Page:When You Write a Letter (1922).pdf/73

 think it is a matter of paying your money and taking your choice. It is never correct to begin a letter "Mr. Babcock," or "Friend Harrington," or even "Dear Friend"; such forms are as unconventional and as unsophisticated as saying, "Mr. Brown, meet Mr. Jones," when introducing one man to another. Inexperienced people use such forms because they appear more friendly than the more conventional forms; old people use them because that was the custom when they were young. These last we can justify. If the address of the one to whom it is written is included it should not be placed at the beginning of the letter as is regularly done in business correspondence, but in the lower left-hand corner of the sheet, at the close of the letter. If it is not desired to include such an address at all, and there is no good reason why it should be included so far as I can see, then the letter may begin at once with the complimentary introduction and may give the date and place of writing in the lower left-hand corner at the end of the letter. The two letters below will sufficiently illustrate what I have in mind.