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Show ::""::"::":;"::::j;!-:?::'--::;!:f EXCURSIONS IN CORRESPONDENCE By THOMAS ARKLE CLARK Dean of Men, University of IllinoU. The Envelope THE envelope in which a letter is enclosed should fit the letter comfortably. com-fortably. It should not be so large as I to look like a fifty-inch coat, on. a j man with a thirty-four-inch chest measure, nor should It fit so snugly as to induce bad words in the recipient when he trys to pry the letter out of its covering. It should be of the same ' color and texture as the letter paper, ' as it' one were made for the other, as ' they should be. ; The matter of addressing an en-I en-I velope seems really trifling, and one j which ought not to require much attention, at-tention, but quite the contrary is true. Upon the envelope depends often the fate of the letter. The neatly, and correctly addressed envelope may very easily dispose the reader I'avorubly toward the writer of the letter, even before It is opened, and while he Is i holding It in Ids hand. The so-called j trifling things of life are often the I most far-reaching in their influence and effect. The address on an envelope .should always occupy a little more than the lower half of the available space, and should be placed toward the right end of that space. It will usually consist ! of three or four lines, and these may ! be arranged in one of two ways. The j first of these is called the block meth-! meth-! od of arrangement. In this arrange- ment the lines are placed one under ! the other without indentation, and I usually all punctuation, excepting I such as indicates abbreviation, Is omitted, although the regular method of punctuation may be used If It is desired. The illustration below Indicates Indi-cates the method suggested. Mr. John Hancock Jones 1)27 West Main Street ISlue Island Illinois. The second method Is more commonly com-monly employed. In this, the first line of the address Is placed on or near'lhe middle of the space indicated for the address, and the succeeding lines are indented evenly toward the right. The lines should not be Indented In-dented so far us to give an unstable. tp-heavy effect to the address, as if one were falling over the other. This address, also, may. or may not be punctuated, as the writer prefers. The tendency now seems to be to omit ! punctuation. Mrs. George Francis I'.rown, 2:i7 Lake Lawn Avenue, Chicago. Illinois. j I Abbreviations in an address may be I used, but the fewer the better. The ' ' abbreviation is the sign of haste, or j i careles-ness. or laziness, and none of j these qualities Is a desirable one to j reveal. The address with few or no nhbrei iations looks better, and an-pearance an-pearance counts for a good deal these (lays. Even biisine-s men are em- j 1 ploying abbreviation.- lo-s and lc-s. j The enelojie :l:oubl 11I-0 bear the ndlro-s of the writer of Ihe letter. 1 Tie re Is a growing practice, among : women especiallv. In their social cor- 1 I respondonce to have this return ad- j dress printed, or written, or engraved I upon the flap of the envelope, so that I It is not seen until the envelope Is j I turned over. This position of the re- j turn address Is chosen, perhaps, because be-cause It gives the envelope a less businesslike appearance than It would have If the address were placed upon j I the front of the envelope. 1 The ordinary position for the nd- j i dress of the writer of the letter Is I the upper left-hand corner of the en- j I velope. Such an address Insures the I j return of the letter within a few days. I j should it not be possible to deliver j I II to the one lo whom It is addressed, I j and should be on all letters. I j Many people, women more often i than men, I believe, In writing a let- j ter do not give any accurate address ; In the body of Ihe letter, but expect I Ihe recipient of the letter lo get Headdress He-address from Ihe envelope. Few men ! who receive 11 large dally mall, open ' J their own letters, and so do not see j the envelopes in which they caine. ' j This morning, for Instance, when I ; j came to dictate my loiters, I found one from Walter Mawson. Walter j : lives In Chicago, ami knows that know that be does. Ills Idler, how- j I ever, did not indicate the exact loca- I j lion of his residence In that village. J ; nor, after the clerk In my olllce had j I overturned the waste basket, anil I j gone through Its contents In search of Ihe envelope In which Waller's Idler had come, did we And that he had given his street number on the envelope. en-velope. After looking up some previous pre-vious correspondence his address was discovered, however, and I could go on with Hie business. It would have been useless to have addressed a let-fer let-fer to "Waller PuwRon, Chicago, Illinois," for though Walter Is a bright boy, lie Is not well enough known In Ids home town for a Idler lo reach Mm unless II bears a Hired address, and a good many other people are like til 111- It Is not enough for a return ! address to be on the envelope only; ! there .should In; one In the body of I Ihe Idler. j ( i). I'llir,, W.-lnrn Niwp;ipiT t'nl'in |