To whom it may concern:
This is to certify that the bearer of this letter, Miss Marietta Hope, was graduated with high honors from Vassar College, and has since taught in the schools of this city. As her principal for a number of months, I can truthfully recommend her as capable of filling any position for which she may apply.
James H. Blanchard,
Principal of Livingston School,
New York City.
Letters of Condolence
should be written very soon after the occurrence of the sorrowful event, and, while brief, should not be cold and formal; neither should they touch the opposite extreme, and, by dwelling with maddening iteration upon the fresh sorrow, harrow anew the stricken soul of the mourner. The occasion should never be seized upon as a text for a sermon on resignation, nor should frequent reference be made to various like bereavements suffered by the writer. These comparisons only wound, for "there is no sorrow like unto my sorrow," has ever been the cry of the stricken soul. And when friends have done their little all, each mourner still feels the truth of Lowell's lines:
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"Condole if you will, I can bear it, 'Tis the well-meant alms of breath, Yet all of the preachings since Adam Cannot make Death other than Death." |
Yet friends cannot deny themselves the privilege of a few loving words, and a letter on the loss of a beloved daughter might be as follows:
Cape May, June 1, 189-.
My dear Mrs. Sutherland:
I cannot resist my desire to write you a few words of love and sorrow; only a few, for my heart is full and words seem very weak. Thank God, my friend, for the nineteen beautiful years that ended that morning in May.