The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-09-03
EXCURSIONS IN
CORRESPONDENCE
BY THOMAS ARKLE CLARK
Dean of Men, University of Illinois.
Letters of Courtesy

otner source. we nave to buy go
bricks with money we have earne
ourselves, before we realize how THU
ly gilded most of them are. What
know about the subtleties and the 81
fects of writing letters, | have learne
from trying things out, and seem
how they work, from watching othe
people succeed or fail in their CORE
| ~spondence, and sometimes the result
of what we attempt are not at frs
apparent.
Years ago, l was brought into con
tact with a man who had had a wild
experience with people in business
in educational affairs, and In politics
He had a great many friends, he had
a wide influence, and when necessity
required, he could marshal an amaz-
ing number of supporters.
/ was very much interested in study
ing his methods, and in trying to
learn how he had been able to ac-
complish so much. He was not a
very broadly educated man, but he
was shrewd, he understood human
nature, he grasped the psychology of
making men act, and he succeeded
amazingly. l came to see that he
wrote more letters than most men
whom l knew, and letters of a differ
ent character. He used the best sta
tionery he could buy, he wrote with
but one sort of ink, and many Of his
letters, especially those Of a personal
character, were written by hand,
though he had all the clerical help
he could use.
These practices of his gave his let
tiers a certain distinction, called spe-
cial attention to them when they came
into ones hands, and emphasized his
individuality. He made friends by
paying attention to them, by showing
them certain individual courtesies
which the average man neglects. His
letters were never stock letters, pieced
together with a patchwork of conven-
tional, and ready-to-put-on para
graphs; they always fitted the indi-
vidual case in hand. They were writ
ten to all classes of people from the
governor of the state when he won a
close election, to the waSherwoman
who named her baby for him, and one
was as carefully written as the other.
There were letters of coincidence,
and congratulation, and encourage
ment; letters which let people know
that he was glad that they had sue
ceeded, or full of sympathy with
them in their sorrow and ill-luck. He
found time to do these things, as most
men find time to do what they want
to do, and what seems to them really 4
worth while. :
Not all of the letters he wrote we're D
answered-not many of them were, l L
suppose, for people are t~houghtless, e
procrastinating, and ignorant, and 4
inexperienced, but none of them were Z
forgotten, and everyone, 1 feel sure, Il
added to the respect, and love which
became his heritage.
1 came to see that the results which d
'ome from writing these letters of
courtesy, as l have called them, re- y
Jay MANIFOLD the effort that must be
tut forth in doing it. 81
When, later in life, 1 became inter-
sted myself in writing letters of
courtesy, as I have called them,
vas somewhat discouraged at first; Al
thought that they had nc effect upon
hose who received them, that the BE-
eople were not especially helped or ~
leased, but later 1 came to see quite ~
differently. s
Every year l write a score of letters
r more to the young fellows in col
ege who have made the highest scho- Is
lstic average, and l attempt to make
lese letters as individual as can. IS
lost of them are never acknowledged. @
of them 1 never hear from in
ny remote way, but I know they
ring pleasure and encouragement.
lat they are shown with pride and
mt home to father and mother. and
even are produced in the T3
paper, as an indication of what
he of the favorite sons is doing to
ing credit to the old home town. ~
he n who writes such letters must e
1t expect them to be answered. "A
ough, of course, they should be. but HH
can be sure that they will not be IN
rgotten, and that their effect will q
far-reaching. II
Some time ago, l determined that I "a
ould make a practice of writing n
oh letter a day. There are plenty
opportunities. The preacher has Fl
netting worth while to say in
urch Sunday, the soprano has an
'ective solo, 1 notice in the paper 81
Smith is married, or that Peck
S a new boy; Granger loses his
other, or Thomas is elected presi-
MT of Kiwanis-the opportunities
e infinite.
The letters are informal always in
a%racter, pleasant, familiar, with
st names and nicknames employed,
the relationship warrants such q