Points to be Remembered.
Margins are no longer a necessity even in the most formal letters. Sometimes in writing a long, friendly, not formal, letter, instead of utilizing one side only of the paper, it is written across the sheet upon the first and fourth pages, and then lengthwise upon the second and third, though of course it is perfectly correct to write upon the pages consecutively.
Tautology, or a continued repetition of the same word, is a disagreeable and inelegant fault in writing, as: “If John will come home, we will all come, but if he fails to come, we will not come until he can come also.”
One other point remains to touch upon. Any one that has ever glanced at the “Correspondence Column” of any paper will see how often young women ask if it is proper to write to gentlemen who have requested the favor of corresponding with them, and which should write first. This point is rightfully one that should be settled by the mother or other guardian of the girl; but let it be said here that while this is the only country in the world where a so-called “friendly correspondence” is or can be carried on between young men and young women with, or without, any particular object in view, even here it is well to be careful. Girls are sometimes a little too confidential, and all men are not gentlemen, outward polish notwithstanding. A friendship too easily won or too fully expressed is not always prized, and while manly men are supposed never to boast of the number of their correspondents, yet club-room walls, could they speak, would stamp many a man as less than a gentleman.