The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1925-03-20

XK7HEN / was child, letter writ
w ing was more Of an art and less
of business than it now is. Care.
and thought, and preparation were
given to it, and the result was, in gen
eral, more satisfactory than are our
letters today. 1t cost more to send
letters, and to get a letter was some
thing of an event. Stenography, and
| typewriting. and reduced postage, and
modern business methods, have all
done much to increase the number of
letters written, though am not con-
WINGED that 1t has improved their
character.
Our present-day letters are more
mechanical. less personal, less indi-
vidual, than they once were. We out
line a general policy to stenogra-
pher, or dictate to her hurriedly, and
let it go at that. If there are errors
in the letters, the responsibility is
hers. We give no thought to such
tribes as spelling, and grammar, and
sentence structure; we are concerned
too often with big business, and do
not concern ourselves with trifies.
Stenography, and dictaphones, and
duplicating machines, have done much
to make letter writing rapid and easy,
but they have taken good deal away
| from the art of letter writing. 1t Is
very difficult to put anything like
personal touch into q dictated letter.
realize this from daily, personal ex-
perience. The process is too rapid,
| the method Is too mechanical, too lit
| tie time Is given to planning and
thinking out what one is to say; the
individual is given too little consid-
GRAFTON, and yet, the personal touch
is the most appealing element one can
| introduce, even into business letter.
have for years bought my clothes
| in a distant city which l occasionally
visit Whether it is true or not,
had conceived the idea that in doing
80, was better served, more perfectly
fitted, and that got something that
was in better style, and more in keep
| ing with my tastes. realized that i
| paid more than / should have done
in my home town-but what are
lew QOldIS IL OuC Is SullSucUs
I received letter few months
| ago from a local merchant, soliciting
| my PATRONAGE personal letter it
was. He had noticed the style of my
| clothes, the qualities of the materials
] had chosen, the care / gave them,
| and SO on. He would like to serve
me, he. was sure he could please me,
and, II SO, the result would be of bene.
| mt to us both. / would save money,
| and he would secure a good customer.
/ was flattered; went to see him;
he proved to me that he could make
his word good, and gave him an or
der. What difference did 1t make that
he had written a similar letter to a
score Of my friends? No two or them
were alike; he had studied his men,
and each letter contained the personal
| appeal.
The dictated letter is likely to be
| longer than necessary, or than circum-
stances warrant When we speak
without careful planning, as every one
must know who is often called upon
to talk extemporaneously, we are like
| ly to be little incoherent, to wander,
ultimately but not Immediately to
make our point. When one had to
write his letters long hand, there was
o certain crispness and terseness
which is not found in the present-day
letter.
When go off for my summer vaca-
ton, ] try to get away from every
thing but my mail. This is generally
so personal that feel under obliga-
ton to answer it myself. and this
without q stenographer, I am sur
prised, however, to see how much one
can compress into few sentences
when 1t is necessary. and time is
short. / can write dozen, or twenty,
or more letters day and still give
them little personal touch but they
are brief-very brief, and often bet
ter for being SO.
Even the briefest friendly letter Is
more appealing, If written by hand,
as friendly letters, always should be,
though many of ours are not because
of our apparent lack of time. Per-
haps the only things that can be said
in favor OF the typewriter letter are
that 1t saves time, and is generally
more easily read.
The best dictated letters that
have ever read are done by man
who does not answer his letters, ex-
cepting in unusual cases, on the day
on which he receives them. He reads
them carefully, and goes over them
twice. usually, If they are long, and
makes notes as he goes. In this way
he is able to weigh more carefully
what he wants to say, to phrase his
sentences with some finesse, and to
put more of himself into his letters.
He loses some time, it is true, but his
letters show the effect Of his care in
their added efficiency.
t@. 1928. Western Newspaper Union.)