 to follow the best cultivated usage, but an 
 expression generally used by educated people 
 is good enough for a stenographer, even if 
 philologists do condemn it. 
 
 There has gradually grown up in commer- 
 cial circles a peculiar language employed in 
 business letters only. In every other sentence 
 we find " beg to advise, " " in regard to same, " 
 "we note," or one of a curious collection of 
 clipped phrases from which all the small 
 words have been omitted, as in a telegram. 
 I call this the " commercial jargon. " It is 
 well enough understood in strictly business 
 circles, and was not especially objectionable 
 when business correspondence was merely an 
 exchange of notes or memoranda between 
 houses. Now when business men deal di- 
 rectly with the ordinary person in the outside 
 world, who is familiar only with conversational 
 English, this commercial jargon is injurious 
 in the extreme. It gives a stiff, formal, mean- 
 ingless cast to a letter, which takes away every 
 winning quality. 
 
 26 
 
ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS 
 
 A Conversational Style 
 
 I cannot repeat too often that the style in 
 which a business letter ought to be written is 
 that of a simple, natural conversation. The 
 successful letter writer must have imagination, 
 so that he can see his customer sitting before 
 him, and in his letter can talk to that imaginary 
 person just as a good salesman would face to f 
 
 Then the correspondent, who talks to his 
 customer in a letter, must be himself an expert 
 salesman. Unless he has the innate qualities of a 
 salesman he will not succeed as a correspondent. 
 
 However, the man who is successful as a 
 personal salesman may fail altogether in letter 
 writing; and a quiet man of imagination, whose 
 figure is small or ungainly and whose manner 
 is not prepossessing, or who lacks the glib tongue 
 of a ready talker, may make the best possible 
 salesman in letters. The art of talking effect- 
 ively and the art of writing effectively are very 
 different indeed. One calls for many words 
 uttered rapidly, and much depends on the man- 
 ner and personal appearance; the other calls 
 27 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 for few words artfully chosen. In the letter 
 writer we see the embryo manager, who is more 
 likely to get to the head of the business than 
 the successful salesman, whose mercurial tem- 
 perament has its drawbacks. So the good letter 
 writer will be a free, effective talker on paper. 
 
 But this is not the whole of business letter 
 writing. 
 
 Knowledge of Human Nature 
 
 Success depends on knowledge of human 
 nature, and a tactful adaptation of the letter to 
 the unseen customer. Plainly, the writer must 
 have imagination, so that he can see in his mind's 
 eye the person he is addressing, thousands of 
 miles away, perhaps. 
 
 It is a curious thing that letter writers get 
 into the habit of writing letters all of a length, 
 very nearly. A man who is a fluent letter 
 writer will dictate long letters, and a man who 
 prides himself on condensation will write very 
 brief ones. The display advertisement writer 
 especially is likely to think that the terse and 
 epigrammatic is the only effective style. 
 
ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS 
 
 The good letter writer will learn to write 
 very short and snappy letters to those who want 
 short and snappy letters, and long and detailed 
 letters to those who want long and detailed let- 
 ters. A few words will perhaps make a man 
 pay out fifty cents or a dollar for something he 
 wants, but the adventurous spirit who thinks 
 he can get from fifteen to one hundred dollars 
 from the average man by a short letter will find 
 he has made a great mistake. A long, detailed, 
 argumentative letter is required. 
 
 A farmer will usually be glad to read any 
 long letter that comes to him, while you probably 
 could n't get a busy business man even to glance 
 through such a one unless he were already 
 deeply interested. The art of interesting such 
 a man with short letters till he is ready and eager 
 to read long ones is part of the fine art of suc- 
 cessful correspondence. 
 
 The personal salesman plans his campaign 
 
 against a new customer with instinctive art, 
 
 for, when the psychological moment arrives for 
 
 a hard push he feels that it has come, and makes 
 
 29 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 the push. The correspondent works more or 
 less in the dark. Modern American letters are 
 defective in not getting more responses from 
 the customer, so that the letter writer may know 
 how his canvass is progressing, and what to 
 do. Again, the letter writer forgets what he 
 has said in an earlier letter, neglects to write 
 during long periods, and seldom thinks much 
 of making one letter lead the way for another 
 and help it to make its effect. Suppose a busi- 
 ness man cannot be gotten to read a long let- 
 ter, yet a long story is to be told him; he must 
 be given that story in artful instalments, each 
 short enough so that he will read it. Success 
 in this branch of the subject depends largely 
 on good systems and filing devices, broad 
 enough to cover the circumstances fully, and 
 simple enough to be used readily and constantly. 
 Most filing systems are so complicated and 
 awkward that they can be used but little, and 
 so they defeat their own purposes. System in 
 mechanical departments is a great thing, and 
 American business men are showing their 
 30 
 
'ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS 
 
 appreciation of its value. But system in the 
 composition of letters is just as important, if 
 anything, more so. 
 
 System in Letter Writing 
 
 System in composition of business letters 
 will enable a correspondent to write one hundred 
 letters a day and make every one of them a 
 masterpiece. Let me try to give you some idea 
 of how it can be done. 
 
 Let a correspondent select the class of persons 
 he most often addresses, and an actual letter of 
 the general type he writes most often. Let him 
 study that letter word by word, spending hour 
 after hour upon it. Let him write it and rewrite 
 it in every possible way till the best way is found. 
 Not only find one good way, but several. Take 
 time enough to master that one letter in all its 
 phases. Then take up another letter, of another 
 class. Master that in the same patient way. 
 In a few months the whole field of one's cor- 
 respondence will have been worked over. 
 
 While it would be a mistake to copy a satis- 
 31 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 factory letter, making it a mere form, certain 
 sentences, phrases, and words may be used 
 many times, being combined a little differently 
 in each letter. Demosthenes did something of 
 this sort, as did all the famous Greek orators. 
 He had a book containing fifty or more stock 
 perorations, or form paragraphs, which we find 
 used repeatedly throughout even his greatest 
 orations, though very often with suitable vari- 
 ations. The same general plan is admirably 
 adapted to the requirements of business letter 
 writing, and it is the only plan which will permit 
 the writing of one hundred good letters a day, 
 for so large a number of strictly original com- 
 positions is out of the question. 
 
 Specializing 
 
 Business letter writing has its different de- 
 partments," each of which must be studied care- 
 fully and mastered. It is seldom that one man 
 can handle all these departments at the same 
 time successfully. Whenever it is possible, spe- 
 cialization is desirable ; and it will be well for 
 
ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESS 
 
 the ambitious young man to specialize. In a 
 mail-order business, there is the display adver- 
 tisement, one type of composition ; then there 
 is the detailed follow-up letter, another type; 
 then there is the polite and fascinating handling 
 of all inquiries. Often something will go 
 wrong, and complaining customers must be dealt 
 with in a diplomatic way so that their custom 
 will continue, a most important department 
 in all mail-order business; and collections must 
 be made, and they require a special series of 
 letters quite unlike anything that has gone be- 
 fore. One may make his fortune by excelling 
 in any one of the three departments, solicit- 
 ing letters, complaint letters, or collection letters. 
 I hope I have said enough to convince the 
 ambitious young aspirant that business letter 
 writing is not so simple as it seems. One might 
 use with success all the talent and skill of a great 
 and successful novelist, and still find many fields 
 unworked. Genius and talent have full scope; 
 but training and hard work also bring their sure 
 reward in this as in all other fields of business. 
 33 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 FORMS AND CUSTOMS IN LETTER 
 WRITING 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 FORMS AND CUSTOMS IN LETTER 
 WRITING 
 
 T1USINESS letter writing has its etiquette 
 ^""^ as well as everything else. One of the first 
 things a business man looks at when he receives 
 a letter is the arrangement of the opening 
 lines. 
 
 The address of the person writing should 
 appear first, with the date. This shows the time 
 and place of writing the letter, and unless the 
 habit is formed of always putting this in first, 
 the full address is liable to be overlooked al- 
 together and the person receiving the letter will 
 not know where to send his reply. Thousands 
 of dollars, to say nothing of letters not con- 
 taining money, go to the dead-letter office and 
 the senders are never discovered, simply be- 
 cause they forget to attach their addresses. 
 37 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 How to Begin a Business Letter 
 The conventional order of the items is: (1), 
 street number and street; (2), town; (3), county, 
 if necessary; (4), State; (5), date. Never begin 
 this line much to the left of the centre of the 
 page. It is very bad taste to begin near the 
 left-hand side of the page and sprawl the date- 
 line clear across. Put a comma after each item 
 as numbered above, periods after the abbre- 
 viations, and a period at the end of the line. 
 
 Then in a formal business letter the full 
 name of the person addressed should follow, 
 beginning flush with the left-hand margin, 
 and his address should come in the next line, be- 
 ginning half an inch to an inch from the margin. 
 Do not let this line go much beyond the mid- 
 dle of the page. To sprawl an address clear 
 across the page is considered bad taste. In 
 modern usage it is customary to use only a 
 short address, as the town or city and State, 
 without street number. Two lines may be used 
 for this address if necessary, the second starting 
 half an inch farther to the right than the first. 
 38 
 
FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 The Correct Title 
 
 If the person addressed is a man, " Mr. " 
 should always precede the name, or " Esq. " 
 follow it. Writing " H. G. Adair, " for example, 
 without any title, is considered rude and un- 
 polished. It is like entering a private house 
 without taking your hat off. " Esq. " is used 
 dtifer the name of a lawyer very frequently, and 
 in England literary men and others who are 
 regarded as in the class of " gentlemen, " are 
 addressed with "Esq.," while tradesmen and 
 the like are addressed as " Mr. " 
 
 If the name of a single man is followed by 
 " & Co.," or two partners or brothers consti- 
 tute the firm, " Messrs. " should always be 
 used. 
 
 If " The " is properly the first word in a com- 
 pany name, as "The Jones Company," "The 
 Central Express Company," no title is required 
 according to American usage, though in Eng- 
 land "Messrs." would still be used, as in 
 "Messrs. Jones Company," etc. 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 In Writing to Women 
 
 If the name is that of a woman, "Mrs. " 
 should be used in addressing a married woman 
 and "Miss" (no period, because "Miss" is 
 not an abbreviation) before the name of an un- 
 married woman. If it is not known whether 
 the woman is married or single, the writer has 
 to choose between two alternatives, the risk of 
 making himself ridiculous by choosing the 
 wrong title and that of seeming to be impolite 
 by not using any title. A woman in writing to 
 a stranger should place "Miss" or " Mrs." 
 before her own name in parenthesis (omission 
 of the parenthesis is considered vulgar). In the 
 best business houses no title is used in ad- 
 dressing a woman if it is not known whether 
 she is married or single. The name is written 
 exactly as it is signed. 
 
 If several ladies are addressed together, the 
 title "Mmes.," the abbreviation for Mesdames, 
 is appropriate. 
 
 There is some choice as to the proper punc- 
 tuation after the name and address of the party 
 40 
 
FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 to whom you are writing. If the address ends 
 with a State, abbreviated, the period following 
 the abbreviation seems to be sufficient. If there 
 is no abbreviation, either a period or nothing 
 at all is most commonly used, but the proper 
 punctuation is a semi-colon, it appears to the 
 writer, and this he habitually uses. A comma 
 is always required after the name at the end of 
 the first line. 
 
 The next line contains the salutation, which 
 should be written flush with the left-hand mar- 
 gin, not indented like a paragraph. 
 
 Capitalizing "Sir" and "Madam' 
 
 "Dear Sir" is the proper form in writing to 
 one man, "Gentlemen" in writing to a com- 
 pany, and " Dear Madam " in writing to a lady 
 whether married or single. " Dear Sirs " would 
 be appropriate in writing to a list of individ- 
 uals, and formerly it was used in addressing a 
 company. Now it is looked on as antiquated, 
 and it is best not to use this plural, though it is 
 still seen occasionally and taught in some books. 
 41 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 It is the almost universal custom to capi- 
 talize "Sir" and " Madam." This is a relic 
 of the time when all titles of address were capi- 
 talized. Now we never capitalize "sir" or 
 "madam" in the body of a sentence, and there 
 seems to be no good reason for doing it in a 
 salutation. If one chooses not to use the capital, 
 he will not be criticised. 
 
 The Salutation 
 
 The salutation should be followed by a 
 colon, colon and dash, comma, or comma and 
 dash. The colon and dash are the most com- 
 mon marks, but careful letter writers now omit 
 the dash on the ground that it is entirely use- 
 less. In England a comma is almost universal. 
 In this country the comma and dash seem going 
 out of use, except in social letters. The Amer- 
 ican letter writer of the future will doubtless 
 use the colon alone. 
 
 Careless writers frequently begin letters thus: 
 
 Mr. Smith 
 
 Dear Sir: I received your note, etc. 
 
 42 
 
FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 This presents a very careless and vulgar appear- 
 ance. The salutation should always come flush 
 with the left-hand margin, and there should be 
 at least two lines of the address, so that there 
 will be an indented line between the name 
 (flush with the margin) and the salutation (flush 
 with the margin). 
 
 The following forms will serve to summarize 
 what has been said about the beginning of a 
 letter: 
 
 Alpena, Mich., Apr. 10, 19 . 
 Mr. J, D. Trail, 
 
 Springfield, 111. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 15 Charing Cross, 
 
 London, W. C., Eng., Apr. 20, 19. 
 Messrs. Jones & Brown, 
 
 New York. City, U. S. A. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 43 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 700 Columbia Road, N. W., 
 Washington, D. C., June 9, 19. 
 The Central Express Company, 
 
 Chicago. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 Rae Bldg., Chicago, May 3, 19 . 
 Mrs. Morton Stevenson, 
 
 Portman Square, London. 
 Dear Madam : 
 
 Appleton, McPherson Co., Wis., 
 
 April 29, 19. 
 Miss Sarah Banning, 
 
 2025 Drexel Boulevard, Chicago. 
 Dear Madam : 
 
 The Body of a Letter % 
 
 In business letter writing a liberal margin 
 should always be left on both sides. Leaving 
 no margin or a very small one looks stingy. 
 Many stylish letter writers like to leave a very 
 wide margin, amounting to half the solid 
 
FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 portion of the letter. If the letter is long and 
 is carried down near to the bottom of the page, 
 this excessive margin at left and right spoils 
 the proportions. 
 
 Paragraphs should always be indented 
 about an inch, never less than three-quarters 
 and never more than an inch and a half. Some 
 people indent their paragraphs hardly at all, 
 while others begin them quite near the right- 
 hand margin. Both these habits are very bad 
 form. Beginning paragraphs flush with the 
 left-hand margin is not paragraphing at all. 
 
 There is great difference of opinion whether 
 the first word after the salutation should be 
 indented the same as a paragraph, or should 
 begin just below the end of the salutation. In 
 typewriting it is most usual simply to turn the 
 machine up one notch and go on without mov- 
 ing the carriage to left or right, and this is 
 logically the correct method. Since the saluta- 
 tion is followed by a colon, the paragraph 
 may be considered to have begun with the 
 name of the person addressed. Those who 
 45 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 choose to begin the body of the letter as a new 
 paragraph have ample authority, however. 
 
 It is always desirable in replying to a letter 
 to mention the date in some way, especially if 
 there is the slightest chance for confusion be- 
 tween several different letters. Letters are com- 
 monly identified by their dates. 
 
 Avoid Stereotyped Phrases 
 
 The . stereotyped " Answering your letter of 
 the 26th inst.," "Replying to your esteemed 
 favor of the 19th of January," "Acknowledging 
 your favor of the 17th ult.," etc., though long 
 used and still commonly found, are now being 
 abandoned by all good letter writers for an easy, 
 incidental method of bringing in the date. It is 
 desirable in a business letter to get at once 
 into the subject of the letter. Begin therefore at 
 once, saying, for instance, "We are very glad 
 indeed to say that we have the plough described 
 in your favor of the 19th, and shall be pleased 
 to send it promptly on receipt of an order from 
 you"; or "Thank you for your kind offer in 
 46 
 
FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 your letter of the 10th, just at hand. We ap- 
 preciate, " etc.; or "We regret to say we cannot 
 accept the offer made in yours of the 7th, as we 
 have just placed an order," etc. 
 
 When no possible good purpose is served 
 in mentioning the date, it should be omitted. 
 
 There are certain words and phrases which 
 hitherto have been found almost exclusively 
 in letter writing. Among them are "We beg 
 to advise," "Referring to same," "We hand 
 you herewith," etc. Good letter writers now 
 make it a rule never to use a word or phrase in 
 writing a letter, if possible, that would not be 
 used in a personal conversation. The effect 
 of a letter should be that of a short, concen- 
 trated talk, and anything that interferes with 
 that impression is bad. A polite salutation at 
 the beginning, and an equally polite close, take 
 the place of the bow with which a salesman 
 enters and leaves a private office. But no sales- 
 man would begin to announce his business in a 
 jargon which only an experienced business man 
 could understand. He tries to be as natural 
 47 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 and colloquial as possible, and to make his cus- 
 tomer feel at ease. The letter writer should 
 do the same. 
 
 The Close 
 
 The proper complimentary close for a busi- 
 ness letter should be either " Yours truly, " 
 "Truly yours," "Very truly yours," or, at the 
 utmost, " Cordially yours. " " Sincerely yours " 
 should be reserved for letters of friendship. 
 "Respectfully yours" is too formal and old- 
 fashioned except in special letters when great 
 deference is desired. It is not considered in 
 good taste now in ordinary business letter writing. 
 
 The complimentary close should begin not 
 quite half way across the page, and the first let- 
 ter should always be a capital. Observe that 
 the subsequent words never begin with capital 
 letters. To begin other than the first word with 
 a capital letter is looked on as a sign of 
 ignorance. 
 
 When a letter is ended with some compli- 
 mentary sentence such as, "Trusting we may 
 hear from you shortly, we are Yours truly," 
 48 
 
FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 no comma should appear after " are. " It is 
 indeed not at all necessary to express "we are" 
 or " I am " in a case like this, since these words 
 are so clearly implied, and seem to be 
 awkwardly in the way. "With best wishes, 
 Cordially yours, " is enough of a sentence for its 
 purpose, and so is "Thanking you for your 
 order, Yours truly," since in both cases the 
 verb is so clearly implied one may look on it as 
 really there for all grammatical purposes. 
 
 Novelties in Letter Writing 
 
 Various fads may be observed from time to 
 time, and are not objectionable when used with- 
 in limits. Some people write the address at 
 the head of a letter with every line flush with 
 the margin, including the salutation. There 
 is no objection to this, but the regular form is 
 the" best for daily use year in and year out. 
 
 Omitting all punctuation marks is likely 
 to lead to confusion, and such a practice 
 should not be indulged in. 
 
 49 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 The Envelope 
 
 The address on the envelope should be nicely 
 proportioned, and each succeeding line begun a 
 little farther to the right. If the address is 
 long, one line may be placed in the lower left- 
 hand corner, thus: 
 
 Miss Sarah Hammersley, 
 
 15 Woolwich Road, 
 
 Beverley Common, 
 England. London, W. C. 
 
 There is no special objection to omitting 
 the commas at the ends of the lines, or to plac- 
 ing all the lines flush with the beginning of the 
 first one. It looks very bad, however, to per- 
 mit a lower line to come farther to the left than 
 the first line, unless it is an unusually long one. 
 
 The stamp should be put always in the upper 
 right-hand corner, for putting it elsewhere on 
 50 
 
FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 an envelope greatly inconveniences the post- 
 office clerks. The address of the sender should 
 always be placed in the upper left-hand corner, 
 so that if the letter miscarries it can be returned 
 to the sender without going to the dead-letter 
 office. In polite correspondence the return ad- 
 dress is often placed on the flap at the back 
 of the envelope. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE PROPER STYLE IN LETTER 
 
 WRITING, AND HOW TO 
 
 GAIN FLUENCY 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE PROPER STYLE IN LETTER WRITING, 
 AND HOW TO GAIN FLUENCY 
 
 nnHE writing of business letters is appar- 
 * ently a simple matter, for millions of peo- 
 ple are writing them every day. In certain 
 lines of business, however, highly skilled cor- 
 respondents are sought, and secured by high 
 salaries. More skilled correspondents would 
 be employed if they were to be found, or if 
 business men realized how much business a 
 poor correspondent can turn away. Business 
 letter writing can be learned as certainly as steno- 
 graphy or any recognized business calling, and 
 without doubt the strictly professional letter 
 writer should be paid according to his ability. 
 First of all, a business letter should be strictly 
 grammatical. Many business letters are not so; 
 but even the illiterate would soon perceive the 
 55 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 difference, and without knowing why, would pre- 
 fer the business man who seemed by his letters 
 to be master of what he professed. 
 
 The simple graces of rhetoric and a trained 
 style would also prove useful, in spite of the 
 limited range which business letter writing seems 
 to have. Every letter writer often feels that he 
 would like a freer use of words. This is noth- 
 ing more or less than the ability which results 
 from cultivating style according to the princi- 
 ples of practical rhetoric. 
 
 Construction of Business Letters 
 
 But full knowledge of words, grammar, and 
 the principles of composition will not alone make 
 a good business letter writer. This branch of 
 composition has features peculiar to itself. The 
 principles which govern it may be stated briefly 
 as follows: 
 
 1. Know the man to whom you write. No 
 
 man can write a good business letter unless he 
 
 understands the person to whom he is writing 
 
 from top to toe. In most cases he has never seen 
 
 56 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 this person. If he is replying to a letter before 
 him, he can form some idea of the writer from 
 the character of this letter, including the hand- 
 writing if the letter is written by the person 
 who composed it. For the rest, he must judge 
 the person from his general knowledge of the 
 class to which he most probably belongs. In 
 any case, the character of the person to whom 
 the letter is sent wholly determines the form 
 of the letter, and even what is to be said. Knowl- 
 edge of the reader is the first requirement of all 
 composition, and it would be well for the writers 
 of fiction, and all other writers, if they realized 
 it as the business letter writer must. 
 
 2. Never write a longer letter than will be read. 
 It goes without saying that unless a letter is 
 going to be read, it is not worth writing. Coun- 
 try people usually have plenty of time, and like 
 to read long letters; busy city men and women 
 have not the time to read long letters, and simply 
 will not do it. It is folly to write a longer let- 
 ter than the recipient will read, however impor- 
 tant the topic or extensive the subject. If much 
 57 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 is to be said and it is important that each point 
 should receive due consideration, a separate letter 
 should be written to cover each important item. 
 
 3. How to Condense. All letters are neces- 
 sarily severely limited in length, and the most 
 important principle of composition for letter 
 writers to master is condensation. This may be 
 secured, positively and negatively, in various 
 ways, as follows: 
 
 (a.) By omitting all details that the recipient 
 of the letter may reasonably be supposed to know 
 already. 
 
 (b.) By suggesting and implying in the choice 
 of words and forms of the sentences as much as 
 possible. 
 
 (c.) By stating important matters so forcibly 
 that the reader will be forced (or rather induced) 
 to think out the unspoken details for himself. 
 This is the hardest of all to do. 
 
 Two Classes of Business Letters 
 
 There are two general classes of business 
 letters: those which give information asked for, 
 58 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 and those intended to induce people to buy 
 goods. Usually in replying to specific inquiries 
 there will be an excellent opportunity to throw 
 in a word of persuasion. 
 
 1. Replies to Questions. In replying to let- 
 ters asking for information a full statement of 
 all the facts is highly desirable. If a person has 
 asked a question, he will be interested to read 
 the reply all through. The general tendency of 
 business men is to shorten such letters unduly. 
 As a rule, such letters should be rather long. It 
 is a mark of courtesy which is appreciated, and 
 the business man never knows when his reputa- 
 tion for courtesy will bring him a big order, or 
 when his reputation for crabbedness or the indif- 
 ference which brevity indicates will send a highly 
 profitable order to some other firm. Moreover, 
 the man of sound business principles will give 
 as much attention to small inquiries and small 
 orders as to large ones, for there is no telling when 
 the small buyer will become the large buyer; to 
 say nothing of the fact that most fortunes have 
 been made through large numbers of small sales. 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 2. Circular Letters. On the other hand, let- 
 ters which are designed to stimulate business or 
 secure orders, that is, which are more or less ad- 
 vertising circulars, are very likely to be too long, 
 and so they are not read and only feed the waste- 
 basket. The fault is almost universal, and it is 
 notoriously fatal. The seller is full of his sub- 
 ject, full of arguments. He could talk for an 
 hour, two hours, all day. It is therefore very 
 hard for him to confine himself to a few words 
 judiciously spoken. 
 
 We present two or three samples of well writ- 
 ten letters taken from actual correspondence. 
 
 Letter from a Mail-order House. The first 
 letter which we present was sent out by a large 
 and very successful mail-order house in reply to 
 an inquiry from a country man who thought 
 of buying a buggy, and in his letter speaks of 
 various other articles. 
 
 CHICAGO, Jan. 6, 19 . 
 DEAR SIR: 
 
 We have received your favor of the 4th inst., 
 stating that you have decided to purchase our 
 60 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 No. 42 buggy. We wish to commend your selec- 
 tion. By ordering this buggy of us you will save 
 no less than $15.00, for it cannot be duplicated 
 elsewhere at $15.00 above our price. 
 
 We note that there are several changes you de- 
 sire in it, and we are pleased to state that we 
 can make all of these changes and the substitu- 
 tions you desire without extra charge, except as 
 follows: The price of No. 42 buggy with J 
 leather top is $42.80, according to the catalogue 
 quotation. For leather-covered bows there will 
 be an extra charge of $3.00; for making the dash 
 without the nickled rail, but with a hole in each 
 top corner as shown in No. 60 Peerless, there 
 would be an extra charge of 50c. Dark green 
 cushions trimmed in velour maroon-colored vel- 
 vet to match the gear would be 75c extra. 
 
 We repeat the specifications : 
 
 No. 42 buggy with J leather top, Armstrong 
 single loop springs ; 
 
 Piano body 22 x 54 or 24 x 54 in.; 
 
 Bailey body loops ; 
 
 Thousand-mile axles; 
 61 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 One-inch wheels compressed, hob style; 
 
 Rubber step pads; 
 
 Four leather-covered bows ; 
 
 Leather-covered prop nuts; 
 
 Division dark green cushions trimmed in vel- 
 our maroon velvet to match gear; 
 
 Gear painted maroon and striped in some suit- 
 able way; 
 
 Leather backstays; 
 
 Rubber side curtains and storm apron ; 
 
 Buggy to have shafts, no tongue. 
 
 The total price for this buggy according to 
 these specifications is $47.05, strictly net, free on 
 board cars at Chicago. 
 
 We shall not get the buggy ready until we 
 hear from you, because the price is a few dollars 
 more than you thought it would be, and because 
 you omitted to inclose any money. We do not 
 accept orders for C. O. D. shipments unless a 
 sufficient amount is enclosed with the order as 
 a guarantee of transportation charges both ways, 
 and as an evidence of good faith on the part of 
 our customer. As we are making no exception 
 62 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 in your case, but treat all of our customers alike, 
 we hope you will order the buggy promptly in 
 the regular way, and understand our position in 
 the matter. 
 
 The shipping- weight of this buggy is about 425 
 Ibs. and our Transportation Division will inclose 
 with this letter information enabling you to de- 
 termine what it will cost for freight laid down 
 at your nearest receiving-point. 
 
 The word " corded " in the description of the 
 buggy had nothing whatever to do with the bows 
 but refers to the seams in the top lining. You 
 know how a coat looks with corded seams; well, 
 the lining in the top of buggy is made in this 
 way. It makes a nicer finish. 
 
 We are glad to know that if this buggy suits 
 you, your mother will want one also. 
 
 You are also interested in double Harpoon Hay 
 Fork, and we would refer you to No. 5513 at 68c 
 and No. 5517 at $1.00 each. These are fully de- 
 scribed and quoted in our general catalogue. For 
 wood pumps we refer you to page 100 of our cat- 
 alogue. 
 
 63 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 As we are not sure that you have our latest 
 catalogue, we are sending you under separate 
 cover sections C and E, and hope you will be able 
 to make selections that will be entirely satis- 
 factory in every way. All our catalogue prices 
 are strictly net, cash to accompany order, for 
 goods free on board cars at Chicago, unless other- 
 wise specified. We hope that our quotation and 
 information on the buggy will be satisfactory, 
 and that we may be favored with your order in 
 due time. We promise to give the order our very 
 best attention, and look forward with interest to 
 your reply. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 JONES, SMITH & Co. 
 
 A Circular Letter. Some time ago the author 
 received a letter in imitation typewriting, on 
 stylish note-paper, in a stylish envelope. The 
 imitation of typewriting was so good that few 
 would recognize the difference between the ac- 
 tually typewritten address and the printed body 
 of the letter, did not the great length of the 
 64 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 letter suggest at once that it must be printed. The 
 advertising manager who sent out this circular 
 letter would never have dreamed of actually 
 writing with the typewriter so long a letter as 
 this, and he should have known that this fact 
 would be apparent to any shrewd reader. The 
 letter was addressed to a college alumnus, who 
 in all probability would be a very busy person; 
 so in any case it was too long to be read. 
 
 Two things should have been kept in view by 
 the writer of this letter: First, the attention of 
 the reader must be secured. This could have 
 been done by a very short, simple letter, worded 
 somewhat as follows : " Dear Sir: If you wish to 
 
 get the Dictionary at half price and on 
 
 very easy terms, you will be interested in the in- 
 closed offer to graduates of Amherst College. The 
 offer is so remarkable that we shall reserve a set 
 of this dictionary, cyclopedia, and atlas combined, 
 in your name until we can hear from you, and 
 beg that you will do us the courtesy of replying 
 promptly to this letter. By mailing the inclosed 
 postal card you will receive full information by 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 return. Very truly yours, .' ' Second, it 
 
 was of course desirable to have full information 
 within easy reach in case there was the faintest 
 glimmer of interest. Once started, the interest 
 might grow through fostering, and perhaps it 
 was well to present an argument on the spot; 
 but this should have been included in a printed 
 circular. Such a circular was inclosed; but the 
 amount of matter given in both letter and circu- 
 lar was excessive. After the postal card asking 
 for further information had been returned, the 
 advertiser might have sent everything he had to 
 offer. 
 
 Except for this feature, the letter was admir- 
 ably written. 
 
 Some time afterwards another letter was sent, 
 what is technically known as a " follow-up " let- 
 ter. It supposed that some impression had been 
 made by the first letter. If such was the case, 
 an argument was in place and a long letter was 
 justifiable. Here is the letter, and it is a model 
 of its kind. 
 
 66 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 A "Follow-up" Letter. 
 DEAR SIR: 
 
 Not having heard from you in answer to our 
 letter making you, as an Alumnus of Amherst 
 College, a special offer on the The Dic- 
 tionary and Cyclopedia and Atlas, we again ad- 
 dress you, and as before we inclose a postal card 
 and ask you to return it to us. We address you 
 again for the following reasons : 
 
 First. The enormous sale 130,000 sets 
 convinces us that The has come to be rec- 
 ognized as a necessity in every home and office. 
 
 Second. The plan of The is such a 
 
 radical improvement on that used in other ency- 
 clopedias that it is now conceded to be a distinct 
 advance over all other works of reference and 
 as such is, we should think, worthy of your in- 
 vestigation. 
 
 Moreover, many graduates of your College 
 have already ordered the work, and their letters 
 testify to its wonderful value. We, therefore, now 
 advise you that we have secured the entire edition 
 of the 1902 issue. This contains the series of 
 67 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 handsome colored plates, showing birds, flowers 
 fishes, precious stones, trees, etc., which have 
 been included in the work for the first time. As 
 you will see from the inclosed sample, they are 
 printed in the same degree of mechanical excel- 
 lence that characterizes every department of The 
 
 . This work is used more than all other 
 
 reference works combined, and if you like we can 
 give you the names of people you know who own 
 and use it, for we sell it on its merits. 
 
 We can tell you how professional men use The 
 , how they find in it practical informa- 
 tion not to be found in their text-books. 
 
 Or we can show you how the business man, 
 
 limited as to his time, finds in The an 
 
 ever-present help, its unique system of arrange- 
 ment placing all facts at his instant dis- 
 posal. 
 
 Or we can demonstrate that to the man or 
 woman whose opportunities for self-culture and 
 advancement are meagre, The - - is the 
 equivalent of a working library of many hun- 
 dreds of volumes. 
 
 68 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 Or we can tell you of the school child, or stu- 
 dent, who uses The and thus gains an 
 
 immense advantage over those who do not have 
 access to it. 
 
 What we desire is to have you investigate our 
 offer. This does not mean subscribing. All we 
 want is the opportunity of explaining to you by 
 letter what we consider the best book offer ever 
 made. 
 
 We forward the complete set on receipt of the 
 initial payment of $1.00, and the balance may be 
 paid in small monthly amounts. 
 
 As we are still carrying your name on our 
 mailing list, we inclose a card which we 
 ask you to use in advising us if we shall cross 
 your name off, or send you a descriptive book 
 
 of The , containing colored plates, maps, 
 
 and samples pages, with full information of our 
 half-price offer. May we ask the prompt return 
 of the card ? 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 ARTHUR BROWN. 
 NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 19-. Per J. 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 An Artful Business-bringing Letter. The 
 following letter, sent out by a New York pub- 
 lisher, is highly artful and skilfully worded. 
 This, too, was a facsimile of a personal type- 
 written letter, filling an entire page. It is much 
 shorter than the dictionary letter, though it is still 
 too long. It was one in a series of similar let- 
 ters judiciously calculated to rouse and retain the 
 interest of the recipient, and that fact gave evi- 
 dence that the writer of the letter appreciated 
 the value of giving one idea at a time, in order 
 not to overburden the reader; but he did not 
 carry his principle quite far enough. The letter 
 should be reduced by one-third. 
 
 NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 19. 
 MESSRS. HENRY MILLS & Co., 
 
 JOLIET, ILL. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 As you are fully aware, the circulation of The 
 
 is gained by the arrangements we have 
 
 perfected with hundreds of small publishers in 
 
 the smaller towns throughout the United States 
 
 70 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 to club the magazine with their newspaper. The 
 - has been so remarkably well received by 
 the people in these small communities and rural 
 districts, as to make it impossible for us to fill the 
 demands for our January and February issues, 
 notwithstanding that we printed a quarter of a 
 million copies of each. 
 
 In view of this great demand our edition for 
 March and future issues until further notice will 
 be half a million copies, and we guarantee that 
 these copies will properly reach that number of 
 families, the best of the mail buying class. 
 
 Let us say now and emphatically that this is 
 not a free distribution; that the magazine is not 
 a supplement to any newspaper; that the maga- 
 zine is not circulated by department stores or 
 other stores. It is an independent publication 
 issued independently in each of the small towns, 
 and is advertised, specially featured, and in other 
 ways given wide publicity according to the pro- 
 gressiveness of the publisher handling it. Our 
 method of securing circulation is merely the ap- 
 plication of the principle that if one man can 
 71 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 accomplish certain results, a thousand men prop- 
 erly directed should accomplish a thousand times 
 as much as the first man. 
 
 Space in the March issue will cost $2.00 per 
 line for black advertising, and $2.50 per line for 
 color advertising. If you are looking for the 
 most effective advertising in the mail-order line, 
 advertising that is bringing large returns to the 
 most particular advertisers, this is your oppor- 
 tunity. We specially recommend a color display 
 for those looking for quick returns. Proofs of 
 circulation will be furnished at any and all 
 times; pro rata reduction in cost of advertising 
 should our circulation not be as claimed. Can 
 you ask for more? 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 THE COMPANY. 
 
 This letter begins, "As you are fully aware/' 
 Of course the reader of the letter was not aware, 
 but this is a tactful and effective way of intro- 
 ducing the statement that is to follow, only the 
 writer overdoes the matter by including the word 
 72 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 " fully. " The word is unnecessary, for " As you 
 are aware" serves every purpose; and as a mat- 
 ter of fact " fully " even spoils the intended effect 
 to some extent by insisting over much, so mak- 
 ing the reader suspicious. 
 
 The frank statement of how the circulation has 
 been obtained is a most happy stroke. Many 
 publishers would have concealed the facts. This 
 one realizes that the facts are interesting in them- 
 selves to the reader and so are likely to win a 
 hearing from him; but, also, confidence is inva- 
 riably given by frankness. 
 
 The weak part of the letter is the second and 
 third paragraphs. They insist a little too much. 
 The reader is interested in the method of secur- 
 ing circulation, which will probably strike him 
 as a clever idea. A very brief statement of the 
 results of this scheme, selected from the most 
 telling sentences of the third paragraph, would 
 be appropriate. The subject-matter of the second 
 paragraph might better have been condensed into 
 the last paragraph, or omitted altogether. The 
 last paragraph might easily be condensed in its 
 73 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 wording. The tone of suggestion and recom- 
 mendation is effective, since it assumes confidence 
 and a friendly feeling; the assumption of such 
 a feeling goes far toward producing it. 
 
 Handling a Large Correspondence 
 
 But some business man will remark, "I have 
 to dictate over a hundred letters every day; I 
 haven't time to consider every word in every one." 
 
 Every correspondent knows that when a hun- 
 dred letters a day have to be composed, these 
 letters are all very much alike in subject-matter; 
 and probably the wording is very similar in 
 letter after letter. Usually a large correspond- 
 ence can be divided into a few classes of letters. 
 Certain statements will have to be repeated over 
 and over and over. In other letters the varia- 
 tions will be slight. Such a correspondence may 
 be mastered in the following way: 
 
 Select from your copy-files letters containing 
 
 the statements that have to be repeated most 
 
 often, looking on them as typical letters that may 
 
 be identical with hundreds of others. Study 
 
 74 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 each letter, thinking of its application to as large 
 a class of cases as possible, changing and revis- 
 ing the wording, reflecting on the probable reader, 
 condensing or expanding as the case may require, 
 until the letter is as nearly perfect as you can 
 make it. Lay this one aside, and take up the 
 type letter for another class, revising that in the 
 same thoughtful, careful way. An hour or two 
 may be spent on each letter. 
 
 In dictating, have these carefully prepared 
 form letters at hand and shape your actual letter 
 from the form you hold in your hand. Of course 
 some variations will have to be made. At first 
 you will make as few variations as possible, 
 gradually memorizing the form letters. But as 
 you dictate, you will think of other methods of 
 expression, and these new methods you will in- 
 troduce into the letter you have under way. By 
 making a note of the letter, you can refer to your 
 copy-file and extract the phrase or sentence that 
 pleased you, placing it with your other form 
 letters. 
 
 If this method of careful study is pursued for 
 75 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 several months, you will be able to dictate a 
 hundred letters a day, and feel sure that they 
 are all as nearly perfect as if you had spent an 
 hour over each. You will soon memorize the 
 forms and be able to repeat them without referring 
 to your copies; and as you go on, new forms will 
 suggest themselves, and you will use them, un- 
 til your memory is loaded with a vast variety of 
 special forms, any of which you can introduce 
 on the spur of the moment, and you will possess 
 the advantage of having given each phrase or 
 sentence you use the most thorough and search- 
 ing study. There is no reason in the nature of 
 things why a business letter should not be the 
 most perfect work of art that any literary pro- 
 duction is capable of being. 
 
 Humor in Business Letters 
 
 The humorous style that is so because it is 
 so preeminently good-humored would be a most 
 powerful aid to the business letter writer if he 
 could see how to use it. The danger always is 
 that the serious-minded man to whom one Writes 
 76 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 might not suspect that one were joking, and un- 
 pleasant complications might follow. 
 
 Deliberate fun is largely barred from business 
 letters, though it is being used more and more 
 in newspaper advertising. But the American 
 business man can fight against the deadly seri- 
 ousness that seems to have taken such posses- 
 sion of him. Letters need not be written in a 
 tone so fiercely earnest. Of course they should 
 not be flippant or frivolous, since such a tone 
 inevitably destroys confidence; but they may and 
 should be good-humored, kindly, courteous. 
 "Replying to your esteemed favor, which seems 
 to have no date," sounds like an unkind rebuke; 
 for what does the date matter ? The mere dating 
 of a letter is too trifling a circumstance to be 
 taken in so serious a way, unless a lawsuit or 
 a charge of public dishonesty is to hinge upon 
 the exact moment at which the letter was written. 
 
 In every correspondence, too, many errors of 
 various kinds will arise. Those which are tri- 
 fling and amusing may always be made the oc- 
 casion of good-humored jest, which will usually 
 77 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 be appreciated, and may prove a powerful means 
 of winning a customer. In the case of more seri- 
 ous errors, remember that argument, dispute, bad 
 temper have ruined many a letter writer's career; 
 self-control and kindly courtesy w r ill do more to 
 win your point than the most positive proof that 
 you are right. 
 
 And once a business man has begun to look 
 on "the humorous side of things," he will grad- 
 ually see many opportunities for introducing the 
 humorous style into his letters. Be very sure it 
 will be worth a fortune to any man who can 
 master it for business purposes. 
 
 Generosity and Courtesy. Another thing to be 
 remembered is that all men are reflectors, and we 
 get back very much what we send forth: if we 
 send forth humor, good temper, and courtesy, we 
 shall get them back ; and, strange as it may seem, 
 if we give generously, others will give to us. 
 " Cast thy bread upon the waters , for thou shalt 
 find it after many days" has a wonderful sig- 
 nificance for the business man who can appreci- 
 ate it. The man who makes himself cheap 
 78 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 makes a mistake, of course; but the man who 
 frankly gives, assuming and believing that others 
 will give to him, is usually favored as he expects 
 and wishes to be. 
 
 Booklet Writing 
 
 In advertising-booklet writing all the re- 
 sources of an accomplished literary style 
 may be made available, according to condi- 
 tions. 
 
 There are in general three kinds of booklets. 
 The simplest is the booklet that merely describes 
 in detail some article that is for sale, mentioning 
 all the points in its favor: such a booklet is 
 practically a catalogue. Or a booklet may be 
 written to educate the customer to an apprecia- 
 tion of what he would gain by making use of 
 the thing advertised. Or again, a booklet 
 may be planned to entertain and divert, while 
 incidentally holding the attention of the reader 
 upon the advertised object till by unconscious 
 mental effort he comes to think enough about 
 the object to be curious about it, and to want to 
 79 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 try it. This is the most difficult type of adver- 
 tisement writing to accomplish with success, 
 but it is obviously the only one that will be effec- 
 tive in the case of very simple objects which 
 cannot be explained or argued about, but must 
 be tested through the mere personal inclination 
 of the buyer. It requires a high literary skill 
 to produce such an inclination of the mind. It 
 is very much like producing an inclination in 
 the mind of the reader of a work of literature 
 toward some moral or intellectual idea, or pro- 
 ducing a liking for a character in a story. This 
 suggests to the advertisement writer that he should 
 study story-writing and creative composition. 
 
 Usually a booklet is sent to some one who re- 
 plies to a short advertisement, and that fact im- 
 plies that some interest has been aroused. The 
 simplest form of booklet to meet such a demand 
 is written in a clear, terse style. The booklet 
 writer has the advantage over the writer of 
 literary work in that he may be as brief as he 
 wishes, and the more wit, information, and argu- 
 ment he can crowd into a few pages the better. 
 80 
 
STYLE AND FLUENCY 
 
 Sincerity, honesty, is the chief source of success. 
 The old doctrine of P. T. Barnum that the public 
 likes to be humbugged has been entirely exploded. 
 
 As a rule, rigid truth, if there is no hesitation 
 or timidity in the writer, will carry conviction much 
 more certainly than exaggeration or falsehood, 
 even if the writer thinks he is concealing his 
 steps perfectly. Somehow the false note always 
 betrays itself. 
 
 The truth is, an advertisement or advertising 
 booklet should be valuable and useful to the 
 reader, just as a literary work should be. If it 
 is useful, it will be kept and read; if it is not 
 useful, it will be thrown into the wastebasket. 
 No booklet should ever be sent out that is likely 
 to be thrown into the wastebasket. If the sub- 
 ject itself cannot be made sufficiently interesting, 
 useful information, extracts from literary works, 
 or the like, should be introduced merely that the 
 booklet may be kept. This is exactly the prin- 
 ciple of the magazine or newspaper, from the ad- 
 vertiser's point of view: the valuable informa- 
 tion or literary works in the periodical carry the 
 81 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 advertising into the sight of the reader and keep 
 it there till it has had a chance to sink into his 
 mind, whether consciously or unconsciously. 
 Booklet writers ought to apply the same princi- 
 ple and become distributors of the best there is 
 in literature, art, and science. In this way they 
 will not only diffuse knowledge and help to edu- 
 cate the world, but save millions of dollars worth 
 of advertising literature that is now destroyed as 
 soon as it is received. 
 
 82 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE BUSINESS VALUE OF CORRECT 
 ENGLISH 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE BUSINESS VALUE OF CORRECT 
 ENGLISH 
 
 A FEW years ago business men were in 
 * ** the habit of saying, 
 
 *' What do I care for the grammar of a letter 
 so long as it gets the business ? I've been writing 
 letters for twenty years, and I've made a fortune. 
 I dare say you could pick my letters full of holes, 
 but I have a sneaking idea they brought me 
 more business than all the college professors' let- 
 ters that ever were written." 
 
 Five years has seen a great change in the 
 business world. Business men who made re- 
 marks like those just quoted have found out 
 they are wrong. They have discovered that 
 errors of grammar have probably cost them 
 thousands of dollars, and they are as eager 
 after good English as they were indifferent 
 a while ago. 
 
 85 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 Let us see just why grammar is worth dollars 
 to any business man. 
 
 Grammar is the science of the logical rela- 
 tionship of words in a sentence. If a man has 
 a clear, logical mind, and writes with perfect 
 clearness and accuracy, he observes all the rules 
 of grammar whether he knows one of them by 
 name or not. There was an idea once that gram- 
 mar was a matter of authority and it was all a 
 question of what the professors said or didn't 
 say about something everybody understood per- 
 fectly well anyway. But this is not correct. 
 There are a few things which nearly every one 
 does which a man wishes to avoid so that he may 
 not disgrace himself with the better educated 
 classes in the community. But most errors of 
 grammar are instances of illogical and confused 
 statement. Perhaps the common reader can 
 guess what you mean, but he hesitates a moment 
 and is confused. The impression you would 
 make on his mind is blurred. The error you 
 have made, slight as it is, is like a hazy little 
 cloud between you and your customer. Let 
 
VALUE OF CORRECT ENGLISH 
 
 this be multiplied in a thousand letters, in ten 
 thousand, and a thousand or ten thousand little 
 clouds have become a fog thick and blinding, 
 which has shut out from you dollars the num- 
 ber of which you will never know. 
 
 We admit that there are more important things 
 in business letter writing than grammar. You 
 must have the goods to sell in the first place 
 better goods in your line than anybody else. To 
 be successful you must have in your narrow 
 corner of the world a trust, a monopoly the 
 cheapest house, or the best house, or the cheap- 
 est, quality considered, or the like. 
 
 And then you must talk to your customer in 
 a letter just as you would in a face-to-face con- 
 versation; and if you are not a good salesman, 
 and never were, and never can be, your letter 
 will not get any business' even if your grammar 
 is correct in every particular. The better sales- 
 man you are, the more money you sacrifice by 
 poor use of words, by errors of grammar. 
 
 If you are making a fortune by using poor 
 letters, you can make a greater one by using 
 87 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 correct ones, and the more money you are mak- 
 ing the more you lose by neglecting grammar. 
 
 The kind of grammar taught in schools is a 
 mighty poor kind. It is a mass of rules, and 
 machinery, and formalities, and stiffness, that 
 has little of the practical value we have just been 
 indicating. But there is a kind of simple gram- 
 mar for a practical business man which is open 
 to none of these objections. Let us briefly 
 outline it, for it can all be stated in a few 
 words. 
 
 Rules of grammar do not help a man to write 
 correctly. They merely enable him to correct 
 what he has written after it is on paper. The 
 thing that helps him to write correctly in the 
 first place is the habit of being careful in his 
 expression. The first great fault to overcome 
 is merely looseness and carelessness, a slip- 
 shod habit characteristic of nearly all Americans. 
 
 We have defined grammar as "the logical 
 relationship of words in a sentence." A school 
 man warned us before we published this definition 
 that we should regret nothing so much as this to 
 
VALUE OF CORRECT ENGLISH 
 
 the day we died; but we have never been so glad 
 of anything. 
 
 There are four different relationships which 
 a word must have in a sentence, and if it does n't 
 have one of these it has no business there. These 
 relationships are the parts of speech. A word 
 may name something, and then it is a noun; or 
 it may assert something or ask a question or ex- 
 press a command, and then it is a verb; or it 
 may be placed beside another word to describe, 
 and then it is an adjective or adverb; or it may 
 be a connective, and then it is a preposition or 
 conjunction. The exclamation is a little word 
 which is a complete sentence in itself. With the 
 subdivisions, we have seven different "parts of 
 speech." Master these and you have the basis 
 of grammar. 
 
 There are a half-dozen other things to know 
 about the subject, and you have it complete in 
 a nutshell. It becomes a little instrument like 
 a foot rule which you can apply to every sen- 
 tence you write and test it. Only a simple gram- 
 mar like this can be used every day. The great 
 89 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 complicated machine that is given us in school is 
 cumbrous for the practical purpose of testing 
 sentences all day long in business letters. It will 
 do for laboratory tests, but that is another thing. 
 So you see that this little machine we speak of 
 is a necessary tool in every business office, and 
 like the daily balance in bookkeeping, it keeps 
 you from losing money that might otherwise be 
 yours if you had a proper system. 
 
 
CHAPTER V 
 MODEL LETTERS 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 MODEL LETTERS 
 
 TF a letter has to be written for some special 
 occasion it is not desirable to copy any set 
 model. Every case has its own conditions and 
 details, and while some general form may be 
 followed, a frank, natural, colloquial statement 
 should be made, with the certainty that it will 
 prove to be a good letter. 
 
 Applying for a Position 
 
 A prominent Chicago business man says 
 that he advises those who answer "blind" want 
 advertisements offering positions to say simply, 
 "Please grant interview." It is impossible to 
 state your case completely in a letter, especially 
 when you are ignorant of the character of the 
 man to whom you write. This brief request is 
 likely to pique his curiosity and he will make an 
 appointment, if anything will induce him to do so. 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 A good letter applying for a position is one 
 which shows that the writer knows something 
 about the requirements of the place, and in 
 which he speaks entirely of those qualifications 
 in which the person offering the position will 
 be interested. It is a mistake to state too many 
 qualifications, for those that do not affect the posi- 
 tion in question will only weaken the application. 
 A sincere, earnest, common-sense letter is the 
 best kind to write. Here is one written by a 
 young man just out of business college, who 
 wants a position in the accounting department of 
 a business house: 
 
 15 BRYDEN ST., CHICAGO, April 9, 19 . 
 MESSRS. HUGH CAMERON & Co., 
 
 CHICAGO. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I wish to apply for a position in your account- 
 ing department. 
 
 I have just graduated from the Jones Busi- 
 ness College, and have kept books in my father's 
 grocery store for over a year. For two months 
 94 
 
MODEL LETTERS 
 
 I had charge of a card system for Bates & Co. 
 I am only seventeen years old, and I know 
 my experience is limited; but I am exceedingly 
 anxious to show what hard work and brains 
 will do. If you give me a chance you will find 
 me as faithful and hardworking as if I were a 
 member of the firm, yet always willing to be 
 taught and do any work assigned me. I care 
 much more about a chance to learn and show 
 what I can do, and obtain advancement in pro- 
 portion to my success, than to get a large salary 
 at once or find an easy place. 
 
 I am willing to do any kind of work you wish 
 in the office, and if you will give me a chance I 
 will accept whatever salary you think fair. 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 Don't tell all about your own notions of what 
 you are worth, nor brag, nor give any hint 
 you are looking for an easy job. Most em- 
 ployers are more interested in their own affairs 
 than yours, so talk about their business and 
 keep your own personal affairs to yourself. 
 95 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 Simple Letters about Small Matters 
 When a simple matter is to be attended to 
 by mail, do it in the simplest and most straight- 
 forward way possible. Never use any stiff or 
 formal phraseology. The following is a good 
 form to use in sending money. Always be sure 
 to state just how much you send, in what form 
 it is, whether bills, coin, stamps, money order, 
 or check, and precisely what you want done 
 with it. 
 
 Also be very careful to put in your own full 
 address, and arrange the letter in a business- 
 like way. 
 
 ASPEN, ARK., May 19, 19 . 
 MESSRS. HENRY DYER & Co., 
 
 115 WABASH AVE., CHICAGO. 
 GENTLEMEN: 
 
 I inclose a money order in your favor 
 for $1.54, for which I wish you to send me a copy 
 of " Practical Journalism," price of which I be- 
 lieve is $1.45, and postage 9c. Prompt atten- 
 tion to this order will greatly oblige 
 Yours truly, 
 
MODEL LETTERS 
 
 In giving an order, be sure that every neces- 
 sary detail is stated so that the order can be 
 filled intelligently. 
 
 55 TACOMA BLDG., Evanston, 
 
 July 1, 19. 
 MESSRS. SMITH & BROWN, 
 
 CHICAGO. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 Please send C. O. D. by Johnson's Subur- 
 ban Express the following articles: 
 6 cakes American Family soap; 
 1 cake Sapolio; 
 10 Ibs. granulated sugar; 
 10-lb. piece Star bacon; 
 
 1 bu. potatoes. 
 I hope you can ship these goods the day this 
 
 letter reaches you. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Observe that the items are separated by semi- 
 colons. The period after the last item indi- 
 cates that the end of the list has been reached. 
 It is usual to indent a list of items of this kind an 
 inch or so. 
 
 97 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 It was formerly the practice to capitalize all 
 important words as well as special names in lists 
 of this kind and in bills. It is not now good 
 usage to capitalize any but specific names of 
 special brands or the like, leaving all common 
 nouns with small letters. 
 
 A Hurry-up Letter 
 
 When somebody is to be made to do 
 something as the result of a letter, especially 
 something he does not naturally want to do, a 
 certain literary quality must be put into the letter 
 that will attract attention and make the person 
 who receives the letter feel like doing what is 
 wanted. If one is giving an order for goods, 
 the natural eagerness of the person who receives 
 the order to get it is usually sufficient to bring 
 prompt action, and clearness and accuracy are 
 the prime essentials. 
 
 But if a firm is slow in filling an order it is 
 often desirable to write a letter that will hasten 
 action as much as possible. Here is a good 
 strong hurry-up letter: 
 
 98 
 
MODEL LETTERS 
 
 55 TACOMA BLDG., Evanston, 
 
 July 10, 19. 
 MESSRS. SMITH & BROWN, 
 
 CHICAGO. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 Ten days ago I sent you an order for 
 groceries, and I haven't yet received them. The 
 order was as follows : [repeat order] 
 
 Now unless you can deliver these goods im- 
 mediately, I don't want them. I have always 
 dealt with your house, and have received uni- 
 formly prompt and courteous attention. Per- 
 haps for some reason my former order did not 
 reach you; but in any case, since I have waited 
 as long as I possibly can, I am sure you will make 
 every effort now to see that this order is filled 
 IMMEDIATELY. 
 
 By so doing you will confer a favor upon 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Collection Letters 
 
 Collecting money by letter is one of the most 
 difficult things in the world, and it requires all 
 the art and skill possible. 
 99 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 One kind of letter will collect money from 
 one sort of person, and another kind will do 
 much better in getting money from another 
 kind. 
 
 There are in general t three classes of delin- 
 quent debtors. The first are those who have 
 overlooked or neglected their obligations and 
 need only to be reminded in the gentlest way. 
 Such a letter as the following will usually bring 
 money from them: 
 
 DEAR SIR: 
 
 I inclose a statement of the amount 
 due on account of [state the account]. Could you 
 not favor me with a check immediately, as I have 
 heavy obligations to meet and need the money? 
 Thanking you in advance for your prompt 
 attention to this matter, 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 The second class includes those who have 
 little money and find it difficult to make it go all 
 the way around. In such a case evidently some 
 one must wait, and usually you hope it will not 
 
 100 
 
MODEL L E TT K U & ' ; ', -' i ' 
 
 be you. Usually browbeating is folly. Sym- 
 pathy is the true tack. Try to find out when 
 money will be in hand, and get a definite promise 
 that the indebtedness will be paid at that precise 
 time. Then when the day arrives be on hand 
 with your notification, so as to be sure you are 
 not forgotten in favor of some one more alert 
 than yourself. The following is a type of the 
 sympathetic letter: 
 
 DEAR SIR: 
 
 I feel that I have been exceedingly 
 patient in regard to your indebtedness to me of 
 $14.65, which has now been owing for two months. 
 I realize that you probably have many other 
 pressing obligations, and it is a little difficult for 
 you to care for all. Now, however, I find it 
 absolutely necessary to make this collection. I do 
 not care to use any unpleasant methods in doing 
 it, for I have perfect confidence in your honesty 
 of intention. You know your resources, and 
 you know the earliest possible date at which you 
 can pay this account. Tell me just exactly when 
 101 
 
'S U tf C''S : S : 3 , N / 1 T T E R WRITING 
 
 you can arrange payment, and if you cannot send 
 me check immediately, I will try to wait a few 
 days longer. But I must insist on something 
 definite by return mail. Kindly oblige me by 
 a prompt and frank reply. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 The third class is that of the deadbeats, those 
 who can pay but won't, and have to be clubbed 
 into paying. For this class a brutal, threatening 
 letter is usually necessary, but should be 
 used only when absolutely required. 
 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 Your account amounting to $12.97 has 
 been due for four months now. I have sent you 
 statements repeatedly, and written you several 
 letters, but I have not been favored with a reply 
 from you in any form. 
 
 I am loath to class you as a deadbeat. I 
 
 should hate to believe you were a swindler. I 
 
 feel, however, that an honest man would at least 
 
 make a courteous reply to courteous letters. I 
 
 102 
 
MODEL LETTERS 
 
 am at a loss to know what to think in this 
 case. 
 
 Before I sue you right in your home town, 
 where every one will know that you have tried 
 to get goods you didn't intend to pay for, and 
 before I pile up court costs and fees upon you 
 so as to double the debt already due, I write this 
 letter to give you one more opportunity to pay 
 up and settle the whole matter. 
 
 Unless I hear from you by next Saturday I 
 shall order suit started. I sincerely hope you 
 will not compel me to take that step. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Soliciting Letters 
 
 In writing a letter to sell anything, enthusiasm 
 is the great thing. There should be no stiffness 
 or formality of any kind ; the letter should Be long 
 enough to make an impression, and the style 
 should be that of earnest conversation. In short> 
 the ideal soliciting letter should be one that comes 
 as near the enthusiastic talk of a good salesman 
 as possible, except that it must be condensed and 
 103 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 a little more dignified than conversation needs 
 to be. 
 
 The following is an example of the style and 
 tone that bring business : 
 
 DEAR SIR: 
 
 This is to introduce you to the most agree- 
 able acquaintance a man in your line can make 
 a chance to get more business; a chance to put 
 your proposition before the eyes and into the 
 ears of 60,000 of the best-known buyers of busi- 
 ness, office, and factory goods in America, a clien- 
 tele of the actual managers and directing heads 
 of giant business establishments, the very men 
 who decide the purchase of equipments and arti- 
 cles like yours. 
 
 You can meet and talk to these 60,000 serious, 
 earnest, investigating, possible customers through 
 
 the December issue of . And at a time so 
 
 opportune to salesmen, so powerful, that they will 
 literally have to read what you say. 
 
 Have to, because it is a part of the business 
 duty, the very office routine of such shrewd 
 104 
 
MODEL LETTERS 
 
 business men to investigate every device that 
 will in any way improve their office, their fac- 
 tories, their stores, themselves. 
 
 If you make any practical device of any 
 earthly description for the office, store, or fac- 
 tory, here is your chance to reach the richest 
 class of business buyers in the world, and right 
 during the month of all months, mind you, the 
 cream of the year, the season of business changes, 
 the time before New Year's, when new devices 
 are considered and old ones thrown out, Decem- 
 ber, the harvest time of the mail-order season. 
 
 And if you make articles for the personal use 
 and comfort of such men, remember such men 
 have pocket-books, such men have means, such 
 men have appetites, such men wear the best of 
 clothes, such men above any other class are 
 in a position to gratify every need, secure every 
 luxury, buy every comfort that taste and demand 
 may dictate. 
 
 They are the best spenders because they are 
 the biggest earners. 
 
 You can't afford to overlook an opportunity 
 105 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 to reach 60,000 such men in the best mail-order 
 month of the year, the commercial emperors of 
 America, the rulers of giant industries and fat 
 bank accounts, the custodians of overflowing cash- 
 drawers, with expensive tastes, every mother's 
 son of them a possible customer of yours. 
 
 i You can't afford, we say, to miss the Decem- 
 ber - . Get your copy in for this giant 
 prosperous December issue, the best mail-order 
 puller of the year. Mail it now, so as to reach 
 
 us in good season before the 24th ( 's 
 
 closing date), or if copy is not ready, mail us 
 circulars and let our Advertisers' Service Bureau 
 prepare your advertising. In any case, notify t us 
 how much space to reserve. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 106 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 FOLLOW-UP SYSTEMS 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 FOLLOW-UP SYSTEMS 
 
 A "FOLLOW-UP SYSTEM" is a series of 
 ** letters to be sent to a list of names of persons 
 known to be interested in buying some article, 
 or the like. A small advertisement is inserted 
 in newspapers all over the country, and peo- 
 ple write for information. The first letter 
 sent them fully explains the thing offered, and 
 usually is accompanied by a booklet giving still 
 fuller information for those who seriously 
 think of investing. 
 
 Many make the mistake of getting a good 
 booklet and then writing a letter calling atten- 
 tion to the booklet. This is a grave error. The 
 letter itself should make the first impression, 
 for the booklet will not be likely to be read ex- 
 cept by those who have first been impressed by 
 109 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 the letter. The booklet serves to deepen the 
 impression and get the order. 
 
 A letter of this kind is almost necessarily 
 rather long. Yet it must be condensed and 
 intense, and there is a regular order in making 
 the psychological appeal to human nature, 
 fuller description of which will be found in the 
 next chapter. 
 
 Don't Send Too Much 
 
 It is a mistake to send too much printed 
 matter with letters of this kind the less the 
 better, if the impression can be produced. It is 
 of great value to know enough to stop when 
 the impression is complete, for every word 
 beyond that is likely to spoil the getting of an 
 order. 
 
 If the inquirer does n't respond to the first 
 letter, it is necessary to send a second. Many 
 business men begin with a regret that the first 
 letter was not heeded. This is unquestion- 
 ably an error, for the person who receives 
 such a letter is likely to be annoyed by the 
 110 
 
FOLLOW-UP SYSTEMS 
 
 persistency. It is better to ignore what has gone 
 before and try all over again to produce the im- 
 pression requisite to making a sale. Sometimes 
 fresh printed matter may be inclosed, some- 
 times the same booklet may be sent again. Each 
 succeeding letter should be more intense, and 
 usually briefer, though the printed matter may 
 be more ample. The reason for a briefer and 
 more intense letter is that the inquirer's first 
 curiosity has probably been satisfied and he will 
 be impatient of a very long second letter. Im- 
 portant points not made in the first should be 
 made in the second. If the person was not in 
 an especially expectant frame of mind when he 
 received the first letter, and indeed was not ex- 
 pecting that letter, the shorter letter should come 
 first, the longer second. About so much atten- 
 tion will be bestowed upon a given subject, and 
 if that attention is largely exhausted in the first 
 instance, there will be less left for the second; 
 but if there was not time to exhaust in the first 
 instance, more attention will remain for the 
 second. 
 
 Ill 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 Make Every Letter Pay 
 
 Each letter should bring its own results, 
 and if the first letter does not pay, it is certain 
 that a second letter of the same kind will not 
 pay. Some think that three or four letters must 
 be written before results can be expected. This 
 is wrong. If one good letter does n't bring busi- 
 ness, nothing is likely to come from the second, 
 third, or fourth. But if one letter pays well, 
 it will often be good business to try the same list 
 over again with a different letter to get still more 
 business. This can be kept up often for years. 
 But when any one letter fails to pay, either that 
 
 1 
 
 letter is wrong, or the list has become exhausted. 
 It requires a skilled letter writer with experi- 
 ence to tell which of these is the case. But even 
 an experienced letter writer will often devise a 
 letter that contains some error which spoils the 
 business. 
 
 There is a custom among business men of 
 shaping three letters which are called a "follow- 
 up system." The first of these is usually a good 
 letter, and the others are merely "follow-up 
 112 
 
FOLLOW-UP SYSTEMS 
 
 letters. " They lack the strong, intense quality 
 necessary for success, and in many cases do 
 not at all pay the cost of sending them out. 
 The best way is to write one letter that will 
 get business, and keep a close record of results so 
 as to be sure it does get business. Then construct 
 another letter that will be even stronger and bet- 
 ter than the first, and be sure that pays before 
 sending it out widely. Then a third letter may 
 be prepared in the same spirit and tested. If 
 it brings results, it may be accepted and used, 
 but if it does not it should be rejected. Each 
 new letter should have either a new offer or a 
 new argument or a new piece of dramatic proof. 
 A mere reiteration of old arguments and an old 
 offer is not as likely to be effective as something 
 
 new. 
 
 Educating Dealers 
 
 There are cases when a different system is 
 advisable. For example, suppose dealers are 
 to be educated preparatory to sending a sales- 
 man to them: a dozen letters may then follow 
 at intervals of a week or ten days, and each 
 113 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 should contain a lesson in itself. Such a series 
 of letters forms a correspondence educational 
 course in the commodity or idea offered. Giv- 
 ing the points of a business offer in instalments, 
 if there are many of them or if they are com- 
 plicated, is more likely to be successful than 
 giving the whole in one large booklet or cata- 
 logue, for example, since the receiver will give 
 only so much attention at one time, and if that 
 does not suffice for the mastery of the subject, 
 another letter should be sent, summarizing the 
 first and giving additional points. This can be 
 carried on till the whole subject is presented, 
 and then a strike can be made for an order. 
 
 114 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 DEALING WITH HUMAN NATURE 
 BY MAIL 
 

CHAPTER VII 
 
 DEALING WITH HUMAN NATURE BY MAIL 
 
 TN olden times every village had its shoe- 
 * maker, its miller, its furniture-maker, etc., 
 and the genius who had some specialty that could 
 appeal to only one or two in his town had ab- 
 solutely no chance to make a business of it. 
 
 Then came the railroads, and with them the 
 "drummers " or travelling salesmen. The miller 
 became miller to the entire surrounding country, 
 the furniture-maker sold his products in many 
 cities, and a shoemaker, like a certain well-known 
 governor of Massachusetts, became shoemaker 
 to almost the entire country. 
 
 But there is a limit to the places to which a 
 drummer can afford to go. All the small towns 
 and country places aggregate as great a number 
 of buyers as the cities, and the only cheap and 
 practical way to reach them is by mail. 
 117 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 How important, then, is the art of dealing 
 with human nature by mail! 
 
 New Mail-Order Methods 
 
 The art or science of mail-order salesman- 
 ship is so very different from that of personal 
 salesmanship that entirely new methods are be- 
 ing developed, and as we all need sooner or 
 later to know how we may use written words in 
 letters to make people do things, all will be in- 
 terested in the leading principles of this science. 
 
 In the first place, you are at a disadvantage 
 in dealing with people by mail as compared with 
 making personal calls in that you cannot see the 
 effect of what is said. You work in the dark. 
 Either the letter does it or does n't do it. If 
 there is any hitch, you do not know it. A man 
 may decline your offer, if he answers your letter 
 at all, but he will not tell you why. If you are 
 on the spot you may find out the reason why, 
 and remedy the difficulty, but this is not the case 
 by mail, as a general thing. 
 
 Again, the impression of a letter is far less 
 118 
 
HUMAN NATURE BY MAIL 
 
 intense than the impression of a talk. You can 
 talk to a man or a woman half an hour or more. 
 No one is likely to spend more than five or ten 
 minutes reading a letter. You must, therefore, 
 do your business in five minutes, if at all. If 
 you make no impression in five minutes, you 
 probably will never make any. 
 
 Mail Solicitation not Cheap 
 
 It is a popular notion that dealing with human 
 nature by mail is a wonderfully cheap way of 
 doing business, if it can be done at all. A 
 postage stamp and stationery cost but a nickel, 
 whereas a personal visit might cost from five to 
 twenty-five dollars. If business can be done by 
 mail it seems as if the cost of doing it would be 
 almost eliminated. But this is an entirely false 
 notion. 
 
 As the impression of each letter is correspond- 
 ingly less intense than that of a personal visit, 
 so the proportion of returns is correspondingly 
 smaller. A book canvasser may get three orders 
 out of every five visits, whereas only one letter 
 119 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 out of twenty or a hundred will bring an order. I 
 If each letter costs five cents, and it takes a hun- 
 dred letters to get an order, the cost of getting 
 an order is five dollars. 
 
 Dealing with human nature by mail is by no 
 means an inexpensive method, and it has its 
 distinct drawbacks and limitations. But there are 
 a vast number of things that can be done by 
 mail that cannot be done in any other way. It 
 costs no more to reach a man in Alaska than in 
 Chicago or New York. Letters will go all over 
 the world, and the cost of sending them varies 
 little. It follows, therefore, that all the business 
 that is' closed to personal salesmanship by reason 
 of distance or cost of travel is immediately opened 
 up by the art of letter writing. Besides, whole 
 lines of business, in which an appeal is made to 
 scattered individuals over a wide territory, are 
 made possible. The country is unified. Every in- 
 dividual may have the advantage of every other 
 individual; and as the distribution of books and 
 periodicals through the mail has gone far toward 
 making culture universal, so doing business by 
 120 
 
HUMAN NATURE BY MAIL 
 
 mail will go far toward making comforts and 
 refinements of life universal. And from the 
 other side, every man going into business must 
 realize that he has the world for a market. 
 
 One Letter Worth a Million Dollars 
 
 Such are the general conditions. Now let 
 us examine some of the particular points of this 
 art. No one who has tried to sell goods by mail 
 will fail to realize that there is a vast difference 
 between an ordinary memorandum letter and a 
 good business-winning letter. One good busi- 
 ness winning letter may be worth a million dol- 
 lars, and one man may write it. In no other way 
 can one man talk to so vast a number of people. 
 
 But if one talks to a million people, all dissimi- 
 lar, it is very different from talking to one per- 
 son who can be sized up and handled in a special 
 way. The letter writer must strike an average. 
 To do this he may have to try again and again, 
 and he must study the effect of his letters by 
 imagination. The salesman on the spot sees the 
 effect with his eyes. The letter writer must see 
 121 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 the effect with his inward eye, the eye of imagi- 
 nation. As it takes a man of imagination to 
 move people through a poem or a novel, so it 
 takes a man of imagination to deal successfully 
 with people in doing business by letter. 
 
 How to Construct a Selling Letter 
 
 There is, however, a certain plan on which 
 a letter may be written so as to sell goods effect- 
 ively. This plan has four distinct steps, as fol- 
 ows: 
 
 1. Create desire. Unless the demand is uni- 
 versal, as for wheat or coal or common clothing, 
 it is not safe to assume desire, and if the demand 
 and supply are universal, there is no profit in ad- 
 vertising, for the advertiser only creates a market 
 for some one else. But if one is selling stylish 
 clothing, let us say, the first thing to do is to 
 create a desire for style by showing how much 
 it is worth to the ordinary buyer. If a person 
 believes in style already, he is pleased to be con- 
 firmed in his belief, and if he has paid little at- 
 tention to it, the argument is a sort of revelation 
 122 
 
 
HUMAN NATURE BY MAIL 
 
 to him. We can assume only an indifferent 
 open-mindedness, and there must be an intense 
 desire to lead to buying. To get a sale, the first 
 step is therefore to intensify desire. 
 
 2. Once the desire is created, the seller by 
 letter should show just how his product meets 
 the requirements in the best possible way. Every 
 advertiser ought to feel that he has the best of 
 its kind in the world, or the cheapest, or the most 
 accessible. Success depends upon having a mo- 
 nopoly in one of these respects. Unless there is 
 such a monopoly, one man's advertising only 
 creates a market for another. 
 
 But it is not enough to say your product is 
 the best. Every one says that; nobody believes 
 it. But if the letter salesman shows just the 
 points of his superiority, so that the buyer sees 
 and understands, he is much more ready to do 
 business. He feels he is going to a certain ex- 
 tent on his own sound judgment. He must be 
 made to feel that he is exercising this judgment. 
 
 3. The third step is to offer proof. In ninety- 
 nine cases out of a hundred one is writing to an 
 
 123 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 utter stranger, and it is important to offer some 
 evidence of one's respectability and honesty. 
 But even if one's reputation is widely established, 
 the buyer wants to know if the thing in question 
 has really been a success with others, or if the 
 salesman merely thinks it is going to be a success. 
 
 Evidence is usually to be found in the testi- 
 mony of actual users, and hence the "testimonial 
 sheet." But conventional printed testimonials, 
 which may have been "faked," or doctored, or 
 obtained from friends, are of small value in com- 
 parison with facsimiles of checks, or of big orders, 
 or detailed statements from persons who may 
 be written to for a verification. One or two 
 good pieces of proof are far better than a hun- 
 dred ordinary ones. 
 
 4. The final step is as important as any of 
 the preceding three, something that will clinch 
 the order on the spot. Thousands upon thou- 
 sands of dollars are wasted each year in working 
 buyers up to the point of buying and then ask- 
 ing them merely to write for more information, 
 instead of asking them to give some sort of order, 
 124 
 
 
HUMAN NATURE BY MAIL 
 
 or in some way committing themselves to an 
 order. 
 
 Moreover, the first step to be taken should 
 be as easy as it is possible to make it. If the 
 person must go to the postoffice for a money 
 order, the time required will let him cool off and 
 change his mind. If he may merely reinclose 
 the letter he has received with a dollar bill, and 
 put them together into an addressed return 
 envelope, the effort required is reduced to a 
 minimum, and the maximum of orders may be 
 anticipated. Also, while the buyer takes the 
 important step he must be made to feel that he 
 can retrace it at any time. Human nature seldom 
 does retrace its steps, but it always wants to feel 
 that it can. The great mail-order firms now 
 make it an almost universal practice to adver- 
 tise very prominently that if the buyer is not 
 satisfied in any way, or even changes his mind, 
 his money will be refunded without a question. 
 The percentage of refunds is very small if the 
 advertising is at all genuine, and the risk of send- 
 ing money through the mails unregistered is very 
 125 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 slight as compared with the loss of business that 
 would result if it were considered necessary, as 
 it once was, to require a money order, registered 
 letter, or draft. 
 
 Trust Human Nature 
 
 On the average, human nature is honest, and 
 if one avoids writing to known tricksters (the 
 average agent, for example, from whom full pay 
 in advance should always be required), there is 
 little danger of loss, even though the opportu- 
 nities for stealing and trickery seem enormous. 
 And the small loss that may come is to be charged 
 off as one of the necessary and fixed expenses, 
 just as bad accounts are in all merchandizing. 
 
 Different Letters for Different Classes 
 
 Success in dealing with human nature by 
 mail depends to a considerable extent on ap- 
 pealing to classes, studying each class as in 
 personal salesmanship one would study each 
 individual, and making the class appeal as 
 personal as possible. By this method one may 
 126 
 
 
HUMAN NATURE BY MAIL 
 
 write a letter going to ten thousand, and yet it 
 will read as if written exclusively for each person 
 who receives it. 
 
 The broadest classification is that of sex. 
 You must write to a woman in a very differ- 
 ent way from that you would use in writing to 
 a man. You may argue with a man; you must 
 show a woman. She wants a picture she can 
 look at, a sample she can feel, a descriptive ex- 
 planation more emotional than argumentative. 
 The quality' of the stationery, the excellence of 
 the printing (sometimes the poor quality is more 
 effective than good would be), and the whole 
 feeling and atmosphere of the proposal are usually 
 more important than the arguments. Indeed, 
 in writing to a woman it is well to suppress argu- 
 ment, or simplify it down to the point required 
 in writing to a child. The spirit, the enthusiasm, 
 are the most important things. 
 
 There are also the people who have time to 
 
 read long letters, and those who will look at 
 
 nothing that is not reasonably short. Mail-order 
 
 houses dealing with farmers find that they like 
 
 127 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 long letters, even on unimportant topics, and all 
 letters to them must have a certain length. 
 
 Women usually have plenty of time, and if 
 interested, will read a long letter, which a 
 busy business man would throw in the waste 
 basket. 
 
 Business men, who receive large amounts of 
 mail, demand that a letter shall look peculiar, 
 shall be out of the ordinary, and not too long. 
 Yet the letter must be long enough to do the 
 business in hand. Nothing irritates a business 
 man so much as a letter so short that it tells only 
 half the story. There has been an idea widely 
 prevalent that all letters must be as brief as possi- 
 ble. Successful mail-order business men are 
 finding out that a selling letter must have a 
 certain length in order to get business, even from 
 the busiest person in the world. In selling real 
 estate a letter of two or three solid typewritten 
 pages is required to handle the business. Yet, 
 if a letter of three lines will serve the pur- 
 pose (as if one were to offer a keg of emery at 
 carload price), that is the right length for a 
 128 
 
HUMAN NATURE BY MAIL 
 
 business man, though a woman or a farmer 
 would require a letter ten times as long. 
 
 People Buy as They Feel 
 
 People buy or refuse to buy largely as they 
 feel, rather than as judgment dictates. There 
 must, therefore, be the greatest care to avoid 
 rousing prejudices except in one's favor. A word 
 that carries an objectionable atmosphere, a state- 
 ment that suggests even a personal criticism or 
 injures vanity, may undo the best argument. 
 Tact in letter writing is even more important 
 than in personal salesmanship, for if a mistake 
 is made it is made forever and cannot be cor- 
 rected or overcome. 
 
 It is clear that something approaching the 
 highest and finest literary art is required in doing 
 business by mail. The writer of a book which 
 rouses men to action, or the orator who sways 
 and influences his audience, are doing much the 
 same that the letter writer undertakes, namely, 
 using words so as to make people do things. The 
 chief difference is that the business letter writer 
 129 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 79 only trying to sell, while the writer or the orator 
 usually appeals to higher motives. The work 
 of the novelist and the orator may unquestion- 
 ably be of a much higher order, but probably 
 the mere technical skill required is less. The 
 novelist and the orator, swayed by genius, know 
 not why they succeed. The letter writer must 
 depend on cold-blooded craftsmanship. 
 
 Literature and Letter Writing 
 
 The man of eloquence and literature writes 
 or speaks expansively, stopping only when he 
 and his audience are tired. With the letter 
 writer condensation is the great secret of suc- 
 cess. He can never take the chance of tiring 
 his readers. In a few hundred words he must 
 create desire, demonstrate his mechanism, or 
 the merits of his product, prove his case, and get 
 his order. The secret of this wonderful conden- 
 sation is selection and intensity. Only telling 
 items must be chosen, yet they must seem to be 
 all there are of importance, or the impression 
 must be given that all the rest are just the same. 
 130 
 
HUMAN NATURE BY MAIL 
 
 A letter which can bring dollars day after 
 day to a business house (or a magazine adver- 
 tisement for that matter), especially when the 
 money comes from people of education and in- 
 telligence, must be a work of fine art. Days, 
 weeks, months, may have gone to the production 
 of it. Sentence by sentence, word by word, it 
 has been discussed and studied from every point 
 of view. Then it is tried and the results are 
 carefully measured. In the case of no other 
 kind of writing is the test more severe or more 
 direct, or the opportunity for conscious skill more 
 obvious. In doing business by mail there is 
 opportunity for the highest talent; yet prolonged 
 training is required. No one supposes that the 
 art of business letter writing is God-given, as 
 many suppose the case to be with literature. Yet 
 no one will deny that ability of a high order is 
 indispensable. 
 
 As the possibilities latent in merchandizing 
 
 by mail develop more and more, it will be seen 
 
 that the opportunities within the reach of one 
 
 man will be simply enormous, as one letter or one 
 
 131 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 advertisement may reach millions, and the pro- 
 portion of business that will result from the right 
 letter or the right advertisement will be so much 
 greater, that an enormous fortune may lie in the 
 difference between a common letter and a really 
 good one. 
 
 132 
 
PART II 
 
 SOCIAL LETTER WRITING 
 
PART II 
 
 SOCIAL LETTER WRITING 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 FORMS AND CUSTOMS IN SOCIAL 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 T TNRULED paper and jet black ink are im- 
 ^-^ peratively required. Ruled paper is for the 
 use only of children who have not learned to write 
 straight. Colored or pale ink is bad form. 
 
 Cream white paper is always right, but pale 
 blue and gray are frequently used. No other 
 colors are recognized. 
 
 For social correspondence the paper should 
 be thick, and in double sheets, either note or 
 billet size. The double sheet used for social 
 correspondence is to be folded but once, in the 
 middle, from side to side, and the envelope 
 135 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 should be square, or so as to fit the paper when 
 thus folded. If the paper is square, the envel- 
 ope will necessarily be oblong. 
 
 Crests and monograms are falling somewhat 
 into disuse, and in their place we now find the 
 house number and street, usually without the 
 city or town and State, about three-quarters of 
 an inch from the top of the sheet, in the middle, 
 or a little to the right of the middle. Black, 
 red, blue, or brown may be used for the letter- 
 ing. A monogram and the address together 
 are sometimes used. Men often include the 
 name as well as the full address, placing them 
 in the left-hand corner. 
 
 Abbreviations and Figures 
 
 In social correspondence the abbreviations and 
 figures common in business correspondence are 
 not permitted. 
 
 Figures are to be used only for the house 
 number, and in informal notes for the day of 
 the month, and hours. 
 
 Only titles of persons are abbreviated, but 
 136 
 
SOCIAL FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 "Reverend" should not be abbreviated, and 
 should be preceded by "the." 
 
 Days of the month, days of the week, and 
 the months, should be spelled out in full in formal 
 letters written by women. The year is usually 
 not given in social letters. 
 
 Arrangement of a Social Letter 
 
 If the address is engraved at the head of the 
 letter, the date may be written first, just below 
 the address, a little to the right, as "January the 
 tenth," "Tuesday the tenth," or the like; or 
 the date may be placed at the end, after the sig- 
 nature, on the left-hand side, and if the ad- 
 dress is to be written it also may be placed at the 
 end before the date. It is usual to place the 
 date at the head in the case of long letters, and 
 at the end in the case of notes. 
 
 In social letters it is very unusual to give the 
 full name and address of the person written to, 
 either at the beginning or the end of the letter, 
 if the salutation includes the name. In very 
 formal letters beginning " Dear Sir " or " Dear 
 137 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 Madam," the name and address or name alone 
 should be written at the beginning, on the left- 
 hand side. 
 
 In social letter writing the margin required 
 on business letters is not insisted on, because the 
 size of the paper is so small that all the space 
 possible is needed for the writing. Care should 
 be taken not to crowd the letter, however. 
 
 Typewriting is not permitted in social cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 The Salutation 
 
 In writing to a person with whom one has 
 no social acquaintance the formal " Dear Sir " 
 or " Dear Madam " may follow the full name, 
 as: 
 Mr. HENRY ARTHUR JONES, 
 
 DEAR SIR : 
 or 
 Mrs. JAMES H. ANDERSON, 
 
 DEAR MADAM : 
 
 The address after the name may be omitted 
 only in strictly social letters. If the letter is one 
 138 
 
SOCIAL FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 on business, the regular business style is to be 
 adhered to, though ladies are permitted to em- 
 ploy social forms in business letters. 
 
 Official letters begin "Sir" or "Madam," 
 omitting the " Dear." 
 
 All ordinary social letters begin "My dear 
 Mrs. Blakely," or "Dear Mrs. Blakely." "My 
 dear " is considered more formal than " Dear " 
 alone. After " My," " dear " should never be- 
 gin with a capital. 
 
 If the name is contained in the salutation, it 
 should not be written above. 
 
 "Dear Friend" or " Friend Jones," and similar 
 salutations, are no longer considered good form. 
 
 The proper punctuation after the salutation 
 is a colon or a comma and a dash. The comma 
 and dash are perhaps most frequently used 
 by ladies, but men accustomed to writing 
 business letters seem to prefer the colon. 
 
 The Close 
 
 The most commonplace close for a social 
 letter is "Very truly yours." The plain "Yours 
 139 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 truly" is not considered good form in a social 
 letter. "Very truly" and similar forms which 
 omit " yours " are not looked on with favor. 
 
 A lady will usually sign herself "Cordially 
 yours," or to a more or less intimate friend 
 " Sincerely yours," and a man " Faithfully 
 yours," or "Sincerely yours," or "Yours very 
 sincerely," or the like. "Respectfully yours," 
 " Your obedient servant," etc., are no longer in 
 fashion. 
 
 The close should always harmonize with the 
 salutation. To begin a letter "My darling 
 Marie" and sign it "Yours truly" or even 
 "Cordially yours" would be an absurdity. 
 
 Observe that only the first word of the com- 
 plimentary close should begin with a capital 
 letter, and this close should not be placed too 
 far to the right or the left of the paper. 
 
 A lady usually signs her own full name. If 
 she is unknown to the person she addresses she 
 may add below, usually to the left, and in paren- 
 thesis, her husband's name preceded by " Mrs.," 
 as "(Mrs. Henry James)"; or she may precede 
 140 
 
SOCIAL FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 her own name by " Mrs." or " Miss " in paren- 
 thesis. For a woman to sign herself "Mrs. 
 Jones," or "Mrs. Luella Jones," or the like, 
 with no parenthesis about the "Mrs." is 
 considered especially vulgar. Some ladies with 
 social pretensions do this when writing to a 
 servant or tradesperson, to avoid the familiarity 
 implied in signing their names. Such letters 
 should be written in the third person, however, 
 or with the " Mrs." in parenthesis. 
 
 A man should sign either his initials or his 
 full name. Women very seldom sign initials. 
 If a man uses his middle name and indicates 
 his first name with an initial, it is better to drop 
 the first initial altogether. A middle initial is 
 permitted. This, however, is largely a matter 
 of personal preference. 
 
 It is considered bad form for a man to attach 
 any titles to his signature, either before or after, 
 and such a signature as "Dr. Brown" is dis- 
 tinctly bad form. 
 
 141 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 Notes in the Third Person 
 A lady in society, instead of writing ordinary 
 business letters, addresses servants, tradespeo- 
 ple, etc., in the third person. In letters of this 
 kind the name of the person writing always 
 comes first, and is immediately followed by the 
 name of the person written to, as " Mrs. Henry 
 Brown would like to have Mrs. Maguire 
 call Tuesday evening to see her in regard to 
 washing some laces. It will be considered a 
 favor if Mrs. Maguire will be punctual at eight 
 o'clock." 
 
 Of course me, /, you, us, etc., indeed all 
 pronouns of the first or second person, should 
 never be found in a note of this kind. Under 
 no circumstances should the name of the 
 writer be signed at the end. It always appears 
 first. 
 
 This form sounds like an affectation if used 
 in addressing servants or tradespeople with whom 
 the lady is well acquainted. A person who has 
 suddenly come into social position will some- 
 times adopt this method, but the lady of natural 
 142 
 
SOCIAL FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 breeding will write to subordinates almost as 
 she would to social equals, though carefully 
 drawing the line between friendliness and 
 familiarity. It is friendliness to subordinates 
 that binds them to one's service, and a quiet 
 dignity and indescribable reserve effectually 
 keep them in their places. 
 
 Invitations 
 
 There are two kinds of invitations, the formal 
 and the informal. For the informal, friendly 
 notes are usually written; for the formal, en- 
 graved cards or note-paper sheets are common, 
 though the same style is followed if the invita- 
 tions are written by hand. 
 
 There is no better general form than that 
 used by the English ambassador at Rome, who 
 has engraved blank cards in which the name is 
 filled in by hand. The date may also be left 
 blank to be filled in in the same way. 
 
 143 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 Sir Augustus and Lady Paget 
 request the pleasure of 
 
 's company 
 
 on Thursday evening, November fifteenth, at 
 
 ten o'clock. 
 The favor of an answer is requested. 
 
 R. s. v. p. (for Repondez, s'il vous plait) 
 notice that only the first letter should be capital- 
 ized seems to be giving way to the plain Eng- 
 lish "The favor of an answer is requested." 
 One of these forms is used only when it is impor- 
 tant to know whether the person invited is to 
 come or not, as in the case of a dinner party, 
 luncheon, theatre party, or the like, for which 
 provision has to be made in advance. Many 
 omit this even in such cases, on the ground that 
 every well-bred person will have the innate cour- 
 tesy to accept or decline immediately all invita- 
 tions to dinners, luncheons, etc. Invitations to 
 " at homes," general receptions, large church 
 weddings, and the like, require no acceptance 
 144 
 
SOCIAL FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 or declination except the presence of the person 
 at the time indicated, or cards sent at the time 
 of the function or soon after. 
 
 It is well to include the house number in 
 invitations, as in the following: 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Duryea 
 
 request the pleasure of 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Henry Somerset's company at dinner 
 May second, at seven o'clock, 
 4465 West Fifty-ninth Street. 
 
 Invitations to receptions, teas, balls, dancing 
 parties of any kind, etc., when sent out by a lady 
 are usually in the form of ordinary "at home" 
 cards: 
 
 Mrs. Henry James 
 
 Miss James 
 AT HOME 
 Wednesday, November fifth 
 
 at ten o'clock 
 
 Dancing 547 Tenth Street. 
 
 145 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 In place of "Dancing" may appear "Garden 
 Party " or whatever the function may be. 
 
 A gentleman, however, is never " at home," 
 but in issuing invitations must always " request 
 the pleasure of s company" or "thfi 
 
 honor of s company." 
 
 Clubs in sending out invitations use a some- 
 what different form, such as 
 
 The honor of your presence 
 is requested at the New Year's Eve Ball 
 
 o} the Lake Shore Yacht Club, 
 
 on Tuesday evening, December Thirty-first) 
 
 at half-past ten o'clock 
 
 1919-1920. 
 
 No name is inserted, but the various mem 
 bers send these invitations with their personal!; 
 cards, and usually admission tickets are alsd 
 inclosed, which are taken up at the door by the 
 attendants. 
 
 The word " ball " may not be used in| 
 any private invitation, though it is commonly 
 146 
 
 
SOCIAL FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 found in invitations to public or club enter- 
 tainments. 
 
 Acceptances and Declinations 
 
 Invitations are accepted or declined in the 
 same form in which they are sent, and should be 
 addressed to the persons in whose names the 
 invitations are issued. Thus: 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. James Fielding 
 
 accept with pleasure the polite invitation of 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. John Barton for dinner 
 
 on January fifth, 
 
 at seven o clock. 
 
 The date, etc., are always repeated. 
 
 As the acceptance is usually written on an 
 ordinary sheet of note-paper, it is usually best 
 not to try to adjust the lines as they are in an 
 engraved invitation, but to write simply 
 
 147 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 21 Waverly Place, 
 
 January third. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. James Brown accept with pleas- 
 ure Mrs. Henry Field 's polite invitation for din- 
 ner on Thursday evening, January seventeenth, 
 at seven o'clock. 
 
 Regrets may be worded as follows : 
 
 21 Waverly Place, 
 
 January third. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. James Brown regret that they 
 are unable to accept Mrs. Henry Field's polite 
 invitation for dinner on Thursday evening, Jan- 
 uary seventeenth, on account of a previous en- 
 gagement. 
 
 148 
 
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 149 
 
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 150 
 
SOCIAL FORMS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 Envelopes 
 
 A married woman is addressed by her hus- 
 band's name preceded by "Mrs." When there 
 are several daughters in the family, the eldest 
 daughter is addressed as simply "Miss Worth- 
 ington " or the like, and the others by their 
 names, as " Miss Luella Worthington." If there 
 is danger that the letter may go astray, the 
 full name of the lady in the first instance also 
 should be written. 
 
 Though a married woman signs her own 
 
 name, it is not considered good form to use it 
 
 in addressing an envelope to her, as " Mrs. Grace 
 
 H. Cummings," but rather use her husband's 
 
 | name, even if he has long been dead, as " Mrs. 
 
 S. H. Richardson," though when a woman is 
 
 | in business she is usually addressed by her own 
 
 : name. 
 
 In addressing business letters to persons or 
 firms residing or doing business in the same city 
 in which the letter is posted, either the name of 
 the city follows the street address (or, if there is 
 none, the name) or its place is filled by the word 
 151 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 " City." In the case of social letters the same 
 rule is followed, with the preference more often 
 given to "City," perhaps. 
 
 A comma after each item except the last, 
 which is to be followed by a period, is the usual 
 form of punctuation, but nowadays many omit 
 all punctuation marks except to indicate abbre- 
 viations and set off titles, as in " James Cooke, 
 
 Esq." 
 
 Postal Cards 
 
 Postal cards are usually avoided in social 
 correspondence, and all terms of affection or en- 
 dearment are omitted, including usually the 
 ordinary salutations and complimentary closes. 
 They are used almost entirely for sending a word 
 of greeting when one is on a journey and noth- 
 ing else is available. 
 
 152 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HOW TO BE AGREEABLE IN A 
 SOCIAL LETTER 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HOW TO BE AGREEABLE IN A SOCIAL 
 LETTER 
 
 rilHERE is as much difference between a bril- 
 ** liant social letter writer and an ordinary 
 dull one as there is between a brilliant conver- 
 sationalist and a stupid one. The art of written 
 expression, however, is so different that many 
 a good talker makes a very poor letter writer. 
 Yet a good letter is one that comes as near as 
 possible to producing the effect of a good talk. 
 
 Suppose you have met a young lady you 
 like, and as you sit down of an evening you think 
 of her and her lively ways and wish you could 
 go across the street and make a call upon 
 her. But she is far away, and the best you can 
 do is to write her a letter. You place yourself 
 at your desk with pen in hand, and immediately 
 all the gay things you would say to her if you 
 155 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 were calling upon her, evaporate, and you begin 
 to make some stupid, commonplace remarks, 
 and realize that your letter is not going to be a 
 success. 
 
 The reason for your failure is that you lack 
 imagination, and if you wish to succeed you must 
 cultivate imagination. If you can see the young 
 lady sitting opposite you, and can hear her lively 
 replies, you will proceed to keep up your end 
 of the imaginary dialogue and produce a bril- 
 liant letter. But if your imagination is inca- 
 pable of filling in all the blanks, and you can 
 only respond to her lively sallies (which you do 
 not hear), you will be as dull as if you were writ- 
 ing to a fencepost. 
 
 But what shall you talk about? you ask. 
 
 When two people meet they talk about them- 
 selves, their likes, their dislikes, their friends, 
 the parties they have been to, the plays they 
 have seen, the books they have read. These 
 are the best subjects for friendly letters, if the 
 letters are to be more than mere notes (which 
 are not letters at all). 
 
 156 
 
AGREEABLE SOCIAL LETTERS 
 
 All depends, however, on the character of 
 the person to whom you are writing, just as your 
 conversation would be very different if you were 
 talking to a gay young girl, or to an elderly spin- 
 ster, or to a sedate married woman. 
 
 If you are writing to a young lady who has 
 shown a liking for you, and whose society you 
 have enjoyed, probably the most interesting 
 thing you can talk about to begin with is yourself. 
 Let us try the experiment : 
 
 MY DEAR Miss BRADLEY : 
 
 I have just come into my bachelor den after 
 dinner, and as I sit alone smoking my pipe 
 my mind has wandered over the list of my ac- 
 quaintances to pick out the one with whom best 
 of all I should like a quiet little chat. I have 
 decided that if all my women friends were across 
 the street, and I could find any one of them "at 
 home" on whom I should choose to call, I would 
 select you without a moment's hesitation. I am 
 in just the mood when I need the tonic of your 
 gay remarks, and when I should be completely 
 157 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 happy if I could hear your sweet music the 
 gentle touch of your fingers on the piano or the 
 sympathetic sweetness of your voice. 
 
 That would do for the young lady who had 
 a sentimental turn; but for the married woman 
 who had condescended to like and entertain you, 
 a very different vein would be required for suc- 
 cess. Such a woman would be insulted by the 
 familiar sentiment that would just please the girl. 
 
 For example: 
 
 MY DEAR MRS. BRADLEY: 
 
 Here I am in New York, comfortably settled 
 in my bachelor quarters, but without a single 
 woman friend within reach who can correct my 
 morals and solace my loneliness. If you were 
 here, I know you would take pity on me; but 
 since you are not, let me spend an imaginary 
 evening with you. 
 
 Let me describe my den. It is two blocks 
 east of Fifth Avenue on Forty-fourth Street. I 
 158 
 
AGREEABLE SOCIAL LETTERS 
 
 have three rooms, and one of them is will 
 you believe it? a kitchen. I am very proud 
 of my cooking. I can broil a beefsteak to a 
 turn, and make as good a cup of coffee as 
 not as you, no, but much better than our cook 
 used to make at home. 
 
 Of course I get my luncheons down town, 
 and I go every night to dinner at Madame Chi- 
 china's. Her table d'hote Italian dinners at forty 
 cents beat anything I ever tasted in any other 
 public eating-house, I don't care at what price. 
 I never know what is coming, I always eat up 
 everything set before me, and however hungry 
 I am, at the end of an hour I am always satis- 
 fied. I never saw anything like it before. And 
 it agrees with my digestion so perfectly that I 
 regard it as better than any medicine. 
 
 But it takes an hour. You can't get served 
 with all the courses sooner. Then how I wish 
 I had opposite me to talk to some of the old 
 friends at home! How we would discuss Ber- 
 nard Shaw's latest play (I saw it the other night, 
 and Loraine in the title part was great), or the 
 159 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 latest novel, or the picture shows, or the New 
 York social atmosphere, or how a young man 
 should behave toward unmarried girls when he 
 can't get within a block of one in this self- 
 contained city. 
 
 Social letter writing is distinctly a literary 
 art. There are two elements that are essential; 
 the first, to have thoughts in which your friend 
 will be interested, or which you can share 
 with that friend, and the second is the gift of 
 expression by written words. 
 
 No man or woman can be a successful social 
 letter writer unless he has the gift of friendship, 
 the sympathetic heart that loves and the intelli- 
 gence to understand the friend who is loved, 
 Social letter writing must be more or less per- 
 sonal. If the personalities of the friends do not 
 serve as a subject to write about, still the subject 
 must be their common likes and dislikes, their 
 common thoughts about books and affairs and 
 men and women. You cannot entertain your 
 160 
 
AGREEABLE SOCIAL LETTERS 
 
 friend unless you know the nature of your friend, 
 and what will appeal to him or her. It is hard to 
 write a good social letter to a perfect stranger, 
 since there is nothing in common of which you 
 know, and which you can write about. 
 
 But the gift of friendship and sympathetic 
 knowledge of your friend are not the only re- 
 quirements. Expression in written words is an 
 art in itself, and one absolutely essential to suc- 
 cess in social letter writing. How is that all 
 to be learned? 
 
 The best way to learn it is to rewrite good 
 models. Find some letters such as you your- 
 self would like to write, written by the best 
 letter writers, and write letters of your own, 
 about subjects with which you are acquainted 
 and in which your friends will . be interested, 
 but just as nearly like the models as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 One of the best models for modern letter 
 writing is Stevenson. Two volumes of his letters 
 have been published, and any man or wo- 
 man who will rewrite all those letters, one after 
 161 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 the other, at suitable intervals, can hardly escape 
 being a pretty good letter writer so far as the 
 art of written expression is concerned. 
 
 Another good book of models for the modern 
 letter writer is the small collection of letters 
 to Gladstone's daughters which Ruskin wrote. 
 They are simple social friendly letters such as 
 any man might write to young women acquaint- 
 ances, and they are full of the charm and grace 
 of the most accomplished of modern writers of 
 English. 
 
 Among old writers, Charles Lamb is perhaps 
 the best. His letters, published in several edi- 
 tions, are among the most charming of his com- 
 positions. He had the gift of friendship highly 
 developed, and he had the gift of literary ex- 
 pression also. Of course his letters are a little 
 antique in style. In rewriting them it is neces- 
 sary constantly to try to find modern phrases 
 for those Lamb used which are no longer cur- 
 rent; but this effort at translation will be one 
 of the best exercises for the more or less ad- 
 vanced student. 
 
 162 
 
AGREEABLE SOCIAL LETTERS 
 
 These three writers are probably the most 
 accomplished and the best to imitate of any within 
 the reach of the modern student, and these three 
 are enough. It is better to master a few than 
 to range over many without carefully studying 
 them. 
 
 If a model of a hard, commonsense, practical 
 style is desired, Franklin is the best writer to 
 study and imitate; but very few will care to sac- 
 rifice grace and charm in letter writing. 
 
 168 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HOW TO DECLINE WITHOUT 
 OFFENCE 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HOW TO DECLINE WITHOUT OFFENCE 
 
 "VJOT the least difficult or essential phase of 
 *"^ letter writing is the art of apology in a 
 letter, of declining without offence, of saying dis- 
 agreeable things in an agreeable way. 
 
 There is probably nothing so brutal, noth- 
 ing so cutting, nothing so disappointing, that it 
 cannot be said in such a way as to bind a friend 
 rather than drive him or her away. 
 
 The secret of the whole art is sympathetic 
 consideration for the feelings of the person written 
 to. Excuses may be hollow, apologies may be 
 empty, but they save friendship. On the con- 
 trary the most agreeable thing in the world said 
 in an abrupt way may ruin friendship. 
 
 The art and habit of apology can be learned. 
 Indeed abruptness is often a bad habit into 
 which a person falls without thought, and 
 167 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 does not signify the unkindness that seems to 
 dwell in it. 
 
 But at bottom the keeping of friends is a 
 matter of unselfishness. The person who thinks 
 all the time wholly of himself or herself will not 
 be likely to be polite in letter writing, but the 
 person who thinks habitually of the feelings and 
 disappointments of others, will inevitably be 
 polite and give no offence. 
 
 It is all in the point of view from which a 
 letter is written. The person who thinks, "I 
 won't do it. I know you won't like it, but I 
 can't help it," will be sure to write a letter that 
 will drive away all friendship. If, on the other 
 hand, the thought is all of the disappointment 
 that will result to the friend, of the unhappi- 
 ness that this suffering will cause the person 
 who is forced to decline or deny, the denial itself 
 is almost lost sight of, and is passed with very 
 little notice. It is a universal rule that if atten- 
 tion is fixed on one thing (such as the apology, 
 the disappointment the refusal will cost), a 
 son will be oblivious to the actual refusal. 
 168 
 
DECLINING WITHOUT OFFENCE 
 
 Let us take so simple a matter as refusing 
 a loan to an impecunious friend. Perhaps you 
 have adopted the rule that a loan is not to be 
 made to a friend unless you are in a position to 
 consider it a gift. The friend has some pet 
 project he wishes to promote; he feels sure he 
 will win and be able to repay you twice over, 
 but you suspect from experience that he will 
 be unfortunate, and it is better for him not to 
 make the venture at all. Now, if you think 
 only of your desire to keep your money, and 
 tell your friend you can't afford to waste your 
 means on his wildcat ventures, you will offend 
 him. If, on the other hand, you concentrate 
 attention on your regret, he will be led to think 
 more of your friendship than of your refusal, 
 and while he may be irritated for the moment, 
 he cannot be permanently offended. Such a 
 letter as this might answer the purpose: 
 
 MY DEAR CHARLIE: 
 
 I certainly wish I were a millionaire, for if 
 I were it would give me the greatest pleasure 
 169 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 in the world to make the loan you ask. I am 
 driven to refuse because my funds are so very 
 limited I cannot do what you wish just now 
 without great personal inconvenience. You will 
 not think my friendship the less, however, and 
 sometime when your need is greater, perhaps 
 my resources will be more ample. 
 
 However, I wish I might console you. Just 
 think of it in this way: Destiny has already 
 fixed the fact that you would lose or win in this 
 adventure. If it has been decreed that you 
 lose, my inability to help you will prevent 
 your being under an unpleasant obligation 
 to me, you will be saved the worry of squeez- 
 ing yourself to pay off a debt you can 
 ill afford; and if you are no happier by 
 reason of the good fortune that might pos- 
 sibly be in store for you, you escape the un- 
 happiness involved in failure. 
 
 I know consolation of this kind is not very 
 
 satisfactory, but you, I am sure, will take the 
 
 will for the deed, and believe me still your friend, 
 
 only waiting for an opportunity when fate will 
 
 170 
 
DECLINING WITHOUT OFFENCE 
 
 permit me to serve you better than I can on 
 this occasion. 
 
 With best wishes, as ever 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 A letter like this is good-tempered and friendly, 
 and it is difficult to quarrel when there is no one 
 to quarrel with. If you felt contempt toward 
 your friend for asking the loan, it would be sure 
 to creep into your letter, and he would feel angry 
 at the injustice of your contempt. If you do 
 not permit yourself to feel contemptuous or dis- 
 agreeable, there will be little reason for your 
 friend to feel so. His feelings will be very much 
 what yours are. This is a world of reflections. 
 Fill the air with blueness, and blueness will 
 come back to you ; fill it with yellow sunshine, and 
 yellow sunshine will be reflected back to you. 
 
 Let us take a different situation. You are 
 a lady, and a friend of the same sex has invited 
 you to a theatre party she is very anxious to 
 have you attend. Some more agreeable oppor- 
 tunity opens before you, and you do not wish to 
 171 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 accept the first invitation. Since your reason 
 is a selfish one, you will probably act in a selfish 
 way and give the offence that a selfish person 
 would give. A man in such a situation would 
 send curt regrets; a woman would probably do 
 nothing at all. Both would give lasting offence. 
 In either case a polite and friendly letter would 
 save any lasting ill-feelings. 
 
 Such a letter should not contain any lies. It 
 is easy enough to give false reasons, which will 
 satisfy for the time being but give still greater 
 offence when they are found out. The true art 
 is to tell the simple truth (or so much of it as you 
 choose) in an agreeable way; and this is a gen- 
 uine literary art. The following letter might 
 answer : 
 
 MY DEAR MRS. BRADLEY: 
 
 I am afraid you will hardly forgive me, but 
 I am going to tell you that it will be impossible 
 for me to join your theatre party Wednesday 
 evening. You don't know how sorry I am for 
 the chance that makes this impossible. A thing 
 172 
 
DECLINING WITHOUT OFFENCE 
 
 for which I have been working for a long, long 
 time has developed in just such a way that I must 
 sacrifice either my pleasure or my interest, and 
 I know perfectly well which you would advise 
 me to do. If I could tell you all the circum- 
 stances I am sure you would say I could not 
 do otherwise than forego the great pleasure you 
 have planned for me. I appreciate your kind- 
 ness and thoughtfulness in my behalf none the 
 less. I am just as grateful to you, and I hope 
 some time in the future to more than make up 
 for the present unfortunate combination of events. 
 
 Find some one else to take my place better 
 than I could fill it myself, and may you have the 
 most delightful time in the world! 
 
 With much regret, as ever, 
 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 
 Evelyn Brown. 
 
 The thoughtfulness involved in making the 
 effort to write a considerate letter like this does 
 much to atone for the disappointment of the 
 refusal. 
 
 173 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 HOW TO MAKE AND KEEP 
 FRIENDS 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 HOW TO MAKE AND KEEP FRIENDS 
 
 T ETTER writing as a fine art resolves itself 
 * * into the art of being able to make and keep 
 friends. The great letter writers are the per- 
 sons like Stevenson and Ruskin and Lamb, who 
 had a real talent for friendship, while men and 
 women otherwise great who have lacked this 
 special talent have failed as letter writers. It is 
 the art of friendship that develops the art of 
 friendly expression. 
 
 The world is full of lonely and isolated people 
 who long for friendship, but fail to find it. The 
 reason for their failure is lack of systematic effort 
 to get it. A certain timidity may interfere with 
 personal conversation and social pleasures; but 
 letter writing is always a resource left to these 
 timid ones. If the pleasure of brilliant conver- 
 sation is denied one, a certain cleverness of 
 177 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 expression in letters may often be cultivated in 
 place of it and go far to compensate the loss so 
 deeply regretted. 
 
 In all literary expression, the human nature 
 involved is of far greater importance than the 
 form. Yet we find books filled with forms, and 
 few in which any hint is given of the fundamental 
 human conditions. 
 
 Suppose, therefore, that you have resolved to 
 cultivate friendships by letter. With the usual 
 natural human selfishness you probably set your 
 eyes with longing upon those more brilliant and 
 entertaining than you are yourself, and you feel 
 disappointed if you do not win their attention 
 at once. 
 
 The mistake is your own. Success in any- 
 thing seldom comes from ambitious striving for 
 what is above you, but rather from effort to serve 
 that which is below you, not in a spirit of charity, 
 but of broad human sympathy. 
 
 There is always in the world some one just 
 a bit more lonely than you are who would appre- 
 ciate your attention. Even from a literary point 
 178 
 
 
TO MAKE AND KEEP FRIENDS 
 
 of view you can do far better in a letter to such 
 a person than you can to one just above you. 
 When you have to raise your eyes ever so little 
 you acknowledge yourself the subject, another 
 your superior and master. When you lower 
 your eyes in the slightest degree, you become the 
 superior, you are master of the situation. Your 
 timidity gives place to firmness, you express 
 yourself freely and effectively, and the success 
 you feel in your efforts engenders a still higher 
 success. In literary expression, success is one 
 of the most important generators of success. 
 
 Choose, therefore, for your correspondents 
 those whom you believe will appreciate your let- 
 ters, those to whom you can write with a certain 
 feeling of freedom. Some you will find respon- 
 sive. Your success will stimulate them to an 
 equal effort, and their response, which is the 
 sign of your success, will in turn stimulate you. 
 The thing that is needed on your part is patient, 
 systematic effort. 
 
 The secret of success in social letter writing 
 is gracious attention to those who will appreciate 
 179 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 your courtesy. That systematic courtesy on 
 your part begets courtesy in others, and you 
 are surprised to find how much courtesy there 
 is in the world for like a sun you shine with 
 courtesy, and it is reflected back to you with 
 additions and variations. 
 
 But permanent success in making and hold- 
 ing friends by letter requires something more. 
 Courtesy is the manner. It is a kindly robe 
 the writer throws over all his words, a sunshiny 
 atmosphere, a graceful carriage. 
 
 The manner is certainly of great importance, 
 but the matter is of greater. Of what sub- 
 jects shall friends write to each other to make 
 friendship deeper? 
 
 The literary form that seems most nearly 
 universal in its appeal is the novel. It is the 
 expression of sentiment and the emotional prob- 
 lems of life. The subject of letter writing be- 
 tween friends who wish to make letters a means 
 of cementing friendship should be sentiment, love, 
 religion, ambition, happiness. There are two 
 permanent characters, the writer and the reader 
 180 
 
TO MAKE AND KEEP FRIENDS 
 
 of the letter, and everything that is written must 
 be of equal interest to both. The most inter- 
 esting topic to your friend is your friend him- 
 self or herself, and the most available source of 
 illustration of what you know is yourself. So 
 the first topic to write about is your friend, and, 
 of course, all the outside matters that come to 
 your attention bearing on this subject. It must 
 be an impersonal discussion, since personality 
 might give offence. And yet the effect and bear- 
 ing will be intensely personal. 
 
 What you know of an emotional or personal 
 nature which you can say that will be of inter- 
 est, you must have learned from your own emo- 
 tional experiences. Your experiences are the 
 source of your knowledge. So for success in 
 this kind of writing you must have been an ob- 
 server of yourself. Many have never formed the 
 habit of self-observation, and so they never have 
 anything to say that is worth while. 
 
 But it is of emotions that are past that you 
 can write with most success. Telling all one's 
 private affairs, entirely without thought of their 
 181 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 interest to the reader of the letter, is very likely 
 to result in boredom and disaster to the cor- 
 respondence. The personal has pitfalls on two 
 sides, the side of offence and the side of bore- 
 dom. The true art consists in personality clothed 
 in the garments of impersonality, always de- 
 signed for the entertainment of the person who 
 reads, and not for the relief of the person who 
 writes. 
 
 There is a very close connection between 
 story writing and personal letter writing. The 
 two arts are much alike, and the successful story 
 writer is likely first to have been the successful 
 personal letter writer. The letter art is nar- 
 rower and easier, and there are few who cannot 
 practise it with success, while story writing should 
 be reserved for genius. 
 
 The proper treatment of personality, senti- 
 ment, and emotion in friendly letter writing may 
 find the best possible model in literary fiction. 
 To read the novels of the day, or see the current 
 plays, and talk about them, is one of the best 
 foundations for the good letter that can be 
 182 
 
TO MAKE AND KEEP FRIENDS 
 
 imagined. The expression in the book or play 
 will be wider, more technical, more varied, but 
 it will be in highly developed form very much 
 what good writing in the personal letter should 
 be. There ought to be in the letter some nar- 
 rative of things that have happened, such as 
 your visit to the theatre or your buying or bor- 
 rowing of the book, some description such as 
 a picture of what you have seen or read, and 
 some dialogue, such as would be required by 
 the introduction of an occasional anecdote. And 
 nothing is more fascinating than the application 
 to your own life or thought or condition of the 
 principle illustrated in the work of imagination. 
 The novel or play you must think of as written 
 especially for you and the illumination of your 
 problems which may result; but it is your part 
 to select, consider, and apply. This you can do 
 to best advantage in a letter. A letter about a 
 book or play has a double advantage, in enter- 
 taining your friend, and forcing you yourself to 
 analyze and apply what you have seen or read. 
 The works of literary art form a bond of union 
 183 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 between the whole world, but in this union you 
 should do your part, and that part is most obvi- 
 ously the discussion of literary works in con- 
 versation and social letters with friends who will 
 respond in their turn. 
 
 184 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 HOW MEN SHOULD WRITE TO 
 WOMEN FRIENDS 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 HOW MEN SHOULD WRITE TO 
 WOMEN FRIENDS 
 
 ONE of the most delightful forms of social 
 intercourse is the writing of letters to friends 
 of the other sex. One is judged quite as much 
 by one's skill in doing it as by one's behavior 
 in a lady's parlor, but it is delightfully more per- 
 sonal, intimate, and suggestive. It is rather like 
 the social tete-a-tete, the confidential chat in the 
 boudoir. Men and women seldom take the trouble 
 to write very much to acquaintances of the same 
 sex unless they find them congenial, indeed gen- 
 uine friends. In such a friendship lie many of 
 the deepest pleasures of life, and nothing is more 
 refining, educating, and stimulating. 
 
 All success in social relationships lies in re- 
 straint, in perfect personal control. If a man 
 has the elements of this control in his nature, 
 187 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 there cannot be the slightest danger or impro- 
 priety in corresponding with any lady, married 
 or unmarried, young or old. If this element of 
 restraint is developed, there is hardly a subject 
 on which a well-bred, well-educated man may 
 not speak even freely to any equally well-bred 
 and well-educated woman. 
 
 There are certain bounds and limitations 
 established by conventionality which must be 
 observed, however. Unless he can count him- 
 self an intimate personal friend, no man has a 
 right to send a woman a letter oftener than once 
 in two weeks. The postman notices how often 
 he leaves a letter in a given handwriting; other 
 members of the family notice, and if a given 
 man writes oftener than once in two weeks his 
 letters become an embarrassment for the lady 
 who receives them. If their relation of intimate 
 friendship is well known to all members of the 
 family, and especially if other members of the 
 family may share in the letters, it is permissible 
 to write as often as once a week. But only 
 lovers write oftener than this. Many husbands 
 188 
 
MEN WRITING TO WOMEN 
 
 and wives when separated write daily, but even 
 this is laughed at by outsiders. 
 
 Again, letters must not be too thick. Bulky 
 letters are quite as likely to embarrass a lady as 
 too frequent letters. Two double sheets of note- 
 paper is considered the limit. If one would 
 write much one must cultivate the art of a min- 
 iature caligraphy. That one writes a sprawly 
 hand is no excuse for writing a bulky letter. 
 
 Again, no gentleman will write to a lady on 
 the typewriter, least of all, address the envelope 
 with the typewriter, unless he is very intimate 
 and is requested to use a typewriter so that (be- 
 cause of his poor handwriting) his letters may 
 be read. The general supposition is that a type- 
 written letter is dictated to a stenographer, and as 
 one would not hire a young woman to go along 
 and do one's talking for one, so it is not con- 
 sidered respectful to intrude a mere employee 
 into one's social correspondence. Only busi- 
 ness letters are to be written on the typewriter. 
 
 Some men are very fond of calling women 
 by their given names, and writing to them as 
 189 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 " Dear Alice " or " Dear Jessie." When there 
 are many sisters in a family and " Dear Miss 
 Alice " is the only alternative to " Dear Alice," 
 it is usually desirable to drop the " Miss " as soon 
 as growing acquaintance will permit it without 
 offence. In such cases it is always safe and 
 wise frankly to ask the lady whether she will 
 permit the liberty. When an unmarried lady is 
 generally known among her friends by her sur- 
 name, it is to be presumed that she does not care 
 to be addressed by her given name, and he would 
 be a man wanting in the instincts of politeness 
 who would change " Dear Miss Gardner " into 
 " Dear Alice." In the case of a married woman 
 anything but " Dear Mrs. Blank " would be an 
 extreme rudeness except in the rarest cases, al- 
 most the only excuse being the habit of having 
 used the given name before marriage. If one 
 had been writing to a lady as " Dear Jessie," it 
 would seem offensive and unfriendly to change 
 suddenly upon her marriage to "Dear Mrs. 
 Winkley." But those who did not know the 
 lady before marriage should never follow the 
 190 
 
MEN WRITING TO WOMEN 
 
 example of those who did, and address her by her 
 first name. 
 
 I have spoken somewhat at length of this 
 etiquette of the letters a man may write to a wo- 
 man, because they do not come up in personal 
 intercourse as a rule, and many a man is puz- 
 zled when he "takes pen in hand." 
 
 A word may also be said on the close of the 
 letter. It is usual to sign one's full name. Ini- 
 tials are a trifle more friendly. The given name 
 only should never be signed unless the lady is 
 in the habit of addressing the writer by that 
 name. "Cordially yours" is condescending. 
 "Sincerely yours" is the best form to express 
 true friendship. " Yours " seems hasty and am- 
 biguous, since it may mean much or nothing. 
 "Affectionately" is very proper between broth- 
 ers and sisters, and may even be stretched to 
 cousins, but is dangerous between mere social 
 acquaintances. " Dear friend " suggests the coun- 
 tryman, but in itself is not a bad way of begin- 
 ning, and " Your friend " is the proper close for 
 that beginning. 
 
 191 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 As I have said, " restraint and consideration 
 for others is the characteristic of a gentleman." 
 It is especially easy to become too intense in 
 writing to women, and then all the delight and 
 charm and pleasure are spoiled. 
 
 The ideal style in writing to women is one 
 that is light, humorous, and courteous. Write 
 precisely as you would talk to the lady in her 
 drawing-room, only better if possible. There is 
 usually no more fascinating subject than your- 
 self and herself, your pleasures and her pleas- 
 ures, the books you read and the books she reads, 
 the plays you see and the plays she sees, and 
 last but not least, the friends you have in com- 
 mon. Success in letter writing consists almost 
 precisely in writing as a good talker would talk. 
 Stiff, literary English is out of place in a letter. 
 At the same time a certain degree of slang and 
 looseness of expression may be tolerated in con- 
 versation that would be very offensive in letters. 
 Letter writing differs from conversation only in 
 this slight degree of restraint and systematic care 
 for correctness in grammar and punctuation. 
 192 
 
MEN WRITING TO WOMEN 
 
 The best training for social letter writing is 
 much reading and talking about books. Unless 
 a man reads much and talks about the books 
 he reads, he is very unlikely to be a successful 
 social letter writer. The familiar language of 
 novels is not far removed from the correctly 
 conversational style for letters; but the most per- 
 fect models are the letters of men like Lamb 
 and Stevenson. 
 
 193 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 MEN'S LOVE LETTERS, THEIR POSSI- 
 BILITIES AND LIMITATIONS 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 MEN'S LOVE LETTERS, THEIR POSSIBILI- 
 TIES AND LIMITATIONS 
 
 \\ 7E know a certain bookstore which sells 
 eight thousand books on writing love 
 letters each year, three thousand on writing busi- 
 ness letters, twenty-five hundred on correct 
 English, etc. Evidently writing love letters is 
 the most nearly universal form of literary art. 
 Very few escape the necessity some time in 
 their lives for writing at least one series of let- 
 ters of a more intensely personal kind than any 
 others that are ever written. 
 
 What ought a good love letter to be ? 
 
 To answer in a word, it should be an inten- 
 sified form of all that goes to make a good letter 
 of friendship. 
 
 If the writer is a man, he addresses a person 
 of the opposite sex who presumably has a finer 
 197 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 and more delicate sympathy with him than any 
 one else in the world, a person drawn to him by 
 mystic ties of personal affection which cannot 
 be analyzed nor understood, a person he hopes 
 will be his life companion, soul of his soul, flesh 
 of his flesh. And as he sits down to write there 
 appears before him a beautiful vision, the soft 
 outlines of a figure hallowed by love, or the 
 striking, audacious beauty of a rebel who is 
 adored. He takes up his pen and the crowding 
 thoughts and emotions drive all power of ex- 
 pression from his mind. He thinks, he feels, 
 he loves, but words fail to depict his passion. 
 
 The first thing is restraint. Until the emotion 
 is mastered, it cannot be expressed; and if it is 
 desired to win the woman, self-mastery is most 
 certainly the thing that will do it. A woman 
 will very seldom trust herself to an entirely aban- 
 doned lover. He must give promise of the 
 power of self-control. 
 
 And what first of all shall a man talk about ? 
 Why, what else but the woman herself! The 
 great mistake that men make is to talk of 
 198 
 
MEN'S LOVE LETTERS 
 
 themselves, of their passion, their desire, their 
 devotion. That is the last thing to talk about. 
 That is the mistake we all make in our letter 
 writing we talk of ourselves rather than of 
 and for the person to whom we write. Few 
 women will not read with pleasure what another 
 says of them, and it is only when the writer 
 comes to the boring topic of himself that the 
 letter goes into the wastebasket. 
 
 And what shall a man say of the woman he 
 loves ? Perhaps she is to him a vision too mys- 
 terious to make it possible for him to talk ration- 
 ally about her. The easy way to begin is with 
 describing the vision. Then there are all the 
 happy days of the past to recall and dwell on, 
 all the deep problems of life and love to discuss 
 and apply in a personal way, all the future to 
 picture and build up in glorious dreams. The 
 lover may reveal his inmost emotions, he may 
 talk of anything that is delicate and beautiful 
 and true, he may reveal secrets that no one 
 else has ever heard. But he must do it think- 
 ing always of the pleasure or the pain that will 
 199 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 be caused in the heart of the reader. His 
 selection of the things that will give pleasure, his 
 suppression of the things that will give pain, 
 will show the measure of his really unselfish 
 devotion. A passion that can only pour out 
 abuse and reproach is sure to be selfish, and 
 is seldom rewarded by a final happy outcome. 
 
 Books on letter writing are usually con- 
 sulted by the timid, and among these no doubt 
 will be some who will wish to know how to re- 
 veal the tender emotion, in other words, how 
 to propose. 
 
 The only good way we know is to sit down 
 and write a dozen or two of letters saying all 
 that can be said, and end by sending some brief 
 and simple announcement, such as " Margaret, 
 I love you. Will you marry me ? " The writer 
 has never yet met the woman whose curiosity 
 and interest would not be piqued by so brief 
 and simple a letter as that. 
 
 However, the great thing is to avoid ele- 
 gancies and stiffness, such as are usually given 
 in books on love-letter writing, and say in the 
 200 
 
MEN'S LOVE LETTERS 
 
 simplest possible language what it is in the 
 heart to say. 
 
 We can hardly imagine a worse form than 
 one like this: 
 
 Miss OBERLY: 
 
 I write to beg the humble privilege of lay- 
 ing my heart and hand at your feet. My heart 
 is burnt up with love for you, and I feel that I 
 can never be happy unless you condescend to 
 vouchsafe to me some sign of your regard. I 
 make bold to ask you to become my wife, and 
 to accept the poor life-service which I can give 
 you. Will you not tell me soon whether I have 
 anything to hope for. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 All such forms as these seem stiff and un- 
 natural when compared with the simple, direct, 
 natural expression of one real heart talking to 
 another real heart. Each case has an individ- 
 uality of its own which requires a letter pecu- 
 liarly its own. 
 
 201 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 WOMEN'S LOVE LETTERS 
 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 WOMEN'S LOVE LETTERS 
 
 MOST of the advice that men give to women 
 on matters pertaining to feminine eti- 
 quette and propriety has seemed to us slightly 
 ridiculous, or at any rate very crude. There are 
 women who give advice to their own sex, and it 
 seems to come gracefully enough from them; but 
 if a man is to instruct women it should be by some 
 more indirect and subtle method than plain advice. 
 
 The writer can, however, tell what kind of 
 letters from women please him best as a man. 
 From this point of view a man can certainly 
 speak with more authority than any woman, 
 and perhaps, looking at the matter from this 
 point of view, a man is better qualified to say 
 what is wanted than any one else. 
 
 We like the graceful, courteous, kind little 
 notes that women alone seem to know how to 
 205 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 write. They do not say much, the woman 
 never seems to "give herself away," but their 
 grace, their liveliness, and their kindness always 
 win one. 
 
 While women seem to like to have their 
 given names fondled, so to speak, in a letter, we 
 think men as a rule do not care so much for this, 
 and the woman who continues to write "Dear 
 Mr. Oberly" instead of "Dear Frank" long 
 after she has become " Dear Margaret, " loses 
 nothing in a man's estimation. The thing in a 
 letter that pleases a man most, however, which 
 is like a kiss upon the lips at meeting, is the sign- 
 ing of a woman's given or pet name. This is 
 the last test that a woman may use to find out 
 whether she really is loved or not, for the man 
 who fails to respond to this sign of affection will 
 probably never respond to anything. 
 
 There is a fiction that the man does all the 
 wooing and the woman is only negatively re- 
 sponsive. In a majority of cases, however, it 
 is the woman who does the active courting, 
 only she cannot use the direct, crude methods 
 206 
 
WOMEN'S LOVE LETTERS 
 
 that are proper for a man. She may not say 
 " I love you, will you marry me ? " but a sudden 
 rosy flush in the cheeks on some auspicious 
 occasion may proclaim the feeling and ask the 
 question quite as effectively. She may not 
 whisper "honeyed nothings" in the ear of her 
 lover the third or fourth time she meets him, 
 but she may linger with him at the door, or de- 
 tain him in the hallway longer than is precisely 
 necessary, and the effect is identically the same. 
 She may not allow herself to press his hand un- 
 til he has acknowledged his love, but the result 
 is the same if she lets her hand rest in his a 
 second or two when she might have with- 
 drawn it. 
 
 In letter writing the same subtle arts are 
 open to a woman, and a man values her in pro- 
 portion as she understands and uses them. A 
 woman may not write an ardent letter to a man 
 she knows but slightly, but it is quite within 
 her province to ask him t to lend her a book and 
 then send a dainty little note of thanks, filled 
 with her pleasure at his thoughtfulness. Some 
 207 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 may condemn this as hypocrisy, but it is a kind 
 of hypocrisy that men thoroughly enjoy. When 
 dainty little notes begin to arrive at a man's 
 house, he quickly understands what they mean 
 quite as much as the woman understands his 
 thick and clumsy letters. Let both beware not 
 to send too many. 
 
 When a certain point of intimacy has been 
 reached with a man, many woman tell their love 
 quite as frankly and straightforwardly as men 
 do themselves; but men seldom care for frank- 
 ness of this kind from a woman, even in response 
 to their own frantic appeals. All beauty is 
 more alluring when seen through a gauzy veil, 
 and the woman who veils her emotions, how- 
 ever thinly, is always much more effective than 
 she who exposes her soul in crude nudity. 
 
 Suppose, for example, a situation arises in 
 which a frank discussion of personal relations 
 seems imperatively demanded, The barbaric 
 way is to state it bluntly; the refined way is 
 to present it as a case in a novel, the situation 
 of a friend, or the like. The true lover will 
 208 
 
WOMEN'S LOVE LETTERS 
 
 quickly see the meaning, and the man who fails 
 to see it is better let alone or given over as a 
 hopeless case. 
 
 But when once a woman is engaged to a 
 man she really loves, then comes the opportunity 
 for the fullest and frankest self-revelation and 
 tender expression. What she says is as if whis- 
 pered to her own soul; and as her confidence 
 in her lover grows, she will be able to say more 
 and more, and there will be no danger that it will 
 be misunderstood. 
 
 A few years ago a book appeared entitled 
 "An English Woman's Love Letters," pur- 
 porting to be the actual letters of a real woman. 
 It afterward developed that the book was written 
 by a man, and many of the critics ridiculed it; 
 but the writer always felt that they were the 
 kind of letters a woman would have written, 
 and judging as a man, knows of no better letters 
 to serve as models here. The following is the 
 first letter in the series: 
 
 " Beloved, This is the first letter from me, 
 yet it is not the first I have written you. There 
 209 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 are letters to you lying at Love's dead-letter office 
 in this same writing so many my memory has 
 lost count of them! 
 
 " This is my confession : I told you I had one 
 to make, and you laughed: you did not know 
 how serious it was for me to be in love with 
 you long before you were in love with me, 
 nothing can be more serious than that! 
 
 " You deny that I was : yet I know when you 
 first really loved me. All at once, one day some- 
 thing about me came upon you as a surprise: 
 and how, except on the road to love, can there 
 be surprises? And in the surprise came love. 
 You did not know me before. Before then, it 
 was only the other nine entanglements which 
 take hold of the male heart and occupy it 
 till the tenth is ready to make one knot of 
 them all. 
 
 " In the letter written that day I said, ' You 
 love me.' I could never have said it before; 
 though I had written twelve letters of my love 
 for you, I had not once been able to write of 
 your love for me. Was not that serious ? 
 210 
 
WOMEN'S LOVE LETTERS 
 
 " Now I have confessed ! I thought to discover 
 myself all blushes, but my face is cool : you have 
 kissed all my blushes away! Can I ever be 
 ashamed in your eyes now, or grow rosy because 
 of anything you think or I think? So! you 
 have robbed me of one of my charms: I am 
 brazen. Can you love me still ? 
 
 "You love me, you love me; you are wonder- 
 ful! we are both wonderful, you and I. 
 
 " Well, it is good for you to know that I have 
 waited and wished, long before the thing came 
 true. But to see you waiting and wishing 
 when the thing was true all the time oh ! that 
 was the trial! How not suddenly to throw my 
 arms around your neck and cry, 'Look, see! 
 O blind mouth, why are you famished?' 
 
 " And you never knew ? Dearest, I love you 
 for it. You never knew! I believe a man, when 
 he finds he has won, thinks he has taken the city 
 by assault: he does not guess how to the in- 
 siders it has been a weary siege, with flags of 
 surrender fluttering themselves to rags from 
 every wall and window! No: in love it is the 
 211 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 women who are the strategists; and they have 
 at last to fall into the ambush they know of with 
 a good grace. 
 
 " You must let me praise myself a little for 
 the past, since I can never praise myself again. 
 You must do that for me now! There is not a 
 battle left for me to win. You and peace hold 
 me so much a prisoner, have so caught me from 
 my own way of living, that I seem to hear a pin 
 drop twenty years ahead of me: it seems an 
 event! Dearest, a thousand times, I would 
 not have it otherwise: I am only too willing 
 to drop out of existence altogether, and find my- 
 self in your arms instead. Giving you my love, 
 I can so easily give you my life. Ah, my dear, 
 I am yours so utterly, so gladly! Will you ever 
 find it out, you, who took so long to discover 
 anything ? " 
 
 If I were to recommend a book of model 
 love letters to those desirous of finding the best 
 models, I would suggest the love letters of 
 Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Few 
 
 212 
 
WOMEN'S LOVE LETTERS 
 
 of us will have the power of literary expression 
 which they had; but if we are to make any 
 progress we must choose models considerably 
 beyond us. 
 
 213 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 MODEL LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP 
 

CHAPTER VIII 
 
 MODEL LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP 
 
 NOT long ago there appeared a small volume 
 of Ruskin's "Letters to M. G. and H. G., * 
 which have seemed to me the highest models of 
 charm in social letter writing. I cannot better 
 conclude this book than by quoting three or 
 four of these letters : 
 
 ARTHUR SEVERN'S, HERNE HILL, S. E., 
 WEDNESDAY, 24TH JULY, 1878. 
 
 My dear M , 
 
 Please send me just a little 
 
 line, and tell me what time dinner is to-morrow. 
 Of course that 's only an excuse to get a little 
 
 note, and be able to tell F that I Ve got one, 
 
 because I could as easily ask at the door; but 
 
 you may as well have my London address in 
 
 case you have any orders for me. The doctors 
 
 217 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 say I never obey orders, and, of course, I never 
 do any of theirs. But there are some orders I 
 am too obedient to, for the peace of my old age! 
 Ever gratefully and affectionately yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 Of course the names in this letter were writ- 
 ten in full, not as initials. And it is to be re- 
 membered that this was sent from an old man 
 to a young woman to whom he wished to pay 
 graceful little compliments, none other than the 
 daughter of Gladstone. 
 
 NATIONAL GALLERY, 
 FRIDAY, 28-TH JULY, 1878. 
 
 My dear M , 
 
 You were a perfect little 
 
 Mother to me last night. I didn't feel safe a 
 moment except when I was close to you. Look 
 here, I've got notice from George Richmond 
 and Acland saying they 're both going to try to 
 find me this afternoon. And I should like to 
 see them, and have that music to hope for all 
 218 
 
LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP 
 
 this evening and to-morrow morning; and, be- 
 sides, I want you to give me a cup of tea this 
 afternoon at five, and if you can't, you can't, 
 and never mind; but I'll just ask at the door, 
 and it's of no consequence, as Mr. Toots says. 
 You can't tell me you can't, till I ask at the 
 door; because I don't know where I shall be. 
 And I '11 come for my music at three, to-morrow, 
 instead, and you needn't say I may, because 
 I must and will. 
 
 And I 'm ever your devoted, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 What prettier letter of apology than the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 BRANTWOOD, CONISTON, LANCASHIRE, 
 SUNDAY, SOrn SEPTEMBER, 1878. 
 
 My dear M , 
 
 How dreadfully I've be- 
 haved to you; it s s not all F 's fault, but 
 
 partly her ponies' fault, who bewildered me by 
 
 standing on their hind legs, or going eighteen 
 
 miles an hour; and partly the dogs' fault, who are 
 
 219 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 always getting between my legs, or pulling my 
 hair, or licking my face; and partly her place's 
 fault, which is really too pretty and too good for 
 her or anybody else, and drove me half crazy again 
 because I couldn't paint it up and down and both 
 sides everywhere; and partly her people's fault, 
 who wanted to "show" me things, and wouldn't 
 understand that it was a vain show, and that my 
 heart was disquieted within me; and partly my 
 own fault. (I meant to have said "of course," 
 but shouldn't have meant it.) And so I did n't 
 answer your letter; and now here's your for- 
 giving partly forgiving, at least but laconic 
 note, and, of course, I deserve it them, I mean, 
 both the forgiveness and the Laconianism. 
 
 Well, yes, I can come on the 9th, or on the 
 10th, or on any day you want me, pretty nearly. 
 ("You" is to have an emphasis, mind, but I've 
 underlined too many words already.) But what 
 
 does the Duke of A want to see me for? 
 
 He used to be so grim, at the Metaphysical, 
 
 I never ventured within the table's length of 
 
 him. But look here you know (emphasis on 
 
 220 
 
LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP 
 
 "you" again) that, though I shall mightily like 
 studying woodcraft with Papa Papa wouldn't 
 have got me to Hawarden all by himself, and 
 
 Mr. G , you know, wouldn't have got me 
 
 to Dunira all by himself and I should very 
 much like to meet the Duke, of course, yes 
 but . . . Please do you know if M. C. 's coming 
 too? 
 
 You see I can come on the 10th, but after 
 this time of utter do-nothingness at Dunira, 
 I really want to see a little bit of and about books 
 (they're all standing on their hind legs at present, 
 and the printer 's rabid). And I meant, really 
 and truly, to have written this morning to say 
 I was at Mr. Gladstone's orders from the 25th 
 on; but now I'll do just what you tell me will 
 be exemplary, and what I ought to do, and that 
 is, come whenever you please, not before the 
 10th. But, quite seriously, I cannot stay more 
 than two or three days at utmost, for I am indeed 
 not well, and the excitement of conversation 
 breaks me or bends me, banefully always. This 
 was so even before my illness, and you know if 
 221 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 Mrs. W had not forced me, I never should 
 
 have ventured to Hawarden, and you must be a 
 dear good little Mother to me, and take care of 
 me every minute all the while I am there. Love 
 to Papa, though, and very true and respectful 
 regards to Mrs. Gladstone, and I 'm ever, 
 Your obedient and affectionate, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 AMIENS, 
 
 28TH OCTOBER, 1880. 
 My darling little Madonna, 
 
 You are really 
 
 gratia plena (don't be shocked, I am writing 
 about the Saints all day, just now, and don't 
 know when I'm talking quite properly to my 
 pets), but it is unspeakably sweet of your Father 
 and you to forgive me so soon, and I'm inclined 
 to believe anything you '11 tell me of him, after 
 that; only, you know, I'm a great believer in 
 goodness, and fancy there are many people who 
 ought to be canonized who never are; so that 
 be a man ever so good I'm not idolatrous of 
 222 
 
LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP 
 
 him. If it's a Madonna, it's another thing, 
 you know, but I never for an instant meant any 
 comparison or likeness between D. and your 
 Father they merely had to be named as they 
 were questioned of. On the other hand, I know 
 nothing about D. whatsoever, but have a lurk- 
 ing tenderness about him because my own father 
 had a liking for him, and was in great grief about 
 my first political letter twenty (or thirty?) 
 years ago which was a fierce attack upon 
 him. 
 
 I do trust nothing more will ever cause you 
 to have doubt or pain. I can't get what I have 
 to say said; I 'm tired to-day have found out 
 things very wonderful, and had with your let- 
 ter at last more pleasure than I can bear with- 
 out breaking down. 
 
 Dear love to your father. 
 
 Ever your grateful, 
 
 St. C. * 
 
 * St. Chrysostom St. John the Golden-mouthed was a nick- 
 name given Mr. Ruskin by Mrs. Cowper Temple. 
 
SUCCESS IN LETTER WRITING 
 
 These are the graceful little notes that women 
 write so well and men enjoy so much. But men 
 can write them too, as Ruskin demonstrates. 
 
 THE END 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
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