Of course, when young people write to the members of their
immediate family, it is not necessary that they employ such
reserve as in correspondence with friends. The following letter
well illustrates the change in tone which is permissible in such
intimate correspondence:
A Correct Letter from a Young Lady in Boarding School to Her
Parents
DEAR MOTHER:
Of course I am terribly glad that you and father are thinking of
coming to visit me here at school next week, but don’t you think it
would be better if, instead of your coming all the way up here, I
should come down and stay with you in New York? The railroad trip up
here will be very hard on you, as the trains are usually late and the
porters and conductors are notorious for their gruffness and it is
awfully hard to get parlor-car seats and you know what sitting in a
day-coach means. I should love to have you come only I wouldn’t want
you or father to get some terrible sickness on the train and last
month there were at least three wrecks on that road, with many
fatalities, and when you get here the accommodations aren’t very good
for outsiders, many of the guests having been severely poisoned only
last year by eating ripe olives and the beds, they say, are extremely
hard. Don’t you really think it would be ever so much nicer if you
and father stayed in some comfortable hotel in New York with all the
conveniences in the world and there are some wonderful things at the
theaters which you really ought to see. I could probably get
permission from Miss Spencer to come and visit you over Saturday and
Sunday if you are stopping at one of the five hotels on her
“permitted” list.
However, if you do decide to come here, perhaps it would be better to
leave father in New York because I know he wouldn’t like it at all
with nothing but women and girls around and I am sure that he
couldn’t get his glass of hot water in the morning before breakfast
and he would have a much better time in New York. But if he does come
please mother don’t let him wear that old gray hat or that brown
suit, and mother couldn’t you get him to get some gloves and a cane
in New York before he comes? And please, mother dear, make him put
those “stogies” of his in an inside pocket and would you mind,
mother, not wearing that brooch father’s employees gave you last
Christmas?
I shall be awfully glad to see you both but as I say it would be
better if you let me come to New York where you and father will be
ever so much more comfortable. Your loving daughter, JEANNETTE.