The San Francisco call., 1909-05-08
CORNER CHAT WITH THE GIRL
CORRESPONDENTS

stationer. The material invariably
should be of good quality. White is
unexceptionable and any color other
than pale gray or blue tint is in bad
form The mourning border is still
used, though not SO obtrusively as
formerly, but many persons restrict
themselves. with good taste, 10 black
monogram
Crests and arms are not considered
good form among people of breeding in
this country A simple monogram is
permissible and the address may be
printed or embossed on the paper.
Every letter should be neat. free from
bIots. smears, erasures and all indics-
tfons of haste. Custom taboos the use
of figures and requires the spelling out
OF all numerals, the year usually being
omitted from social notes.
LegibiIity is the most important
characteristic of handwriting 1t is a
mistake 10 imagine that it entails any
sacrifice of individuality. Punctuation
and capitalization should be carefully
attended to- Abbreviations. with a
few exceptions, are inelegant in pri-
vate correspondence. Such words az
doctor. January, United States. west
Colorado, etc, should be spelled out
on the other hand. Mr.. NJ P. 3. A.
s. F. A. c., etc. may be written IN the
shortened form. The term esquire
has long since lost it's orr iginai sigHifi-
canee and ii is quite good form 10 apply
it 10 any gentleman in addressing a
letter to him. This snffix. however. is
less generally used in America tina
the prefix Mr." MANY employ the lat
ter in ali business correspondence aud
the former when the missive is OF a So
ciaI character. There Is no definite
rule governing the matter
The style REV. James t. Darlington,
d. D." is decidedly more elegant than
"Dr. James T. Darlington, and SO
with Il D. Sampson. Esq. NJ. D. and
.'Dr. L. ID. sampson" In business cor
respondence Dear Sirs" is preferable
to Gentlemen"
Never sign your letter with your
christian name only unless 1t is ad-
dressed to a person who is in the habit
of employing that name in converse
ton with you.
The ending of a social letter should
be Sincerely yours Truly yours
should be reserved for business CORE
spondence Never. in addressing
woman. give her the title OF her hus-
band, such as Mrs. Colonel stone or
Mrs. Doctor Mason" An envelope
destined for married woman should
carry her husbands christian name, as
Mrs. Arthur Herbert" 4 widow may
be addressed as Mrs. Catherine Cham
bers." The eldest of number of un-
married sisters should be addressed
simply as Miss Blank In the case
of the younger ones mention the
christian names.
married woman should sign
letter with her christian name and sur
name in full. thus: Mary Fife Burns
She may for the information of her
correspondent add in the lower left
hand corner of the page: Mrs John
Allen Burns" For the same purpose a
spinster may prefix to her signature, IN
parenthesis Miss
Letters addressed to social interiors
are usually written in the third person
and without saiutation. thus:
Mrs. Burns desires that Miss Smith
will deliver her dress at the earliest
possible time tomorrow and eblige,
MARY FIFE BURNS.
One would not address an old servant
or tradesmsn with whom he had en-
joyed long and satisfactory dealings
in this formal manner, but common
sense should be a sufficient guide 70
such distinctions. Little need be said
on the subject of letters of congratu-
lation and coincidence. The important
point is TO avoid affectation and gush
and TO make the words convey the sin
eere expression Of ones feeling