The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-08-06

The Conclusion of the Matter
r COULD not in~telligentlv bring this
- series of papers to a close without
forming a few congratulations for the
purpose of helping those whose excur-
sions in correspondence have been less
extensive than my own.
| have come to see that letters may
have as distinct a personality as hui
man beings, or perhaps it would be
better to say that they are capable OF
revealing a personality. When you
take the envelope into your hand, even
before you open the letter, if you are
q keen observer, you can gain some
idea of the character of the man who
has written the letter, especially if the
letter is written in long hand. The
as much about the writer as do the
dress and the Of an indi-
vidual. a letter, by its form, may
show orderliness, judgment, regard for
detail, business efficiency, or ii may
show the opposite.
"A IIlI14h vi III - btlllz OA4HAA
cred for a prominent executive posi-
ton, for the filling of which, he is in
many ways qualified. The character
of his mind is shown to no small de-
gree by his exterior, and by the char
acter of his dress-the envelope, as it
were. His hands are not always neat
ly kept, his hair is a mop of tangled
grass, his clothes are soiled, and look
as if he went to bed with his boots on.
He is a little careless in speech and
thought, a little lacking in the delicate
refinements of social intercourse. His
exterior reveals that at once, and so a
letter may reveal its writer.
1 had a letter this morning from a
man who wishes to become the pastor
of the church of which I am a mem
Der. 1t was badly arranged, without
order or form. 1t looked like a young
school boys composition. I wondered
if it did not show to a great extent the
character of the mans mind, and sug-
gest the way in which his sermons
would be ordered.
Form counts in letter writing. as in
human relationships materials reveal
the man, just as clothing does.
Letter writing is something more
than the mere communication of facts
and mechanical details by written
characters from one individual to an
other. 1t is even in the most trivial
business letter, or it may be, the re
vealing of one personality to another.
We should write letters with the pur-
of selling ones products to the
other man. These may be varied in
character-automobiles, love, oil stock,
friendship, groceries, bonds, sympathy,
observation-disclosures it may be,
Sometimes our only purpose is to be
understood, sometimes we want to in
fuence the judgment or the will, at
others to develop interest, and arouse
emotion, and to persuade.
1 had a beautiful letter from a boy
this morning. I had helped him a
good deal I had dragged him back
once or twice from intellectual and
moral failure, and he was now climb
ing up slowly, but surely, to success.
What he wanted to show me in his let
ter was gratitude, appreciation. He
wanted to make it clear to me that he
understood what I had been trying to
do for him. and that he would never
forget it, and he did the job very well.
There was another letter from a
who wanted to sell M my win
ter's supply of coal. His was a very
specific letter, logical and direct. 1t
was made up of figures, Of statistics,
of relative prices, of the results of
chemical analysis, with q final empha-
sis on the Importance of making the
deal quickly, and taking advantage of
the market. He got off onto no by
roads, he was guilty of no flight of
Imagination, he had in mind the n
of selling me coal, and he stuck
to that religiously. Unfortunately |
had already bought my coal, or l am
sure his logic would have won my
trade.
To write the best letter, one must
know his man, and must study wha
will most strongly appeal to him, and
so the best letter is always a personal
one. If I write to you the anne letter
that / send to a thousand other people,
1t will be like a proprietary medicine
.concocted to do something for every
malady, but there will be little that is
personal in it. There will be a large
mortality in the lists of those to whom
the stock letter is sent.
There are infinite possibilities in the
writing of letters-in doing business,
in forming friendships and keeping
them, In influencing character, in re-
vealing personality. 1t is an art that
can be learned, but the learning will
close observation, care, the ex-
ercise of judgment and good taste. 1t
will require a knowledge of the indi-
vidual and application of that knowl-
edge to the individual, but when one
1t il one of the most valuable
assets that a man can have.
% 1925, by Western Newspaper Union)