MISS MARY WRIGHT, Cherry Valley, Ill. MISS WRIGHT:
Or, omitting the name, the simple address may be used. However, there
need not be the slightest difficulty in addressing an unmarried lady,
even should she be in her teens, as “Madam,” or “Dear Madam,” it
being a general term as applicable to women without regard to age or
condition, as “Sir” is to their brethren. This will be easily seen when
it is recollected that it is a derivation from _ma dame_, my lady, and
since our language is deficient in any equivalent term to the pretty
French _Mademoiselle_, or the German, _Fraülein_, and, as “Dear Miss”
is obsolete, we must be content to utilize “Madam” on all necessary
occasions. There is another form much used where the address is omitted: