How to Write Letters (Formerly The Book of Letters) by Mary Owens Crowther (interesting novels to read txt) đź“•
The mechanical construction of a letter, whether social, friendly, or business, falls into six or seven parts. This arrangement has become established by the best custom. The divisions are as follows:
1. Heading 2. Inside address (Always used in business letters but omitted in social and friendly letters) 3. Salutation 4. Body 5. Complimentary close 6. Signature 7. Superscription
1. THE HEADING
The heading of a letter contains the street address, city, state, and the date. The examples below will illustrate:
2018 Calumet Street or 1429 Eighth Avenue Chicago, Ill. New York, N.Y. May 12, 1921 March 8, 1922
[Illustration: In the business letterhead appear the name of the firm, its address, and the kind of business engaged in]
When the heading is typewritten or written by hand, it is placed at the top of the first letter sheet close to the right-hand margin. It should begin about in the center, that is, it should extend no farther to the left than the ce
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Let me thank you for your kindness in remembering her.
Cordially yours,
Dorothy Evans Brewster.
For a gift to another
49 Maxwell Avenue,
Bayview, Long Island,
July 15, 1923.
My dear Mr. Haines,
I appreciate very much the exquisite flowers which you so kindly sent to Mrs. Evans. She is rapidly improving and will soon be about again.
We send our warmest thanks.
Very sincerely yours,
John Evans.
For favor shown to another
500 Park Avenue,
November 25, 1922.
My dear Mrs. Howard,
You were very kind indeed in entertaining my cousin, Mrs. Douglas, during her stay in your city. I am exceedingly grateful and I hope to find some way of reciprocating.
Very sincerely yours,
Katherine G. Evans.
Following are actual letters of thanks written by distinguished persons. Here is one[9] from George Meredith to Lady Granby, acknowledging the receipt of a reproduction of a portrait by her of Lady Marjorie Manners:
Box Hill, Dorking,
Dec. 26, 1899.
Dear Lady Granby:
It is a noble gift, and bears the charms to make it a constant pleasure with me. I could have wished for the full face of your daughter, giving eyes and the wild sweep of hair, as of a rivule issuing from under low eaves of the woods—so I remember her. You have doubtless other sketches of a maid predestined to be heroine. I could take her for one. All the women and children are heaven's own, and human still, and individual too. Behold me, your most grateful
George Meredith.
[9] From "Letters of George Meredith." Copyright, 1912, by Chas. Scribner's Sons. By permission of the publishers.
From Lord Alfred Tennyson to Walt Whitman:[10]
Farringford, Freshwater, Isle of Wight,
Jan'y 15th, 1887.
Dear old man:
I the elder old man have received your Article in the Critic, and send you in return my thanks and New Year's greeting on the wings of this east-wind, which, I trust, is blowing softlier and warmlier on your good gray head than here, where it is rocking the elms and ilexes of my Isle of Wight garden.
Yours always,
Tennyson.
[10] This and the following four letters are from "With Walt Whitman in Camden," by Horace Traubel. Copyright, 1905, 1906, 1912, 1914, by Doubleday, Page & Co.
From Ellen Terry to Walt Whitman:
Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago,
January 4th, '88.
Honored Sir—and Dear Poet:
I beg you to accept my appreciative thanks for your great kindness in sending me by Mr. Stoker the little big book of poems—As a Strong Bird, etc., etc.
Since I am not personally known to you I conclude Mr. Stoker "asked" for me—it was good of him—I know he loves you very much.
God bless you, dear sir—believe me to be with much respect
Yours affectionately,
Ellen Terry.
From Moncure Conway to Walt Whitman:
Hardwicke Cottage, Wimbledon Common,
London, S. W., Sept. 10, '67.
My dear friend:
It gave me much pleasure to hear from you; now I am quite full of gratitude for the photograph—a grand one—the present of all others desirable to me. The copy suitable for an edition here should we be able to reach to that I have and shall keep carefully. When it is achieved it will probably be the result and fruit of more reviewing and discussion. I shall keep my eyes wide open; and the volume with O'C.'s introduction shall come out just as it is: I am not sure but that it will in the end have to be done at our own expense—which I believe would be repaid. It is the kind of book that if it can once get out here will sell. The English groan for something better than the perpetual réchauffé of their literature. I have not been in London for some little time and have not yet had time to consult others about the matter. I shall be able to write you more satisfactorily a little later. I hear that you have written something in The Galaxy. Pray tell O'Connor I shall look to him to send me such things. I can't take all American magazines; but if you intend to write for The Galaxy regularly I shall take that. With much friendship for you and O'Connor and his wife, I am yours,
Moncure Conway.
From John Addington Symonds to Walt Whitman:
Clifton Hill House, Bristol,
July 12, 1877.
Dear Mr. Whitman:
I was away from England when your welcome volumes reached me, and since my return (during the last six weeks) I have been very ill with an attack of hemorrhage from the lung—brought on while I was riding a pulling horse at a time when I was weak from cold. This must account for my delay in writing to thank you for them and to express the great pleasure which your inscription in two of the volumes has given me.
I intend to put into my envelope a letter to you with some verses from one of your great admirers in England. It is my nephew—the second son of my sister. I gave him a copy of Leaves of Grass in 1874, and he knows a great portion of it now by heart. Though still so young, he has developed a considerable faculty for writing and is an enthusiastic student of literature as well as a frank vigorous lively young fellow. I thought you might like to see how some of the youth of England is being drawn towards you.
Believe me always sincerely and affectionately yours.
J. A. Symonds.
From Edward Everett Hale to Dr. Lyman Abbott:[11]
Jan. 29, 1900, Roxbury,
Monday morning.
Dear Dr. Abbott:
I shall stay at home this morning—so I shall not see you.
All the same I want to thank you again for the four sermons: and to say that I am sure they will work lasting good for the congregation.
More than this. I think you ought to think that such an opportunity to go from church to church and city to city—gives you a certain opportunity and honour—which even in Plymouth Pulpit a man does not have—and to congregations such a turning over the new leaf means a great deal.
Did you ever deliver the Lectures on Preaching at New Haven?
With Love always,
Always yours,
E. E. Hale.
[11] From "Silhouettes of My Contemporaries," by Lyman Abbott. Copyright, 1921, by Doubleday, Page & Co.
From Friedrich Nietzsche to Karl Fuchs:[12]
Sils-Maria, Oberengadine, Switzerland,
June 30, 1888.
My dear Friend:
How strange! How strange! As soon as I was able to transfer myself to a cooler clime (for in Turin the thermometer stood at 31 day after day) I intended to write you a nice letter of thanks. A pious intention, wasn't it? But who could have guessed that I was not only going back to a cooler clime, but into the most ghastly weather, weather that threatened to shatter my health! Winter and summer in senseless alternation; twenty-six avalanches in the thaw; and now we have just had eight days of rain with the sky almost always grey—this is enough to account for my profound nervous exhaustion, together with the return of my old ailments. I don't think I can ever remember having had worse weather, and this in my Sils-Maria, whither I always fly in order to escape bad weather. Is it to be wondered at that even the parson here is acquiring the habit of swearing? From time to time in conversation his speech halts, and then he always swallows a curse. A few days ago, just as he was coming out of the snow-covered church, he thrashed his dog and exclaimed: "The confounded cur spoiled the whole of my sermon!"...
Yours in gratitude and devotion,
Nietzsche.
[12] From "Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche," edited by Oscar Levy. Copyright, 1921, by Doubleday, Page & Co.
In making a donation of ÂŁ100,000 for branch libraries in the city of Glasgow, this is the letter[13] that Andrew Carnegie sent to the Lord Provost of the city council:
My dear Lord Provost:
It will give me pleasure to provide the needed ÂŁ100,000 for Branch Libraries, which are sure to prove of great advantage to the masses of the people. It is just fifty years since my parents with their little boys sailed from Broomielaw for New York in the barque Wiscassett, 900 tons, and it is delightful to be permitted to commemorate the event upon my visit to you. Glasgow has done so much in municipal affairs to educate other cities, and to help herself, that it is a privilege to help her. Let Glasgow flourish! So say all of us Scotsmen throughout the World.
Always yours,
Andrew Carnegie.
[13] From "Andrew Carnegie, the Man and His Work," by Bernard Alderson. Copyright, 1902, by Doubleday, Page & Co.
Letters between FriendsDear Grace,
Your 'phone call surely caught me napping; but after an hour or so of effort I did recall just how Sato mixed the shrimps and carrots in the dish which you so much enjoyed.
First, catch your shrimp! When they have been cleaned and prepared as for a salad, place on ice and in ice, if possible. Grate the carrots on the coarse side of the grater, placing immediately on the salad plates, which of course have already been garnished with lettuce leaves. Then add just a fine sprinkling of chopped apples (I find this the best substitute for alligator pears) and then the shrimps. Pour over this the mayonnaise and serve at once.
I do not know what he called it and could not spell it if I did, but you are at liberty to call it anything you like. At all events, I am sure the crowd will agree it is a little different, and I am glad to have been able to give the idea.
Cordially yours,
Ruth Wilson.
July 14, 1921
My dear Mrs. Sampson,
I am so glad to know that you have completely recovered from your recent illness.
I trust you will soon be able to resume your wonted activities. We all have missed you—at bridge and tennis particularly.
Sincerely yours,
Mary E. Wells.
July 18, 1923
My dear Mr. Baines,
I have just heard of your success in getting your book published. I have always had a great admiration for you and your work, and I am sending this little note to assure you of my regard, and to wish you still further successes.
Yours very sincerely,
Madeleine Strickland.
March 10, 1923
My dear Miss Gwynne,
I am very sorry that I was out when you called. I hope you will come again soon for I do so much want to see you.
Sincerely yours,
Katherine G. Evans.
February 16, 1923
It may be of passing interest to read a letter or two from distinguished persons to their boyhood friends. Here is one[14] from the late John Burroughs:
Esopus, N. Y., June 1, 1883.
Dear Tom Brown:
I have been a-fishing or I should have answered your letter before.
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