Third Subject—Letter Writing.
The competitor is given his choice of one of two subjects on which to write a letter of not less than 125 words. One year the subjects were on the advantages of city and of country life. At another time the candidates were required to tell what they thought of our colonial expansion in Porto Rico and the Philippines. In a recent test one of the subjects was “Give your views as to the advantages derived from free public libraries in the principal cities of your State.” The object of this exercise is to test the candidate’s skill in writing an intelligent letter. Errors in form and address, in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, syntax and style, count against the competitor. The rules for rating will be found under a separate [chapter].