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Show EXCURSIONS IN CORRESPONDENCE By THOMAS ARKLE CLARK Dean of Men, University of Illinois. The Friendly Letter THE friendly letter Is, perhaps, the most often written of uny. Business Busi-ness Is pretty general, but one must be fairly mature before he Indulges to any extent In business correspondence. The friendly letter Is written by people peo-ple of nil ages, from the child just learning to print simple words to the grandmother of ninety. Most of us intend to write more than we sometimes some-times accomplish. Just now, I am confronted with the fact that I should have written Howie Decker before this, and there has been lying among my unanswered un-answered mail a letter from Yes Byers which is wealing out from having been handled so much. I shall get to It shortly, however. The friendly letter Is more desultory than other sorts. It need not be answered an-swered at once; in fact, excepting in cases of extreme sentiment, It is not to be expected that it will be answered Immediately. We call on our friends in the community In which we live every few weeks, or once a year, or whenever the spirit moves us, and that is about the way we answer friendly letters. Sometimes when the friendship friend-ship is recent, and the feeling is especially espe-cially warm, we may write oftener. but these are special cases, for which there are no rules. The friendly letter is Informal in character. It omits from the beginning j the street and the city address of the one to whom it is written ; it eliminates whenever possible or convenient, both in form and in materials, everything that would suggest the business letter, because it really does not concern itself with business. There is more liberty allowed in its construction than in other letters, because be-cause of the conditions under which It is written. Friendly'letters are written wherever and whenever time and opportunity op-portunity affords. They may be written writ-ten in a railway station on a pad of paper hastily picked up, during business busi-ness hours, when a moment of leisure comes, on the train, in hotels anywhere, any-where, when one has an unoccupied moment. In such cases, one cannot choose his mnterials carefully, and may be forgiven for not doing so. It is, of course, to one's intimate friends that such informal letters are written. In the friendly letter, one may be addressed, ad-dressed, in fact should be addressed, as he would be spoken to in everyday conversation, wdien the two persons are face to face. In the formal business and Drofessional affairs of life, we should be careful to remember the titles, and the positions of our friends. In addressing an official letter, even to a friend, I must still remember bis position, and his title, and say, "My dear Doctor Draper," or "Dear Mr. President," or "My dear Sir." In a friendly letter, however, if I know the man well enough, I may drop the formal for-mal salutation, and say, "Dear Edwin," or "My dear Tom," or "Dear K. C." It is quite permissible to use a nickname nick-name in such a letter. I have a friend to whom I have been writing for years. He holds a prominent position; he is, in his community, a man of dignity and distinction. His real name is William, Wil-liam, but sine? we were boys in college col-lege together I have, for no reason which I can now remember, called him "Jimmy," and, whenever I write him. he is still "Jimmy" today. He would not like it otherwise. The complimentary close of a friendly friend-ly letter should usually be "Sincerely yours," "Cordially yours." or even "Lovingly yours," if this last truly expresses ex-presses the feeling which you have. The unusual ending may be employed only when the relationship between I the two people is unusual, and warrants war-rants such an ending. In such a case the writer may express what he feels. To begin a letter "Friend Tom," or "Dear Friend," or to end it "Your Friend," is not now thought good form. Here again there Is no logical reason, excepting that it is old-fashioned, and out of date, like long whiskers, or hoop skirts. The friendly letter should avoid formality, for-mality, and stiffness in style. It should be as nearly like conversation as possible, pos-sible, and should in each case adapt itself to the individual addressed. Contractions, Con-tractions, elisions, and slang, even sometimes, if it is well selected, and appropriate slang, may be used, for slang has a good part In the vernacular , of pvervrlnv life. The friendly letier should be full of "aren't's," and "don't's," and "haven't's," and the thousand thou-sand and one forms of everyday speech which give naturalness to conversation. con-versation. The friendly letter should sound like talk; It should reveal the ! character, and the personality and the temperament of the one who is writ- I ing it; it should not sound like a book. If you want illustrations of good j friendly letters read the letters of I Stevenson, of Charles Lamb, of Theo- I (lore Roosevelt, and of Walter I-liues Page. t 1925, by "Western Newspaper Union) |