Newtonville, Wis. January 2, 1906.
My dear Harry,—
I promised you before the holidays began that I would let you know how I had spent my Christmas, but the last day of the vacation has come and I have not written you a line. The truth is that I have been having such a good time every minute that I have not realized how fast the week has been going. You remember my big cousin who goes to the State University, don't you? He came to visit our school once, last winter. His father, my uncle, invited our family to come out here and have a real "country Christmas" on his farm, and here we have been since the day after school closed. He lives in a fine, large farmhouse, with room enough in it for his big family and ours, too. We are three miles from town, but there are plenty of horses to drive, and the air is so bracing and the weather so clear and cold that we don't mind the walk. Besides that, there are such a lot of us that nobody ever has to go alone. I never knew what fun it is to be in a big family. There is always somebody ready for a tramp whenever you want to go out, and in the evenings it is like being at a party all the time.
On Christmas eve we hung up our stockings, even the grown-ups. That was for the little children, who still think there is a Santa Claus. There was hardly room enough along the mantelpiece for them all, and the next morning, when they were all full and knobby, they actually overlapped. Christmas morning we were all up ever so early. Before it was really light, my big cousin was around knocking at the doors, calling us to breakfast and shouting, "Merry Christmas!" We scrambled into our clothes and raced downstairs to breakfast, and then to the stockings. We pretended we thought Santa Claus had just that minute gone, and you ought to have seen the little girls look up the chimney after him.
By the time everybody had looked at all his own presents and the things other people had, it was time to begin thinking about dinner. We helped get it. I shouldn't be surprised if we were more in the way than a help, but it was lots of fun. The girls worked around in the kitchen and helped set the table, and we boys decorated the rooms with greens and turned the ice-cream crank. There were eighteen of us at table, and you couldn't hear yourself think for the talking and laughing. The last thing we did was to pass around a big sheet of paper, and everybody wrote his name on it and anything else he wanted to say. We are going to try, all of us, to get together that way every Christmas, and make such a list each time for a remembrance. My big cousin wrote, "United we cook, united we eat, united we die!" I said it was the best Christmas I had ever had.
We had eaten so much that after dinner we just sat around and talked for a while, and then a crowd of boys went out to coast and try our new sleds. There is a fine hill right near the house, and the snow was exactly right. You can coast as much as ten city blocks without slowing up at all, and then you run along on a level for four or five more.
In the evening some of the neighbors came in and we played charades. I never knew you could have so much fun at that. We thought of a number of good words, but our side had the best, "Russian." We played the first syllable like a football "rush," and that was exciting. My cousin is on the university team, and he told us just what to do to have it like real football. We acted the last syllable as "shun," and none of us would look at one of the girls,—"shunned" her, you know. For the whole word we put on all the furs we could find, and paraded around with banners, and pretended to throw bombs. The other side couldn't guess for a long time what we were acting.
We were pretty tired when we went to bed, but I thought again it was about the nicest Christmas I had ever known.
I hope you had a good time, too, and I wish you would write me about it. It must have been very different from mine, since you were in the city. Did you get the new skates you wanted? My father gave me a pair. I hope I shall hear soon from you that your Christmas was as great a success as mine.
Sincerely yours,
George Allen.Exercise 78.—Make a similar outline and write a letter on any one of the following topics:—
(1) Your Christmas holidays in the city. (2) A trip in a boat. (3) The use of a new camera. (4) The beginning of a new study in school. (5) The beginning of new lessons out of school. (6) The last game of baseball, basket-ball, etc., you have seen. (7) A railway journey. (8) Your friend is away on a visit. Write him all that has gone on in the neighborhood and school since he left. (9) Your parents are away. Write them the news of your home. (10) You have found a certain book interesting. Write your friend about it and recommend it to him. (11) Describe an interesting address or play you have heard. (12) An accident which you saw or one in which you were. (13) An expedition in the woods. (14) An entertainment you have recently seen or one which you helped to give. (15) A new pet. (16) A carpenter shop you have arranged for yourself in an unused room. (17) A picnic. (18) A new society which has been started in your school. (19) You have your parents' permission to undertake a walking trip or bicycling tour of several days through the country. Write to a friend, stating your plans and asking him to join you. (20) A similar letter proposing a week's camping-out in the woods.
Note.—A longer list of subjects for friendly letters is not given because almost any of the subjects for other forms of composition can be treated in a letter. Moreover, it is highly desirable that pupils should write letters to real people,—relatives, friends, or pupils in other schools with whom an exchange has been arranged. A real correspondence, where the pupil feels he is attempting to interest and please an actual person, arouses much more spirit than purely imaginary letters.
47. Letters of Social Intercourse.—In form, letters of social intercourse stand between the purely friendly letter and the business letter. The address of the writer and the date of the letter often stand at the foot of the letter, beginning opposite the signature in the more informal notes, as in the following form:—
My dear Mrs. Blackmar,—
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—————————Very sincerely yours,
Mary Holden.22 High Street, Columbus, O.
April 12, 1906.
In the most formal letter of social intercourse, the address of the writer and the date stand at the beginning, and the complete name and address of the person addressed stand at the foot, thus:—
428 Bolton Place, Pittsburgh, Pa.,
September 26, 1906.My dear Sir,—
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—————————Very sincerely yours,
Richard White.Mr. Elbert Peters,
Ross Center, N.Y.
Sometimes, instead of writing Mr. before a name, Esq. is written after it, but the two are never used at the same time.
In style, the letter of social intercourse should be as graceful as it is possible to make it, although it should always be simple and not too long. Many invitations and answers to them have a form fixed by tradition (see Formal Invitations, § 48), but the informal social letter is almost entirely a matter of taste. There are, however, a few courteous phrases which are so much used as to be almost fixed forms. Such are: "I hope that we may have the pleasure of your company," "I hope that you can be with us," "I regret most sincerely that it is impossible for me to accept your kind invitation," "I shall be very happy to be with you," "It is with great pleasure that I accept your kind invitation," "I regret that a previous engagement prevents me from accepting your invitation," etc.
The following is a typical informal invitation:—