LETTERS AND LETTER-WRITING.
The person who can write a graceful note is always spoken of with
phrases of commendation. The epistolary art is said to be
especially feminine, and the novelists and essayists are full of
compliments to the sex, which is alternately praised and
objurgated, as man feels well or ill. Bulwer says: "A woman is the
genius of epistolary communication. Even men write better to a
woman than to one of their own sex. No doubt they conjure up,
while writing, the loving, listening face, the tender, pardoning
heart, the ready tear of sympathy, and passionate confidences of
heart and brain flow rapidly from the pen." But there is no such
thing now as an "epistolary style." Our immediate ancestors wrote
better and longer letters than we do. They covered three pages of
large letter-paper with crow-quill handwriting, folded the paper
neatly, tucked one edge beneath the other (for there were no
envelopes), and then sealed it with a wafer or with sealing-wax.
To send one of these epistles was expensive--twenty-five cents
from New York to Boston. However, the electric telegraph and cheap
postage and postal-cards may have been said, in a way, to have
ruined correspondence in the old sense; lovers and fond mothers
doubtless still write long letters, but the business of the
letter-writer proper is at an end. The writing of notes has,
however, correspondingly increased; and the last ten years have
seen a profuse introduction of emblazoned crest and cipher,
pictorial design, and elaborate monogram in the corners of
ordinary note-paper. The old illuminated missal of the monks, the
fancy of the Japanese, the ever-ready taste of the French, all
have been exhausted to satisfy that always hungry caprice which
calls for something new.
The frequency with which notes upon business and pleasure must fly
across a city and a continent has done away, also, with the
sealing-wax, whose definite, red, clear, oval was a fixture with
our grandfathers, and which is still the only elegant, formal, and
ceremonious way acknowledged in England, of sealing a letter.
There were, however, serious objections to the use of wax in this
country, which were discovered during the early voyages to
California. The intense heat of the Isthmus of Panama melted the
wax, and letters were irretrievably glued together, to the loss of
the address and the confusion of the postmaster. So the glued
envelope--common, cheap, and necessary--became the almost
prevailing fashion for all notes as well as letters.
The taste for colored note-paper with flowers in the corner was
common among the belles of thirty years ago--the "rose-colored
and scented _billet-doux_" is often referred to in the novels of
that period. But colored note-paper fell into disuse long ago, and
for the last few years we have not seen the heavy tints. A few
pale greens, grays, blues, and lilacs have, indeed, found a place
in fashionable stationery, and a deep coffee-colored, heavy paper
had a little run about three years ago; but at the present moment
no color that is appreciable is considered stylish, unless it be
_cru_, which is only a creamy white.
A long truce is at last bidden to the fanciful, emblazoned, and
colored monogram; the crest and cipher are laid on the shelf, and
ladies have simply the address of their city residence, or the
name of their country place, printed in one corner (generally in
color), or, latest device of fashion, a fac-simile of their
initials, carefully engraved, and dashed across the corner of the
note-paper. The day of the week, also copied from their own
handwriting, is often impressed upon the square cards now so much
in use for short notes, or on the note-paper.
There is one fashion which has never changed, and will never
change, which is always in good taste, and which, perhaps, would
be to-day the most perfect of all styles, and that is, good,
plain, thick, English notepaper, folded square, put in a square
envelope, and sealed with red sealing-wax which bears the imprint
of the writer's coat of arms. No one can make any mistake who uses
such stationery as this in any part of the world. On such paper
and in such form are ambassadors' notes written; on such paper and
in such style would the Princess Louise write her notes.
However, there is no law against the monogram. Many ladies still
prefer it, and always use the paper which has become familiar to
their friends. It is, however, a past rather than a present
fashion.
The plan of having all the note-paper marked with the address is
an admirable one, for it effectually reminds the person who
receives the note where the answer should be sent--information of
which some ladies forget the importance, and which should always
be written, if not printed, at the head of a letter. It also gives
a stylish finish to the appearance of the note-paper, is simple,
unpretending, and useful.
The ink should invariably be black. From the very superior,
lasting qualities of a certain purple fluid, which never became
thick in the inkstand, certain ladies, a few years ago, used the
purple and lilac inks very much. But they are not elegant; they
are not in fashion; the best note-writers do not use them. The
plain black ink, which gives the written characters great
distinctness, is the only fashionable medium.
Every lady should study to acquire an elegant, free, and educated
hand; there is nothing so useful, so sure to commend the writer
everywhere, as such a chirography; while a cramped, poor,
slovenly, uneducated, unformed handwriting is sure to produce the
impression upon the reader that those qualities are more or less
indicative of the writer's character. The angular English hand is
at present the fashion, although less legible and not more
beautiful than the round hand. We cannot enter into that great
question as to whether or not handwriting is indicative of
character; but we hold that a person's notes are generally
characteristic, and that a neat, flowing, graceful hand, and a
clean sheet, free from blots, are always agreeable to the eye. The
writer of notes, also, must carefully discriminate between the
familiar note and the note of ceremony, and should learn how to
write both.
Custom demands that we begin all notes in the first person, with
the formula of "My dear Mrs. Smith," and that we close with the
expressions, "Yours cordially," "Yours with much regard," etc. The
laws of etiquette do not permit us to use numerals, as 3, 4, 5,
but demand that we write out _three, four, five_. No abbreviations
are allowed in a note to a friend, as, "Sd be glad to see you;" one
must write out, "I should be glad to see you." The older
letter-writers were punctilious about writing the first word of
the page below the last line of the page preceding it. The date
should follow the signing of the name.
A great and very common mistake existing among careless
letter-writers is the confusion of the first and third persons; as
a child would write, "Miss Lucy Clark will be happy to come to
dinner, but I am going somewhere else." This is, of course, wildly
ignorant and improper.
A note in answer to an invitation should be written in the third
person, if the invitation be in the third person. No
abbreviations, no visible hurry, but an elaborate and finished
ceremony should mark such epistles. For instance, an acceptance of
a dinner invitation must be written in this form:
_Mr. and Mrs. Cadogan
have great pleasure in accepting the polite
invitation of
Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland
for dinner on the seventeenth inst., at seven o'clock.
18 Lombard Square.
July sixth._
One lady in New York was known to answer a dinner invitation
simply with the words, "Come with pleasure." It is unnecessary to
add that she was never invited again.
It is impossible to give persons minute directions as to the style
of a note, for that must be the outgrowth of years of careful
education, training, and good mental powers. "To write a pretty
note" is also somewhat of a gift. Some young men and young girls
find it very easy, others can scarcely acquire the power. It is,
however, absolutely necessary to strive for it.
In the first place, arrange your ideas, know what you want to say,
and approach the business of writing a note with a certain
thoughtfulness. If it is necessary to write it hastily, summon all
your powers of mind, and try to make it brief, intelligible, and
comprehensive.
Above all things, _spell correctly_. A word badly spelled stands
out like a blot on a familiar or a ceremonious note.
Do not send a blurred, blotted, slovenly note to any one; it will
remain to call up a certain prejudice against you in the mind of
the recipient. The fashion is not now, as it once was, imperative
that a margin be left around the edge of the paper. People now
write all over the paper, and thus abolish a certain elegance
which the old letters undoubtedly possessed. But postage is a
consideration, and all we can ask of the youthful letter-writers
is that they will not _cross_ their letters. Plaid letters are the
horror of all people who have not the eyes of a hawk.
No letter or note should be written on ruled paper. To do so is
both inelegant and unfashionable, and savors of the school-room.
Every young person should learn to write without lines.
The square cards are much used, and are quite large enough for the
transmission of all that a lady ordinarily wishes to say in giving
or accepting an invitation. The day of the week and the address
are often printed on the card.
Square envelopes have also driven the long ones from the table of
the elegant note-writer, and the custom of closing all ceremonious
notes with sealing-wax is still adhered to by the most fastidious.
It would be absurd, however, to say that it is nearly as common as
the more convenient habit of moistening the gummed envelope, but
it is far more elegant, and every young person should learn how to
seal a note properly. To get a good impression from an engraved
stone seal, anoint it lightly with linseed-oil, to keep the wax
from adhering; then dust it with rouge powder to take off the
gloss, and press it quickly, but firmly, on the melted wax.
Dates and numerical designations, such as the number of a house,
may be written in Arabic figures, but quantities should be
expressed in words. Few abbreviations are respectful. A married
lady should always be addressed with the prefix of her husband's
Christian name.
In this country, where we have no titles, it is the custom to
abbreviate everything except the title of "Reverend," which we
always give to the clergy. But it would be better if we made a
practice of giving to each person his special title, and to all
returned ambassadors, members of Congress, and members of the
Legislature the title of "Honorable." The Roman Catholic clergy
and the bishops of the Episcopal and Methodist churches should be
addressed by their proper titles, and a note should be, like a
salutation, infused with respect. It honors the writer and the
person to whom it is written, while a careless letter may injure
both.