ry
to be used for certain occasions.

The Style,

of course, is a subtle something inherent in each individual, not to
be entirely done away with in any case, but to be improved by a
careful study of good models, such, for example, as the letters of the
above mentioned authors. To read the best prose writers also cannot
fail to work an improvement. For instance, the writer once, after an
enthusiastic study of Taine, was rewarded by the assurance from a
literary correspondent that her letters were thoroughly "Tainesque" in
style.

By judicious reading and carefully taking thought, an abrupt style may
be softened and more graceful, flowing sentences substituted for its
short, sharp phrases; while a redundant style, by the same care, may
be pruned of its exuberance.

The chief charm of a letter consists in it being written naturally and
as one would talk. "We should write as we speak, and that's a true
familiar letter which expresseth a man's mind as if he were
discoursing with the party to whom he writes," says Howell, and,
ancient as the words are, no better advice can be given to-day.

Write easily, and never simply for effect; this gives a constrained,
stilted style that will soon cool the correspondence. Let your
thoughts flow as they would were you conversing with your friend, but
do not gossip; give friendly intelligence only when certain of its
truth. This will not seem too much when it is remembered how written
words sometimes rise up in judgment against their authors when the
spoken words would long since have been forgotten. A lapse of time
will brush the bloom from our sentences and nothing can bring back
again the tender grace that transfigured the over-sweetness of some
little written sentiment, or redeem it from the realm of the bombastic
in our eyes to-day. Then "let your communications be, not exactly 'yea
and nay,' but do let them be such that you would not fear to hear them
read aloud before you, for more than this 'cometh of evil.'"

[Illustration: "THESE ARE MY KEEPSAKES."]

Grammar and Orthography.

These should receive most careful attention. "A great author is one,"
according to Taine, "who, having passions, knows also his dictionary
and grammar." And a good letter-writer, as well, must "know his
dictionary and grammar" to render his missives presentable.

Grammatical errors are almost unpardonable, and a misspelled word is
an actual crime in these days of dictionaries. Punctuation a