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, _Fraeulein_, 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"Dear Miss" is obsolete, we must be content to utilize "Madam" on all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: