Page:A Desk Book on the Etiquette of Social Stationary.djvu/28

 it is what we write, not how we write, that counts.

The good letter is first well spelled and readable, without doubts of ending g's and uncrossed t's. It is direct and clear, void of rambling sentences which require dissecting at the page end, and lastly, it is a personal pen picture—bringing the sender quickly to the mind's eye, and drawing the cords of friendship close.

Remember that friends, even the best of them, although interested in you and yours, care little to read four well-filled pages of domestic news. The departing cook, the teething baby and the food one's husband cannot eat, are not all-absorbing topics to the recipient, and unless of a serious nature, should be left out, or touched on only in a humorous way. It's an interesting little study in possibilities to put down the serious version (to oneself) of a household problem, and then convert the same situation into jest form. It creates that touch of buoyancy which can show a laugh for