45. Various Kinds of Letters.—You have seen that the diary or journal is the most informal and simple form of written expression, since it is intended, as a rule, for the writer only. The letter is less personal than the diary, because it is addressed to one other person; but it is more personal than general writing (description, stories, etc.), which is addressed to a number of persons, most of whom the writer does not know. Letters differ widely according to their purposes, but the merit of any sort of a letter may be judged by putting yourself in the place of the person receiving it, and trying to feel whether you would be satisfied by it. Letters may be classified as follows according to their purposes:— 1. To bridge over, as far as possible, a separation between people who know each other well, and to take the place of a conversation between them. Friendly letters. 2. To arrange matters of social intercourse in the most correct and pleasing manner, to extend and accept or refuse invitations, etc. Social letters. 3. To give information or ask questions as clearly as possible. Business letters. 4. To give information or ask questions as briefly as is consistent with perfect clearness. Telegrams. 5. To take the place of going about and telling many people the same thing. Notices. 6. To present a request for a favor in the most persuasive manner. Petitions.
46. Friendly Letters.—There are five main parts to every letter: (1) the heading; (2) the salutation; (3) the body, or what is written; (4) the complimentary ending; (5) the conclusion. In a friendly letter the heading, which consists of the post-office address of the writer and the date of writing, is sometimes omitted, although it is always best to write the date, even in letters of the greatest intimacy. Some of the usual salutations in letters to near friends or relatives are: My dear Mother, Dear Father, Dear Mary, My dear Mrs. Smith, My dear Aunt Martha. According to the degree of intimacy the usual complimentary endings are: Sincerely yours, Very sincerely yours, Cordially yours, Heartily yours, Yours ever, Affectionately yours, Yours lovingly, Your loving daughter, Your affectionate son, etc. In letters to members of the family or close friends the first name only is sometimes signed. The following are good typical forms for friendly letters:— (1) Dorset, N.H.,
May 10, 1906. My dear Gilbert,— ————————————————————————————
——————————————————————————————————
————————— Faithfully yours, James Meyer.
(2) Butte, April 16, Thursday. Dear Mother,— ————————————————————————————
——————————————————————————————————
————————— Your affectionate son, Henry.
The ideal in friendly letters is to write to your correspondent what you would say to him if you could see him, and to answer the questions he would put to you. If you are away on a visit, for instance, the questions he would probably ask are, "What sort of a place is it where you are? Are you having a good time? What are you doing to amuse yourself?" Try to think what sort of a letter you would like to have him write if he were away, and write accordingly. Although you wish to write naturally and almost as though you were talking, it is best to make out a list of the really important things you wish to say, or you will find that you have come to the end of your letter without stating some vital facts you wished your friend to know. It has been said that a friendly letter should be like a conversation, but you must remember that it is a conversation limited in time. If you were about to see your friend for only a half hour, it would be well to think of a few main facts you wished to tell him, or questions you wish him to answer, and bear them in mind; otherwise your time might come to an end before you had said the important things. Even for the most informal letter it is always best to make an outline, although it may be a very brief one. Suppose you wish to describe the way in which you spent Christmas away from home. Probably nothing very unusual happened, and you may think an outline unnecessary; but you will find, even in relating the facts of one day, that if you do not have some plan and keep in your mind the main events in their proper order, you will be likely to write a confused and incomplete account of what you did. Some such outline as the following is needed:— Introduction. The place where I was,—city, country, or village; the weather; general conditions. (This information can be given as briefly as you please, in a paragraph, but it is essential to understanding what you say about Christmas Day itself.) Main Body of the Letter. Morning. Why we hung up our stockings, and how we received our presents. Dinner. How we helped prepare it, and any special features of it. Afternoon. Coasting. Evening. Charades, and the one we thought particularly good. Ending. Inquiries about your friend's Christmas, friendly greetings, and the close.
A letter written on the above outline follows:— Newtonville, Wis. January 2, 1906. My dear Harry,— I promised you before the holidays began that I would let you know how I had spent my Christmas, but the last day of the vacation has come and I have not written you a line. The truth is that I have been having such a good time every minute that I have not realized how fast the week has been going. You remember my big cousin who goes to the State University, don't you? He came to visit our school once, last winter. His father, my uncle, invited our family to come out here and have a real "country Christmas" on his farm, and here we have been since the day after school closed. He lives in a fine, large farmhouse, with room enough in it for his big family and ours, too. We are three miles from town, but there are plenty of horses to drive, and the air is so bracing and the weather so clear and cold that we don't mind the walk. Besides that, there are such a lot of us that nobody ever has to go alone. I never knew what fun it is to be in a big family. There is always somebody ready for a tramp whenever you want to go out, and in the evenings it is like being at a party all the time. On Christmas eve we hung up our stockings, even the grown-ups. That was for the little children, who still think there is a Santa Claus. There was hardly room enough along the mantelpiece for them all, and the next morning, when they were all full and knobby, they actually overlapped. Christmas morning we were all up ever so early. Before it was really light, my big cousin was around knocking at the doors, calling us to breakfast and shouting, "Merry Christmas!" We scrambled into our clothes and raced downstairs to breakfast, and then to the stockings. We pretended we thought Santa Claus had just that minute gone, and you ought to have seen the little girls look up the chimney after him. By the time everybody had looked at all his own presents and the things other people had, it was time to begin thinking about dinner. We helped get it. I shouldn't be surprised if we were more in the way than a help, but it was lots of fun. The girls worked around in the kitchen and helped set the table, and we boys decorated the rooms with greens and turned the ice-cream crank. There were eighteen of us at table, and you couldn't hear yourself think for the talking and laughing. The last thing we did was to pass around a big sheet of paper, and everybody wrote his name on it and anything else he wanted to say. We are going to try, all of us, to get together that way every Christmas, and make such a list each time for a remembrance. My big cousin wrote, "United we cook, united we eat, united we die!" I said it was the best Christmas I had ever had. We had eaten so much that after dinner we just sat around and talked for a while, and then a crowd of boys went out to coast and try our new sleds. There is a fine hill right near the house, and the snow was exactly right. You can coast as much as ten city blocks without slowing up at all, and then you run along on a level for four or five more. In the evening some of the neighbors came in and we played charades. I never knew you could have so much fun at that. We thought of a number of good words, but our side had the best, "Russian." We played the first syllable like a football "rush," and that was exciting. My cousin is on the university team, and he told us just what to do to have it like real football. We acted the last syllable as "shun," and none of us would look at one of the girls,—"shunned" her, you know. For the whole word we put on all the furs we could find, and paraded around with banners, and pretended to throw bombs. The other side couldn't guess for a long time what we were acting. We were pretty tired when we went to bed, but I thought again it was about the nicest Christmas I had ever known. I hope you had a good time, too, and I wish you would write me about it. It must have been very different from mine, since you were in the city. Did you get the new skates you wanted? My father gave me a pair. I hope I shall hear soon from you that your Christmas was as great a success as mine. Sincerely yours,
George Allen. Exercise 78.—Make a similar outline and write a letter on any one of the following topics:— (1) Your Christmas holidays in the city. (2) A trip in a boat. (3) The use of a new camera. (4) The beginning of a new study in school. (5) The beginning of new lessons out of school. (6) The last game of baseball, basket-ball, etc., you have seen. (7) A railway journey. (8) Your friend is away on a visit. Write him all that has gone on in the neighborhood and school since he left. (9) Your parents are away. Write them the news of your home. (10) You have found a certain book interesting. Write your friend about it and recommend it to him. (11) Describe an interesting address or play you have heard. (12) An accident which you saw or one in which you were. (13) An expedition in the woods. (14) An entertainment you have recently seen or one which you helped to give. (15) A new pet. (16) A carpenter shop you have arranged for yourself in an unused room. (17) A picnic. (18) A new society which has been started in your school. (19) You have your parents' permission to undertake a walking trip or bicycling tour of several days through the country. Write to a friend, stating your plans and asking him to join you. (20) A similar letter proposing a week's camping-out in the woods. Note.—A longer list of subjects for friendly letters is not given because almost any of the subjects for other forms of composition can be treated in a letter. Moreover, it is highly desirable that pupils should write letters to real people,—relatives, friends, or pupils in other schools with whom an exchange has been arranged. A real correspondence, where the pupil feels he is attempting to interest and please an actual person, arouses much more spirit than purely imaginary letters.
47. Letters of Social Intercourse.—In form, letters of social intercourse stand between the purely friendly letter and the business letter. The address of the writer and the date of the letter often stand at the foot of the letter, beginning opposite the signature in the more informal notes, as in the following form:— My dear Mrs. Blackmar,— ————————————————————————————
——————————————————————————————————
————————— Very sincerely yours,
Mary Holden. 22 High Street, Columbus, O.
April 12, 1906.
In the most formal letter of social intercourse, the address of the writer and the date stand at the beginning, and the complete name and address of the person addressed stand at the foot, thus:— 428 Bolton Place, Pittsburgh, Pa.,
September 26, 1906. My dear Sir,— ————————————————————————————
——————————————————————————————————
————————— Very sincerely yours,
Richard White. Mr. Elbert Peters,
Ross Center, N.Y.
Sometimes, instead of writing Mr. before a name, Esq. is written after it, but the two are never used at the same time. In style, the letter of social intercourse should be as graceful as it is possible to make it, although it should always be simple and not too long. Many invitations and answers to them have a form fixed by tradition (see Formal Invitations, § 48), but the informal social letter is almost entirely a matter of taste. There are, however, a few courteous phrases which are so much used as to be almost fixed forms. Such are: "I hope that we may have the pleasure of your company," "I hope that you can be with us," "I regret most sincerely that it is impossible for me to accept your kind invitation," "I shall be very happy to be with you," "It is with great pleasure that I accept your kind invitation," "I regret that a previous engagement prevents me from accepting your invitation," etc. The following is a typical informal invitation:— My dear Mrs. Wilson,— My mother wishes me to write you that we are planning to take a drive to Chester on next Tuesday, and should be very glad to have you with us. We are to leave at nine o'clock, so that we may be at the Chester Hotel in time for dinner. I hope that is not too early an hour for you, and that we may have the pleasure of your company on that day. Very sincerely yours,
Margaret Hunt. Hilltop Lodge, Wis.,
January 14, 1906. Exercise 79.—The following letters should be written on note paper or on paper ruled to that size:— 1. Write an acceptance to the above invitation. 2. Write a note to a friend of your mother's, saying that your mother is slightly indisposed and cannot keep an engagement. Write a suitable answer. 3. Write a note to a friend of your father's, asking him in your father's name to join a fishing party; a whist club; a hunting expedition; to be one of a theater party. 4. Write a note to a friend, boy or girl, asking him or her to go to the theater with you, to come and spend the day with you, to come to a party you are giving, to attend some athletic contest with you, to go for a day's tramp with a party of friends, to play at a concert, to take part in a debate or entertainment, to lend you a book, to give you the address of a friend, to join with you in forming a club among your friends. 5. Write a note to a friend, thanking him for having helped you in an entertainment, for having lent you a book, for having done a service to a friend, for any favor shown you. 6. Write a note to your teacher, explaining your absence from school, asking her to send word to you about the lessons done in your absence; asking her to excuse you early from school, giving some specific reason; asking her for the date of the first day of school following a vacation; asking if you may be a few days late in returning to school; asking her to be present at a meeting of one of your societies; inviting her to your house for dinner. 7. Write a note to the principal of your school, asking him to be present at an entertainment given by your grade, at a spelling match, at a debate, or any special event in your class room; asking him to excuse you from drawing, on account of weak eyes, or from any other study, giving reasons; asking him to give you a letter of introduction to the principal of the new school to which you are about to go; asking him to be a judge in some contest in your class room; thanking him for having acted as judge.
48. Formal Invitations.—These are written and answered according to certain fixed forms and in the third person. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Miller request the pleasure of Mr. Albert Knight's company at dinner on Wednesday evening, the tenth of March, at half past seven o'clock. 221 West Long Street,
Friday morning. Mr. Albert Knight accepts with pleasure Mr. and Mrs. Miller's kind invitation to dinner on Wednesday evening at half past seven o'clock. 44 Park Place,
Saturday morning. Mrs. William Morris
Miss Morris
At Home
On Wednesday, March tenth,
from four until six o'clock. 23 Grant Avenue.
Extremely formal invitations, especially to public and semi-public functions, are often impersonal in form, as in the following:— The Annual Concert
of the
Elementary Schools of St. Joseph, Michigan,
will be held in the
Assembly Room of the High School,
Tuesday evening, May twentieth,
at eight o'clock.
You are cordially invited to be present. The President and Members of the School Board request the honor of your company at the formal dedication of the New High School, on Wednesday, November third, at half past three o'clock. Exercise 80.—I. Study these forms and copy them accurately on note paper. Write a formal invitation from Captain and Mrs. Arthur Elliott to Mrs. Alice Johnson for dinner; from Mrs. Henry White to Mr. and Miss Kellogg for an evening at home. Write acceptance and regret for each. II. 1. Prepare a card for a semi-public reception given by your school, by your church, by a club or society. 2. Prepare a card for a school concert, exhibition of school work, exhibition of work in Physical Culture; for a play given by the school Dramatic Society; for a May Festival given by the Eighth Grade; for the laying of a corner stone of a new schoolhouse, of a church, of a public building of any kind.
49. Telegrams.—In a telegram clearness is the first quality to be sought. Because of the cost of sending, the telegram is usually limited to ten words, excluding the address and signature, and this brevity renders it difficult to state all that you wish clearly, and makes it an exercise in ingenuity to condense the information you wish to give without making it hard to understand. For instance, you wish your brother, who is visiting in another town, to meet you at a certain train on Monday and spend the day hunting with you, if the weather is good. You would word your telegram in some such way as this:— September 9, 1906. Mr. Peter Whiting,
Danfield, Md. Meet me eight thirty, ready for hunting, if weather favorable. John Whiting.
Although you have used incomplete sentences, you have said enough so that your brother will understand what you mean. Exercise 81.—Condense as much as possible and write as telegrams, thinking before you write what are the essential parts of the message, and leaving out all else:— 1. Mother has gone to spend the day with Aunt Mary, and wishes you to call there for her in the evening and bring her home. 2. Before you come home, be sure to call on the lady who is to be teacher of the seventh grade here next year. She lives on Horning Street. 3. We are all to be away from home on a picnic the day you speak of coming to see us. We should like to have you join us. 4. There is to be a very interesting entertainment here the day I was to go home. May I stay over another day to see it? 5. The river is too swollen for the canoe trip we planned for Saturday. Bring your tools along when you come, and we will try to make a raft. 6. Henry has just passed his examinations for Dartmouth College. He will stop in Farmington to see you, on his way home, Tuesday. 7. Can your basket-ball team put off the match we were to play on Monday until Wednesday? The field we hoped to have is engaged for Monday. 8. Will your debating society be willing to meet ours, on the 27th of this month, in our class room? 9. We have just heard of the burning of your schoolhouse and wish to extend our sympathy. Will you telegraph us if there is anything we can do to help you? 10. The hour of the train on which we were to leave has been changed, and we shall not reach home until six o'clock. 11. On unpacking my trunk I cannot find my volume of Tennyson's poems. Did you put it in the trunk or was it left behind? 12. I have spilled ink on my best dress. May Aunt Jane buy a new one for me to wear at my cousin's party? 13. We cannot find the key to the back door. If you took it with you by mistake, please return it to father's business address. 14. Will the seventh grade of your school join ours in a nature-study excursion to the river next Saturday? 15. Your mother is away from home on her birthday. Send her an appropriate telegram of congratulation and greeting. 16. You are to pass through the town where a friend lives and will have a half hour wait at the station. Telegraph him, asking him to come there to see you.
50. Business Letters.—In a business letter the five main parts are very full and complete. The heading contains, as in other letters, the post office address of the writer and the date. Above the salutation is written the full name and address of the person to whom the letter is sent. There are slightly varied forms for the salutation:— Dear Sir; My dear Sir; Dear Sirs; Dear Madam; Dear Mesdames; Sir; Gentlemen; Madam; Mesdames. The complimentary ending is usually one of the following:— Truly yours; Very truly yours; Faithfully yours; Respectfully yours. Sometimes, in letters slightly more formal, these endings are written thus:— I am,
Very truly yours,
Andrew D. Jordan. I remain,
Respectfully yours,
Andrew D. Jordan.
Under the signature of the writer is frequently put his title; and if a clerk has written the signature, per followed by his initials is placed below. Very truly yours,
Andrew D. Jordan,
Secretary. Truly yours,
Matthew Bennett,
per D. C.
The following is a correct and usual form for a business letter:— 501 South Lincoln Street, Cleveland, O.
September 20, 1906. Messrs. Charles Wright and Sons,
42 Hilton Street,
Norwood, Pa. Dear Sirs,— Please send me the latest catalogue of your goods, and state whether you pay cost of transportation for large orders. Very truly yours,
Henry L. Perkins. Exercise 82.—Study the forms given above, and write the beginning and end of each of the following letters:— 1. Mr. Henry Smith, 44 Bolton Place, Brooklyn, N.Y., writes on November 10, 1906, to Messrs. John Murray Brothers, 32 Canal Street, New York. 2. Miss Helen Reed, Principal of the Woodlawn School, Saylesville, N.J., writes on October 10, 1906, to Mr. Percy Painter, 607 West 14th Street, Trenton, N.J. 3. The Landsdowne Manufacturing Company, 241 Greenwich Place, San Francisco, writes on May 7, 1906, to the San Francisco agent of the Northern Pacific R. R., 22 Newton Street, San Francisco.
The writing of business letters should be taken up after the exercise in writing telegrams, for brevity is almost as essential in the one as in the other. There is, of course, no need to write incomplete sentences as in the telegram, but the same general process should be followed; that is, to see what are the really important points you wish to state, to express these with unmistakable clearness, and to say no more. It is proper to add that a person of education and cultivation is recognized at once as such by the letters he writes. Even in a matter-of-fact letter, too, you may often reveal, without realizing it, your courtesy and kindliness as well as your intelligence. We constantly judge people by their letters. Note.—A good exercise is to have the pupils assume characters in the business world and answer each other's letters. An incomplete letter can often be detected thus, by being put to a practical test.
Do not begin to write your letter until you have made a brief outline of what you wish to say, in the order in which it should be said. For instance, you wish to apply for the position of errand boy. To write a complete letter, you need some such outline as the following, even though it be only in your head and not written down:— Give the reason for applying for the position by stating how you have heard of the need for errand boys (through advertisement, personally, etc.); state your own qualifications for the work as simply and plainly as possible, mentioning your age, education, health, experience, recommendations, and any other facts that may bear on your capacity to give satisfaction; and when you have given these essential points, close your letter.
A letter written on such lines follows:— 55 Henly Street, Baltimore, Md.
January 17, 1906. Messrs. John Hampton and Sons,
225 Fulton St., New York. Dear Sirs,— I have heard through your agent here that you are looking for boys as messengers and errand boys. My family is about to move to New York and I wish to make application for one of those positions with your firm. I am fifteen years old, in good health, and have just graduated from the public schools in this city. For the last three summers I have acted as errand boy for the firm of Clancy Brothers here, which work I am told by your agent is similar to what you wish. I inclose letters of recommendation from the head of that firm and from the principal of my school. Hoping to hear from you favorably,
Very truly yours,
Peter Miller. Exercise 83.—I. Write the answer to the above. II. Write, in the same manner, letter and answer, making a short outline first in each case:— 1. A letter to a bicycle firm, asking to be given the agency for your town or locality. State why you think their bicycles would sell well, and what your qualifications for the position are. 2. Letter to a large grocery store, offering to sell them homemade preserves, nuts, maple sugar, candy, popcorn-balls, or anything you can make or gather in the country. 3. Letter to a florist, offering to supply him with autumn leaves, ferns, country flowers of any kind, moss, birchbark, etc. 4. Letter to a country newspaper, offering to write a weekly news letter. 5. Letter to a country church, offering to repeat for them an entertainment which has been successful in your own church or school Note.—Make the letters above complete in all details, as to distance from the city or country, cost of transportation, etc.; and in the answer give full terms and conditions. 6. Letter to a livery stable, asking their price for a sleigh ride for a party of twelve. 7. Letter to the owner of an athletic field, asking his price for the use of the field every Tuesday afternoon during April and May. 8. Letter to a firm of dealers in athletic goods, asking for a reduced rate for an outfit for basket-ball, baseball, etc., and giving reasons why you think you should have a reduction. 9. To a piano manufacturer, asking lowest prices for a piano for the school and easiest methods of payment, installments, etc. Explain that the pupils are attempting to raise the money by entertainments. 10. To a bank, inclosing check and asking them to deposit it to your brother's credit, and to send acknowledgment to his address. Exercise 84.—Write the following: 1. To a carpenter, asking price of shelf for your class room. Give all necessary information about length, width, etc. 2. To a dressmaker, asking price for making a dress. Give all particulars. 3. To a department store, asking to open an account. Give references. 4. To the Gas Company, saying that you are about to leave town for a month and wish the gas turned off the house during that time. 5. To a theater, asking what reduction will be made if a number of pupils from your school buy tickets together. 6. To a railroad, asking what reduction in price will be made for a school excursion. 7. To a grocer, milkman, butcher, making arrangements for daily delivery of goods at your house. 8. To a caterer, asking prices for a large reception. 9. To the leader of a musical organization, asking his prices for playing at a school entertainment. 10. To a person who is to speak at your school, stating exactly what the occasion is, who will form his audience, how long he is expected to speak, etc.
51. Notices.—In olden times, when any one wished to announce a meeting or give some information of common interest, he hired the town crier. This was a man who went about the town with a horn or bell, attracting as many people as possible to him, and then crying out in a loud voice the news he had to tell. The notice you put up on the blackboard in your class room, the slip of paper you post on the walls of your schoolhouse, to announce an entertainment, an examination, or a meeting of one of your clubs, is the modern town crier. The notices which you see in the newspapers, telling people the time and date of a public meeting, or announcing church services, also take the place of a town crier. There is this difference. If the crier forgot to tell the people listening to him any important detail of his news, they could at once call out and ask him; but if a notice is incomplete, there is no way for the people interested to get the information needed. If you will study notices of various kinds, you will see that good ones, that is, notices which are brief, clear, complete, and not clumsy, are not common; and, when you try to write them, you will probably find it more difficult than you thought to be a good town crier. A meeting for the purpose of forming a club for the study of birds will be held on Thursday afternoon at half past three, in the Seventh Grade room. Any pupils in grades higher than the Fourth, who are interested in bird study, are eligible for membership, and are cordially invited to attend the meeting. If a sufficient number appear before four o'clock, an expedition to the Wright Woods will be made, under the leadership of the teachers of the Seventh Grade.
In studying this notice you will see that a great deal is contained in it. Place, date, hour, and purpose of the meeting are contained in the first sentence. In the next is definitely stated the condition for membership in the club, and in the last is placed an inducement to make the meeting a large one. Another example follows:— A Christmas entertainment will be given by the pupils of the Eighth Grade on Friday afternoon at three o'clock, in the Seventh Grade room. A short play will be presented, and the Glee Club of the school will sing twice. Admission, ten cents. It is hoped that there will be a large number present, as the proceeds go to the piano fund. Exercise 85.—1. The Bird Club is formed, and you wish to announce a field expedition, on a Saturday, when every one is to bring his lunch. State place and time and date of meeting; probable length of the expedition; cost, if any; special equipment, such as rubbers; and what will be done in case of bad weather. 2. Write a notice for a regular meeting of the Bird Club, giving topic to be discussed. 3. You wish to announce a competition for a prize for the best story about a bird, for the best drawing of a bird, for the best plan of work for the club, for the best description of one of its excursions. State conditions of contest, time when contributions must be handed in, maximum and minimum length of article or size of drawing, what the prize is, etc. 4. Similar notice for prize competition for best Christmas story, Fourth of July article, Thanksgiving poem, etc.; for the best amateur photograph of the school, for the best drawing. 5. Write notice for the formation of a Kodak Club; of a football team; of a walking club; of a dramatic society; of a literary society; of a glee club; of a general athletic association; of a school library; of a chess club. 6. Write notices for a regular meeting of these societies.
In writing notices for an address or entertainment it is often desirable to give a little space to a brief description or characterization of the speaker, as in the following:— Dr. William T. Harris, the former National Commissioner of Education at Washington, will speak on Education and Philosophy at the morning session on Tuesday, at half-past nine o'clock, in the large Assembly Hall. Dr. Harris is one of the most distinguished of living educators. A general discussion will follow the address. Exercise 86.—Write a notice for an address by the President of the United States, by a senator, by one of the clergymen of your town, by the superintendent of city schools, by the mayor of your town, by any public person whom you would like to hear. Exercise 87.—1. Write a notice of a spelling match between two grades in your school, of an athletic contest of any kind, of a concert, of a play, of a school expedition to visit an historical monument, of the dates of a holiday, of a picnic, of a celebration of Washington's birthday, of a debate, of a celebration of Hallowe'en. 2. Write a notice stating that the skating is good on a pond near the school; that the pond is declared unsafe; that pupils are asked not to pass near a building that is being erected on the same street as the school on account of danger from falling timber; that pupils are requested to be very quiet in passing a house where some one lies seriously ill; that the city or village authorities have forbidden coasting down a certain street; that baseball is allowed on certain days in the park; that bonfires will be allowed in the streets in honor of some celebration; that the pupils of your school are expected to take part in the parade on Decoration Day, in any town celebration; that song birds are not to be killed; that a bridge near the school is unsafe; that all pupils must be vaccinated before a certain date.
52. Appeals.—When brief, these are in the nature of notices; when longer, they are like open letters. They aim to move people to take action benefiting some good cause, and should be as brief as is possible while giving a sufficiently full explanation of the necessity for action. Always state plainly and definitely how the action desired may be taken, to whom contributions may be sent, etc. The following is an example of a brief appeal. Like any such communication, it may be lengthened as much as is desirable, by dwelling on the good that a library would do under the conditions mentioned, by citing examples of successful school libraries elsewhere, etc. Such expansion is only necessary when the people to whom you make your appeal know little or nothing of the matter. The public school which has just been completed near the iron foundries has no library of its own and there is no public library near it. Good reading matter is much needed there, and the pupils of other public schools in the city are earnestly requested to contribute books and magazines toward the formation of a school library. Anything in the way of interesting reading will be welcomed, in German as well as English, for there are a great many Germans among the pupils. Old magazines and old books will be of as much value in the beginning as new ones. Contributions may be left in the office of the principal of any public school. Exercise 88.—Write an appeal: (1) for old magazines to send to hospitals; (2) for pictures for your class room or for those of another school; (3) for books for your own library in your grade room; (4) for money for the fresh-air fund; (5) for pupils to join the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; (6) for volunteers to aid in a benefit entertainment of some sort, drill, play, fair, etc.; (7) for old clothes and shoes for the very poor of the city who are suffering from the cold; (8) for examples of map making, penmanship, drawing, or some other school work to send away as models to a new school; (9) for pupils to hand in more material for the school paper.
53. Petitions.—A petition is a form of open letter, asking a favor, and addressed by a number of people to an authority who can grant the request. There is a form fixed by tradition for the opening of a petition, but the content is varied according to the conditions, and the wording of a petition needs the greatest care. As in any literary exercise, the first thought should be of the essential points you wish to cover, and a brief outline should be made, comprising an exact statement of the concession you wish granted and the best reasons you can give for the granting of it. To the Mayor and Common Council of the city of Wakefield, Indiana, we, the undersigned, members of the Eighth Grade of Public School No. 12, respectfully petition that the west end of Elliott Park, above the driveway, be set apart for a school picnic on the afternoon of Tuesday, May the fourteenth, between two and six o'clock. There is no other place suitable for a picnic within walking distance of the school and all the members of the Eighth are not able to pay carfare. If our petition is granted, we guarantee that no damage will be done to the trees or shrubs, that the park will be vacated promptly at six o'clock, and left in good condition. Exercise 89.—1. Write a petition to the authorities of your city or town, asking for permission to use a certain street for coasting, for shinney, for baseball, etc. 2. Write a petition to the principal of your school, asking that a new study may be introduced into the school curriculum; that the weekly holiday be on another day; that school open later and close later, or vice versa; that punishment by staying after school be abolished; that the hours of schools be shorter and more work be done at home; that school be closed an hour earlier in order that the pupils may be present at a meeting or celebration of some kind; that your grade be allowed to use the assembly room for a debate; that you be permitted to flood a part of the playground to make a skating pond; that one of your studies be omitted from the course of study; that pupils be not marked tardy until ten minutes after the opening of school.
54. Advertisements.—The advertisement is an outgrowth of the notice, and in its simplest form is still a notice, as when the expense of printing causes the advertisement to be as brief as possible. It is then written on the same principle as the telegram, that is, using the fewest words possible to express clearly a given amount of information. Exercise 90.—Write, after studying similar advertisements in the newspapers, advertisements for help of all kinds,—janitor, sewing girls, errand boys, maids, nurses, coachmen, farm hands, apple-pickers, telephone girls, stenographers, etc. Also advertisements for rented furnished rooms, for houses to rent, etc., giving all essential details in as few words as possible.
The above are virtually notices without having the real characteristic of the advertisement, which differs from the notice in that it not only gives information but seeks to do this in so attractive and pleasing a manner that people will be induced to buy the wares offered. Exercise 91.—As a class exercise, take any one of the following topics, limit the number of words used to two or three hundred, and see who can write the most practical and attractive advertisement. Your aim is to state as forcibly as possible all the favorable aspects of your topic, so that they will appeal most surely to the people you wish to reach. Study the advertisements you like best and see their method. Note that you are attracted by those that seem honest and moderate, and that you are repelled by extravagant overstatements. 1. Write an advertisement for an amusement park which has been opened near your town. 2. For a country school for boys; for girls. 3. For a city school for boys; for girls. 4. For an excursion on a railroad or on a line of steamers. 5. For a summer resort in the North; for a winter resort in the South. 6. For a sanatorium in your town; for a skating rink; for a new hotel. 7. For an academy making a specialty of nature study; of modern languages; of athletics.
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