surface is preferred by most writers. Avoid thick unsized papers that allow the ink to spread; and, above all, avoid the cheap glossy blue-white note paper with a stamped trade mark in one corner of the sheet.

ENVELOPES.

15. The envelope should correspond in size, quality, and color with the paper. As regards size, the length of the envelope should be slightly greater than the width of the sheet of note paper; for example, an envelope 5 inches long is used for 5" X 8" commercial note. For letter paper, the length of the envelope should slightly exceed one-half of the length of the sheet; thus, for a 9"x11" sheet, the envelope. should be, say, 6 inches long. The envelopes most commonly used in business correspondence are: No. 6, 33 in. × 6 in., and No. 6, 3 in. X6 in. For legal documents, manuscripts, and official communications from the government, the official envelope (about 4 in. x 9 in.) is used.

use.

In social correspondence, the square envelope is in general This envelope is made slightly larger than the sheet when folded once through the middle; thus, the envelope for commercial note (5 in. ×8 in.) should be about 4 in. × 51 in. The square-shaped envelope should never be used for business correspondence, but the ordinary oblong envelope may be and is used for social correspondence.

Always use an envelope sufficiently large to easily enclose the letter sheet when properly folded. It is irritating to the receiver of a communication to find difficulty in removing a letter from its envelope, either because it was partially stuck to the inside of the envelope when the envelope was sealed, or because the envelope is too small to allow the letter to be easily removed.

White is the prevailing color for envelopes, though for business purposes buff envelopes are quite freely used. When tinted paper is used, the envelope should have the same tint.

INK.

16. The ink should flow freely and permit the formation of distinct lines and characters. Black ink is now almost universally used in all correspondence, and it is considered in much better taste than colored inks, one of the objections to the latter being their liability to fade. Letters that are to be copied are written with a special ink called copying ink, which will give one or more copies of the letter when it is placed in the letter press. In contact with moisture, copying ink smears and spreads; it should never be used, therefore, for letters that are not to be copied.

PARTS OF A LETTER.

17. The essential parts of a letter are:

6.

The subscription, or signature.

7. The superscription, or outside address.

The incidental parts are:

1. The postscript, with its continuations or iterations, paulo-postscript, post-paulo-postscript, and so on.

The address and salutation together-when the address is placed at the top of the letter-constitute the introduction. The complimentary close and subscription-and the address when placed at the close of the letter-constitute the conclusion.

18. General Form.-The following letter shows the usual arrangement of the various parts of an ordinary business letter:

Mr. George Williams of your city has called to interest me in the purchase of a large tract of timber and mining lands in Northern Wisconsin. Mr. Williams impresses me favorably, and his propositions appear quite reasonable on their face.

I have, however, deferred giving him a final answer till I hear from you regarding his standing in business circles in Chicago. He speaks of you as an acquaintance, and since I claim you as a friend, your advice will be as welcome as it must be valuable.

(Complimentary Close.)

I am, dear Sir,
Very sincerely yours,

(Signature.)

WILLIAM HUTCHESON.

THE HEADING.

19. The heading includes both the place, which is the address of the writer, and the time of writing; as, "540 Sewell St., Portland, Maine, Feb. 22, 1899." The word "date" is correctly used in this technical sense when we say, "Your letter dated Portland, Maine, Feb. 22, 1899, is received."

In business letters the heading should usually occupy two lines; in social letters it may occupy two or three and sometimes four lines-two or three for the place, and one for the time. If the heading is short, it may be written in a single line as shown in Form 1, following. As a rule it is advisable to use as few lines as is possible without making the heading look crowded and awkward. The use of many lines in either heading, address, signature, or superscription is to be avoided.

In business letters the heading should begin about 1 inch,

and in social letters 2 inches from the top of the page, not far from the middle of the line, and should end at or very near the right margin.

Printed forms of a more or less elaborate and ornate design are so much in use for business letter headings that no castiron rule can be laid down to govern the precise form of the heading. In these printed forms the heading sometimes occupies several lines and often contains some brief statement or statements explanatory of the purposes, standing, and claims of the firm making use of the forms.

It is easy to see that the items of place should be in the order mentioned-the larger following the smaller, the container following the contained.

As to time, the form most generally employed in America is, "Feb. 22, 1899." We cannot, however, see any valid objection to the form, "22 Feb. 1899," often used in Great Britain and the British colonies.

All letters, notes, cards, missives epistolary of every kind, should be dated. To omit the date is or may be an inconvenience, and therefore a breach of propriety; in business it is sheer impertinence, and everywhere vulgar. In replying to an undated missive, especially if a business letter, it is proper to call attention to the absence of a date, in some way, so that if it were an inadvertence, the writer may avoid the error next time. A business letter in reply to an undated one may very properly begin in some such way as this: "In reply to your favor without date just received"; and to a second from the same source: "In reply to your dateless letter just received

20. Punctuation.-The various parts of the heading are separated by commas; a period is placed after each abbreviation and at the end of the heading. All important words of the heading begin with capital letters. The numeral indicating the day of the month should not be followed by d, st, or th when the year is written; thus, "May 3, 1899," instead of "May 3d, 1899." In such an expression as "Your letter of the 15th inst. is at hand," the suffix is added.

21. Specimens of Headings. Various forms of head. ings are shown in the following:

In case the writer and his correspondent live in the same city, the subjoined form may be used:

FORM 6.

528 JEFFERSON Ave.,

March 1, 1899.

Sometimes the name of the residence of the writer is alone used, as:

FORM 7.

ELM PARK,

March 9, 1899.

In the case of brief and informal notes from one person to another in the same town, it is quite customary and regular to use as a heading only the day of the week; for instance, "Tuesday," or "Thursday," or whatever the day of the writing may be. This simple date may be placed at the top or at the lower left-hand corner of the letter or note.