Footnotes:
[5] Concluding lines of Mr. Adams' "Address to the Sun-Dial under the window of the Hall of the House of Representatives."
[6] Son of the sea.
[7] My beautiful! my most beautiful!
LETTER VIII.
LETTER-WRITING.
My dear Nephews:
There is, perhaps, no form of composition with which it is as desirable to be practically familiar, and in which all educated persons should be accomplished, as that of letter-writing; yet no branch of an elegant education is more frequently neglected. Consequently, the grossest errors, and the utmost carelessness, are tolerated in regard to it. Rhetorical faults, and even ungrammatical expressions, are constantly overlooked, and illegibility has almost come to be regarded as an essential characteristic.
Following the homely rule of the lightning-tamer, that "nothing is worth doing at all that is not worth doing well," you will not need argument to convince you of the propriety of attention to this subject, while forming habits of life.