The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-04
SCHOOLGIRLS AND
 LETTER WRITING
Don't Write Letter When in HurryGirs Should Have Few Young Men Geographically Handwriting Failure That is
 Difficult to Read- Suited High Flown Letters Out of Date

to San Francisco. or New Orleans to Narragansette Bay. passing from hand to hand until it reaches It's destina- ton. Nothing so slight as letter seems to me so strong and so entirely protected from risk and dangers
 do not think girls would dislike to. write letters If they observed two or three rules. One Is not to write let ter In too great a hurry. If you are .on q tip-tee to go down the street. with Jean. or have made an engagement to skate with your brother and his chum at o'clock. you will hardly be able to write n creditable letter, If you give yourself only five minutes to do 1t In. girl needs a sense of leisure and a spare half hour in which to write the letter that shall carry something of her real self to her distant friend or her anxious mother. miles away. No com pliment is conveyed by frantic haste. Decide what you can do and what you can omit and get a little clear space and unhurried time before you begin a letter. Next. always answer a letter as soon as you can after you have read It. It is then fresh in your mind the questions 1t asks and the news 1t conveys are alike full of interest to you. and you can carry on your part of the written conversation without its being one-sided and indifferent.
 T have letter from Ruth" com plained Ruth's sister, Rose. "and she has not told me single thing want ed to know. nor given me the address of her music teacher, nor so much as enquired how grandmother Is and grandmother will be sure to ask me 10 read her the letter"
 In this case Ruth's letter was a dis appointment A good plan before one begins Is to glance again at the letter received and note the particular points that should not be overlooked in tho reply.
 A third suggestion concerns one's correspondents. A school girl ought not to engage in letter writing about which her parents and friends are in the dark. For instance, Adeline con- suited me the other day about the propriety of corresponding with boy whom she casually met at her Cousin Ds, when spending day there, last summer. He seemed q very nice boy" she said, "and liked him very much Now he Is at the university and has written to me and wishes me to write to him. What shall do?'
 Tine thing for Adeline or any other girl to do in this instance Is to show her boy friends letter to her mother or teacher, and be guided by the ad- vice given her. My own would be simply to answer such a letter very politely, but to explain that I was too busy to engage in a correspondence. A girls letters to boys should be limited to. members of her own family, to the cousinhood. and perhaps to somebody whom she has known all her life When you meet a person accidentally and on- ly for a short time, you do not know him well enough to write to him or receive his letters.
 
 4 fourth bit of counsel concerns it. self with the dress of a letter. I do hope you girls write a legible hand. Whatever else handwriting may be, 1t is failure if 1t is difficult to read Such little things as correct spelling and punctuation arc very important. Misspelled words are as unsightly as ink spots, and dashes do not take the place of commas and periods. Write plainly, spell correctly. A good qual- ity of note paper and black ink are | indispensable fin the correspondence of a young lady. Every letter should have at the top the full postofice address of the writer and the date of the writ ing. Many people date their letters at the end, fashion that has little to commend 1t, and which should be | changed as soon as possible by us all for the more intelligent manner of dat | ing what we write at the top of the | first page. Do not write in a hap | that it is as bad as solving a puzzle to find out where the next page begins. | Sign your letter with your full name, no matter to whom you arc writing. Never write a letter to ayone which would give you uneasiness or dis turbance should 1t fall Into the wrong | hand. Write as you talk. the more naturally the better. suited, high flown letters are not welcome any where. In old times people began a letter by saying. T take my pen in hand to write you few lines, hoping that they will find you in good health, as I ana now"
 mal than this. When was fourteen received a letter which began in this way: 'Respected Miss" Nobody would think of starting letter in that | fashion to-day, and taking ones per in hand and the allusion to a few lines has quite gone out. Write natur ally as if your friend were in the room with you, and you were cozily chatting with her. It is proper to address ;l stranger as My dear Mrs. C." and not as Dear Mrs. C., The personal pro- noun adds a toucb of ceremony. Dearest" is to be reserved for those to whom it applies, mother or sister or the chum Who IS your very connden tial friend, and almost your other self
 If you are obliged to write a nust- ness letter, address the firm or the person by name, following 1t on an- other line with Dear Sirs. or Dear Sir" or Madam
 First, last and all the time. regard a letter as a thing with which pains should pc taken. Long years hence the letter a girl writes may come back to her out of the past for, strangely enough, letters are among the most indestructable of earthly possessions