12 Pear Street, June twenty-eighth.
2. Mr. Edward Edwards accepts with much pleasure the kind invitation of Mr. Frederick Estoff, Jr., to dinner for June fourth, to meet Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Estoff.
14 Sycamore Street, June twenty-eighth.
3. Mr. Edward Edwards regrets extremely that a previous engagement prevents his acceptance of Mr. Frederick Estoff, Jr.’s kind invitation to dinner for June fourth, to meet Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Estoff.
14 Sycamore Street, June twenty-eighth.
Personal or Informal Letters.—The letter one writes informally to an acquaintance, a friend, or a relative, should be in tone pretty nearly what one’s conversation with the given person would be. To give such a letter the tone which represents exactly the relation between the two people is a hard task. The nicest sense of tact is required in order not to be too stiff and not too familiar. Personal letters demand the art of colloquial composition. Those unperceptive persons who have but one style of composition,—that of a book, or that of a clerk,—make sorry work of personal letters. Suppose that you have always known one of these persons. You have played with him, read with him, perhaps fought with him. When you meet, he calls you by your first name. When he writes to ask you to visit him, he addresses you as Dear Sir, and signs himself Respectfully! His letter gives you a chill. There is too little of the personal letter-writing of the better sort, the leisurely, careful, courteous, old-fashioned kind of written talk,—writing that, like Thomas Cholmondeley’s, could be signed, “Ever yours and not in haste.”
Written Exercise.—Write a note inviting a friend of your own age to dinner, to an informal party, or to an excursion. Such a note usually begins on this wise,—My Dear Tom, or Dear Tom, rather than on this,—Dear Friend. A similar note to an acquaintance would begin: My dear Mr. ——, My dear Miss ——, etc.
Written Exercise.—Write a personal letter to the instructor, concerning some matter in which you would like to interest him. This letter will not be read to the class.
Written Exercise.—Write to some friend a long letter, observing the ordinary rules for paragraphing. Suggested subjects: an account of your life since last meeting your friend; a comparison of the town you now live in with that in which you and the friend formerly lived; an explanation of some scheme in which you wish the friend’s co-operation.