The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-04-04
The PrOprieties Of Life.

A test of breeding, or at any rate of
knowledge of the nicer proprieties OF
life, is in the proper wording of notes
and letters, and especially of the little
billets exchanged daily among society
people. Every lady and gentleman is
expected to know the rules of spelling
and grammar; but even where these
are apparently familiar. there are GER
tain small signs which betray the
novice. y One of these leaps to sight
when one opens note and finds him.
self addressed by some acquaintance as
"Mrs. Smith" or "Mr. JONES'" some ig-
norant soul who is fearful of compro-
missing his dignity by too much familiar
ity. and so falls into the error of adj
dressing an acquaintance as if he was
sending an order to the butcher around
the corner. Since it is the fashion in
America, as well as in Paris, to initiate
England-and where, indeed, could
we find better mode? Pit might be
well to do it at once, without waiting
for two or three years until the Angli
cism reaches all through the North. In
the mother country an order to a grocer
or butcher or any tradesman is con-
veyed in the third person: .'Mr. Jones
will oblige Mrs. Esmond by sending
five pounds of butter" Or "Mrs. Es-
mond requests Mr.. Jones to send her
five pounds of butter" If the lady
wished to write note 20 some one in
her own position, but not personal
acquaintance, she would begin 'Dear
Mr.. Smith" But if she were writing
s,x, L ,,f
life she would inevitably begin, "My
dear MIR. Smith," the possessive pro-
noun or the prononinal adjective, call
it what you choose, but the "My' in
such cases means. like the "IOurs
truly" of a bus ness letter, nothing
more. A New Orleans lady had occa-
sion to write a letter of invitation, and
being a lady and well versed in the
ways of the world, she tegan a note
"My Dear Mr.. Blank Fancy her dis
may when the answer came and she
found herself accosted as Mrs. Brown"
Did the man mean to rebuke her I'M
due familiarity? Did he fear she was
growing too fond of him? or did he
simply mean to avow his own stupidity
and incapacity for taking the hints he
might have CLEANED from the phrasing
of the lady's letter?
1t was the misfortune of a very DIS
Greet maiden. one who had been ac-
customed all her life to the manners of
society, to spend some months in a
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 the notes she wrote
to polite young men who sent her flow
ers, invitations, ETC., in which notes she,
of course, addressed them as my
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 "Mr. Blank?" .'And so
| should" responded she, '.if 1 wished
to order a new pair OF shoes from my
boot-maker" Whereupon the young
man exclaimed: "0f course l under
stand! but others will be sure to mis-
Judge you!' 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 writing? The sue
cess of such a class is problematical
but the need of it is unquestionable.
1t is not uncommon to receive a note
which begins in the first person and
ends in the third: notes that stamp
their writers rs badly educated and ig-
norant of the English language, as well
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