Section 8 of 17 - Table of Contents
SUBSCRIPTION
The _Subscription_ or ending of a letter consists of the term of respect
or affection and the signature. The term depends upon the relation of the
person addressed. Letters of friendship can close with such expressions
as:
Yours lovingly,
Yours affectionately,
Devotedly yours,
Ever yours, etc.
as between husbands and wives or between lovers. Such gushing
terminations as Your Own Darling, Your own Dovey and other pet and silly
endings should be avoided, as they denote shallowness. Love can be
strongly expressed without dipping into the nonsensical and the farcical.
Formal expressions of Subscription are:
Yours Sincerely,
Yours truly,
Respectfully yours,
and the like, and these may be varied to denote the exact bearing or
attitude the writer wishes to assume to the person addressed: as,
Very sincerely yours,
Very respectfully yours,
With deep respect yours,
Yours very truly, etc.
Such elaborate endings as
"In the meantime with the highest respect, I am yours to command,"
"I have the honor to be, Sir, Your humble Servant,"
"With great expression of esteem, I am Sincerely yours,"
"Believe me, my dear Sir, Ever faithfully yours,"
are condemned as savoring too much of affectation.
It is better to finish formal letters without any such qualifying
remarks. If you are writing to Mr. Ryan to tell him that you have a house
for sale, after describing the house and stating the terms simply sign
yourself
Your obedient Servant
Yours very truly,
Yours with respect,
James Wilson.
Don't say you have the honor to be anything or ask him to believe
anything, all you want to tell him is that you have a house for sale and
that you are sincere, or hold him in respect as a prospective customer.
Don't abbreviate the signature as: _Y'rs Resp'fly_ and always make
your sex obvious. Write plainly
Yours truly,
_John Field_
and not _J. Field_, so that the person to whom you send it may not take
you for _Jane Field_.
It is always best to write the first name in full. Married women should
prefix _Mrs._ to their names, as
Very sincerely yours,
_Mrs._ Theodore Watson.
If you are sending a letter acknowledging a compliment or some kindness
done you may say, _Yours gratefully,_ or _Yours very gratefully,_ in
proportion to the act of kindness received.
It is not customary to sign letters of degrees or titles after your name,
except you are a lord, earl or duke and only known by the title, but as
we have no such titles in America it is unnecessary to bring this matter
into consideration. Don't sign yourself,
Sincerely yours,
Obadiah Jackson, M.A. or L.L. D.
If you're an M. A. or an L.L. D. people generally know it without your
sounding your own trumpet. Many people, and especially clergymen, are
fond of flaunting after their names degrees they have received _honoris
causa_, that is, degrees as a mark of honor, without examination. Such
degrees should be kept in the background. Many a deadhead has these
degrees which he could never have earned by brain work.
Married women whose husbands are alive may sign the husband's name with
the prefix _Mrs:_ thus,
Yours sincerely,
_Mrs._ William Southey.
but when the husband is dead the signature should be--
Yours sincerely,
_Mrs._ Sarah Southey.
So when we receive a letter from a woman we are enabled to tell whether
she has a husband living or is a widow. A woman separated from her
husband but not a _divorcee_ should _not_ sign his name.
ADDRESS
The _address_ of a letter consists of the name, the title and the
residence.
Mr. Hugh Black,
112 Southgate Street,
Altoona,
Pa.
Intimate friends have often familiar names for each other, such as pet
names, nicknames, etc., which they use in the freedom of conversation,
but such names should never, under any circumstances, appear on the
envelope. The subscription on the envelope should be always written with
propriety and correctness and as if penned by an entire stranger. The
only difficulty in the envelope inscription is the title. Every man is
entitled to _Mr._ and every lady to _Mrs._ and every unmarried lady to
_Miss_. Even a boy is entitled to _Master_. When more than one is addressed
the title is _Messrs._ _Mesdames_ is sometimes written of women. If the
person addressed has a title it is courteous to use it, but titles never
must be duplicated. Thus, we can write
Robert Stitt, M. D., but never
Dr. Robert Stitt, M. D, or
Mr. Robert Stitt, M. D.
In writing to a medical doctor it is well to indicate his profession by
the letters M. D. so as to differentiate him from a D. D. It is better to
write Robert Stitt, M. D., than Dr. Robert Stitt.
In the case of clergymen the prefix Rev. is retained even when they have
other titles; as
Rev. Tracy Tooke, LL. D.
When a person has more titles than one it is customary to only give him
the leading one. Thus instead of writing Rev. Samuel MacComb, B. A.,
M. A., B. Sc., Ph. D., LL. D., D. D. the form employed is Rev. Samuel
MacComb, LL. D. LL. D. is appended in preference to D. D. because in most
cases the "Rev." implies a "D. D." while comparatively few with the prefix
"Rev." are entitled to "LL. D."
In the case of _Honorables_ such as Governors, Judges, Members of Congress,
and others of the Civil Government the prefix "Hon." does away with _Mr._
and _Esq._ Thus we write Hon. Josiah Snifkins, not Hon. Mr. Josiah Snifkins
or Hon. Josiah Snifkins, Esq. Though this prefix _Hon._ is also often
applied to Governors they should be addressed as Excellency. For instance:
His Excellency,
Charles E. Hughes,
Albany,
N. Y.
In writing to the President the superscription on the envelope should be
To the President,
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C.
Professional men such as doctors and lawyers as well as those having
legitimately earned College Degrees may be addressed on the envelopes by
their titles, as
Jonathan Janeway, M. D.
Hubert Houston, B. L.
Matthew Marks, M. A., etc.
The residence of the person addressed should be plainly written out in
full. The street and numbers should be given and the city or town written
very legibly. If the abbreviation of the State is liable to be confounded
or confused with that of another then the full name of the State should
be written. In writing the residence on the envelope, instead of putting
it all in one line as is done at the head of a letter, each item of the
residence forms a separate line. Thus,
Liberty,
Sullivan County,
New York.
215 Minna St.,
San Francisco,
California.
There should be left a space for the postage stamp in the upper right
hand corner. The name and title should occupy a line that is about
central between the top of the envelope and the bottom. The name should
neither be too much to right or left but located in the centre, the
beginning and end at equal distances from either end.
In writing to large business concerns which are well known or to public
or city officials it is sometimes customary to leave out number and street.
Thus,
Messrs. Seigel, Cooper Co.,
New York City,
Hon. William J. Gaynor,
New York City.
NOTES
_Notes_ may be regarded as letters in miniature confined chiefly to
invitations, acceptances, regrets and introductions, and modern etiquette
tends towards informality in their composition. Card etiquette, in fact,
has taken the place of ceremonious correspondence and informal notes are
now the rule. Invitations to dinner and receptions are now mostly written
on cards. "Regrets" are sent back on visiting cards with just the one
word _"Regrets"_ plainly written thereon. Often on cards and notes of
invitation we find the letters R. S. V. P. at the bottom. These letters
stand for the French _repondez s'il vous plait_, which means "Reply, if
you please," but there is no necessity to put this on an invitation card
as every well-bred person knows that a reply is expected. In writing
notes to young ladies of the same family it should be noted that the
eldest daughter of the house is entitled to the designation _Miss_ without
any Christian name, only the surname appended. Thus if there are three
daughters in the Thompson family Martha, the eldest, Susan and Jemina,
Martha is addressed as _Miss_ Thompson and the other two as _Miss_ Susan
Thompson and _Miss_ Jemina Thompson respectively.
Don't write the word _addressed_ on the envelope of a note.
Don't _seal_ a note delivered by a friend.
Don't write a note on a postal card.
Here are a few common forms:--
FORMAL INVITATIONS
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wagstaff request the
honor of Mr. McAdoo's presence on Friday
evening, June 15th, at 8 o'clock to meet the
Governor of the Fort.
19 Woodbine Terrace
June 8th, 1910.
This is an invitation to a formal reception calling for evening dress.
Here is Mr. McAdoo's reply in the third person:--
Mr. McAdoo presents his compliments to
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wagstaff and accepts with
great pleasure their invitation to meet the
Governor of the Fort on the evening of June
fifteenth.
215 Beacon Street,
June 10th, 1910.
Here is how Mr. McAdoo might decline the invitation:--
Mr. McAdoo regrets that owing to a prior
engagement he must forego the honor of paying
his respects to Mr. and Mrs. Wagstaff and the
Governor of the Fort on the evening of June
fifteenth.
215 Beacon St.,
June 10th, 1910.
Here is a note addressed, say to Mr. Jeremiah Reynolds.
Mr. and Mrs. Oldham at home on Wednesday
evening October ninth from seven to eleven.
21 Ashland Avenue,
October 5th.
Mr. Reynolds makes reply:--
Mr. Reynolds accepts with high appreciation
the honor of Mr. and Mrs. Oldham's invitation
for Wednesday evening October ninth.
Windsor Hotel
October 7th
or
Mr. Reynolds regrets that his duties render
it impossible for him to accept Mr. and Mrs.
Oldham's kind invitation for the evening of
October ninth.
Windsor Hotel,
October 7th,
Sometimes less informal invitations are sent on small specially designed
note paper in which the first person takes the place of the third. Thus
360 Pine St.,
Dec. 11th, 1910.
Dear Mr. Saintsbury:
Mr. Johnson and I should be much pleased to
have you dine with us and a few friends next
Thursday, the fifteenth, at half past seven.
Yours sincerely,
Emma Burnside.
Mr. Saintsbury's reply:
57 Carlyle Strand
Dec. 13th, 1910.
Dear Mrs. Burnside:
Let me accept very appreciatively your
invitation to dine with Mr. Burnside and you
on next Thursday, the fifteenth, at half past
seven.
Yours sincerely,
Henry Saintsbury.
Mrs. Alexander Burnside.
NOTES OF INTRODUCTION
Notes of introduction should be very circumspect as the writers are in
reality vouching for those whom they introduce. Here is a specimen of
such a note.
603 Lexington Ave.,
New York City,
June 15th, 1910.
Rev. Cyrus C. Wiley, D. D.,
Newark, N. J.
My dear Dr. Wiley:
I take the liberty of
presenting to you my friend, Stacy Redfern,
M. D., a young practitioner, who is anxious
to locate in Newark. I have known him many
years and can vouch for his integrity and
professional standing. Any courtesy and
kindness which you may show him will be very
much appreciated by me.
Very sincerely yours,
Franklin Jewett.
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