--Your obedient servant,
----."
All letters should be headed with the address from which they were
written, the day of the month, and the year; in this way:--
2, Ireland Avenue,
Stratford-on-Avon, 9th October, 1886.
It is an irritating peculiarity with many people unaccustomed to
business to be careless on this point. Common sense suggests that they
should mend their ways, and by putting the date and a full address on
every letter, save their correspondents sometimes a good deal of
trouble.
There is a short way, occasionally employed, of writing the date; for
example, 4 / 7 / 86; meaning the 4th day of the 7th month (July, that
is) of 1886. This contraction--which is improved by having the month put
in Roman figures (as, 4 / vii. / 86)--is handy now and again, but it
does not strike one as looking particularly well at the head of a
letter.
Put the name of the person to whom the letter is written at the
beginning or the end. Long ago, when envelopes were not in use, this did
not matter so much, because the name of the person addressed could be
seen by turning to the postal direction; but nowadays the envelope
bearing the address is dropped into the waste-paper basket, and a second
address is required to give the letter completeness, and enable third
parties, perhaps, to understand it.
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