The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1925-02-06
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EXCURSIONS in
CORRESPO NDENCE
By THOMAS ARKLE CLARK
Dean Of Men, University Of Illinois.
Everybody Writes Letters

Everybody Writes Letters
r HAVE always been interested In
writing letters and in getting them.
One Of my diversions, full Of excite
ment and possibilities, when as a
child rode to the nearby town on
Saturday afternoons, was to stan1 In
the little stuffy congested post Office
and watch the distributing Of the mall.
Whenever through the grimy glass
could see Mr.. Seymour. the fat post
master, shove something into our mail
box, my heart leaped, for there was
the possibility, not imminent | con-
fess, that 1t might be letter for me.
l got letters at times from my
cousins In England, from my chum
who had moved to Wichita, Kans, and
from a distant relative at Minonk. who
always began his letters:
II take my pen in hand Though 1t
was often a pencil) to write you these
few lines to let you know that we are
all we'll and hope you are the same"
He told me little, but there was a thrill
in getting the letters.
It was real event to get letter,
1t was like going to the circus. or TAX
ing girl to the Fourth of July cele-
bration In Mink Grove. It was a
change from the dull routine Of every
day life, and I tried to learn how best
to make reply.
The first book / ever bought with
my own money was sort Of Ready
Letter Writer" collection of forms
supposed to illustrate every known sit
uation into which frail humanity could
stumble, and to provide an easy and
graceful way out. There were letters
from father to his daughter who had
just eloped, from bachelor Of mature
years making proposal OF marriage
to a widow, from merchant ordering
barrel Of salt from wholesale
house, but none Of the examples given
seemed In any way to f1t the condition
In which found myself They were
all formal. precise words; they made
me feel as ordinarily did when,, after
having been barefoot and clothed In a
scanty shirt and pair Of overalls dur
ing the week, on Sunday l put on
heavy stiff shoes and my Sunday suit.
They seemed to me not letters for or
binary folks. and helped me little.
Every one writes letters these days
no matter how ignorant and inexperi-
enced he is, and every one should
know something about how letters
might best be written There was a
letter in my mail this morning from a
tramp, and one from a man Of high
political position. The tramp was an
old friend Of mine. who had at one
time worked for me, and now being in
distress, wanted me to lend him three
dollars until better luck should come,
and the governor was also in distress
and wanted me to vote for him in the
coming election, and one letter was as
important to the writer as the other.
Twenty letters are written today
where one was sent fifty years ago
and yet many people who should know
write very ineffective letters.
1t has been my fortune, good or bad
for many years to have wide range
of correspondence, to learn through
failure and success, some Of the things
that go to make up an ineffective let.
ter, or to recognize one that has in II
qualities that are worth while.
There are recognized ways Of be
ginning and ending letters Of various
sorts, there are customs and conven'
lions recognized and followed by PEG.
pie of standing and position which we
should all know and follow. The form
and the arrangement Of letter counts
for more than we sometimes think, and
tells more about the writer than he
often suspects, just as printed call
ing or business card rather than an
engraved one marks the one who Of
fers 1t as careless of form and con.
vention. There is no reason why II
should any more than there is logical
reason for thinking that a man who
eats with his knife rather than with
his fork is boor, but it does.
The materials that man uses in
writing his letters, the way in which
letters are folded and addressed. the
promptness with which he answers
them, the language that he uses-all
these things count immensely toward
helping his letters to accomplish the
purpose for which they were intended.
knew a man once who lost an i'm
portant appointment because he had
in his letter of application misplaced
punctuation mark. There was another
man applying for the job, and his let
ter was. correctly done, and because
there seemed little difference in the
training and the experience of the two
men. the one who made no mistakes
got the, job.
In this short series Of articles am
going to try to tell you something
about the things to avoid in letter writ
ing and the things to give attention to.
am going to give you some illustra-
lions of good letters and tell you
many of the things which have found
very much worth while during the
years that have been writing letters.
"a 1921 nv Western Newspaper Union)