with a year's subscription. Answer the advertisement.
=Exercise 220--The Tone of the Letter=
Undue familiarity or an evidence of loss of temper will at once
frustrate the object of a letter. A dignified letter never shows either.
Just what constitutes a dignified letter is hard to define but fairly
easy to feel. This much is certain: it must be simple in structure,
direct in its wording, and so sincere in feeling that no one will doubt
its truth. Any extravagance of language, therefore, has no place in a
dignified letter.
Study the following to see whether they show dignity:
1
Tuesday, 5 P.M.
Miss Sarah Howard,
Denver, Colorado.
Dear Madam:
I have a great piece of CONFIDENTIAL news for you.
Take advantage of the remarkable offer our company is
making to you, and it will mean thousands of DOLLARS
in your pocket. Understand that this offer is not open
to every one. You have been especially selected. You
are the only one in your town who will hear of this
remarkable offer.
2
Elsworth, Brown & Co.,
120 Jefferson Ave.,
Detroit, Mich.
Gentlemen:
What is the matter with our last order? Have you
people gone out of business, or are you asleep? If we
don't get that order by the third, you'll never hear
from us again.
3
A letter to Mrs. Bixby, written Nov. 21, 1864.
Dear Madam:
I have been shown in the file of the War Department a
statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts
that you are the mother of five sons who have died
gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and
fruitless must be any words of mine which should
beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming.
But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the
consolation that may be found in the thanks of the
republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly
Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement,
and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved
and lost and the solemn pride that must be yours to
have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of
freedom.
Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln
=Exercise 221=
In writing the following letters, be definite and courteous: