Very truly yours,
Andrew D. Jordan,
Secretary.Truly yours,
Matthew Bennett,
per D. C.
The following is a correct and usual form for a business letter:—
501 South Lincoln Street, Cleveland, O.
September 20, 1906.Messrs. Charles Wright and Sons,
42 Hilton Street,
Norwood, Pa.Dear Sirs,—
Please send me the latest catalogue of your goods, and state whether you pay cost of transportation for large orders.
Very truly yours,
Henry L. Perkins.Exercise 82.—Study the forms given above, and write the beginning and end of each of the following letters:—
1. Mr. Henry Smith, 44 Bolton Place, Brooklyn, N.Y., writes on November 10, 1906, to Messrs. John Murray Brothers, 32 Canal Street, New York.
2. Miss Helen Reed, Principal of the Woodlawn School, Saylesville, N.J., writes on October 10, 1906, to Mr. Percy Painter, 607 West 14th Street, Trenton, N.J.
3. The Landsdowne Manufacturing Company, 241 Greenwich Place, San Francisco, writes on May 7, 1906, to the San Francisco agent of the Northern Pacific R. R., 22 Newton Street, San Francisco.
The writing of business letters should be taken up after the exercise in writing telegrams, for brevity is almost as essential in the one as in the other. There is, of course, no need to write incomplete sentences as in the telegram, but the same general process should be followed; that is, to see what are the really important points you wish to state, to express these with unmistakable clearness, and to say no more.
It is proper to add that a person of education and cultivation is recognized at once as such by the letters he writes. Even in a matter-of-fact letter, too, you may often reveal, without realizing it, your courtesy and kindliness as well as your intelligence. We constantly judge people by their letters.
Note.—A good exercise is to have the pupils assume characters in the business world and answer each other's letters. An incomplete letter can often be detected thus, by being put to a practical test.
Do not begin to write your letter until you have made a brief outline of what you wish to say, in the order in which it should be said. For instance, you wish to apply for the position of errand boy. To write a complete letter, you need some such outline as the following, even though it be only in your head and not written down:—
Give the reason for applying for the position by stating how you have heard of the need for errand boys (through advertisement, personally, etc.); state your own qualifications for the work as simply and plainly as possible, mentioning your age, education, health, experience, recommendations, and any other facts that may bear on your capacity to give satisfaction; and when you have given these essential points, close your letter.