The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1884-05-10

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A test OF breeding, or at any rate Of
knowledge of the nicer proprieties 0f
life, Is In the proper wording Oh notes
and letters, and especially Of the little
billetS exchanged daily among society
people. Every lady aud gentleman Is
expected 10 know the rules OF spelling
and grammar; but even where these
are apparently familiar. th0ae are Ger
tain small signs which betray the
novoe none Of these leaps TO ai1ht
when one opens note and finds him,
self addressed by some acquaintance as
Mrs Smith or MIR. Jones, some IL.
n0rant soul who Is fearful Of c0mpro-
missing his dignity by too much famlliar-
ity, and SO falls into the error Of adj
dressing an acquaintance as Il he was
send ng an order 10 the butcher around
the corner. Since 1t II the fashion in
America, as well as IN Palis, to initiate
England and where, indeed, could
we find better modelP It might be
l'well TO do It at once, without waiting
Tor two or three years until the An0li-
cism reaches all through the North In
the mother country an order to grocer
or butcher or any tradesman Is con-
veyed in the third person: ssMr. Jones
will 0blige Mrs Esmond by sending
five pounds of butter. Or ssMrs, "a
mond requests Mr.. Jones to send her
| five pounds OF butter II the lady
wished to write note to some one in
her own position, but not personal
acquaintance, she would begin seear
Mr.. Smith. but il she were writing
TO an acquaintance In her own rank q
life she would inevitably begin, my
dear Mr.. Smith, the possessive pro.
nom or the prononainat adjective, call
1t what You choose, but the My In
such cases means, like the Yours
truly of bus ness letter, nothing
more. A New Orleans lady had occa.
sion to write letter Of invitation, and
being lady and we'll versed IN the
ways Of the world, she logan = note
my Eear Mr.. Blank. Fancy her dis.
may when the answer came and she
found herself accosted as Mrs. Brown.
Did the man mean 10 rebuke her un-
due fam ar,typ Did he fear she was
growing too fond Of himP or did bio
SIMPLY mean to avow his own stupidity
and incapaeity for taking the hints he
might have CLEANED from the phrasing
Of the lady, letter.
II was the misfortune Of very ds-
Greet maiden, one who had been ac-
customed all her life to the manners Of
society, to spend some months il n
small interior town of the South At
ter she had been for several weeks In
| the place, it came to her ears that she
was considered a rather improper
| young person--one who might be called
fast. Upon investigation she found
the idea came from tho notes she wrote
to polite young men who sent her How
ers, invitations, etc, In which notes she,
OF cou Sc, addressed them as .sMy
Dear Mr.. So-and SO Finally one adj
mirer holder than the rest remonstrat-
ed, begged to know why she didn't be-
gin her notes 'sMr. BlankPs .sAnd SO
! should" responded she, ~ wished
to order a new pair of shoes from my
boot-maker.n Whereupon the Young
man exclaimed: 'sOf course l UNDER
standl but others will be sure TO mis-
Judge you'll And to this day the young
lady is probably remembered as very
giddy girl.
Now that we have literary classes of
all kinds, why doesn't some one form
class for the study Of higher grammar,
rhetoric and letter-writingp The sue
cess Of such class Is problema ical,
but the need OF 1t is unquestionable.
1t is not uncommon to receive note
which begins in the first person and
ends in the third; notes that stamp
Lhcir writers as badly educated and H.
norant OF the English language. as we'll
as of social amenities. m q. Times
Democrat.