o oblige him,
pays his bill of L50, and a month after the rest are sent in, he draws
for the rest of the money, and his bills are punctually paid. The
consequence of this exact writing and answering is this--

The warehouse-keeper having the order from his merchant, is furnished in
time, and obliges his customer; then says he to his servant, 'Well, this
H.G. of Devizes is a clever workman, understands his business, and may
be depended on: I see if I have an order to give that requires any
exactness and honest usage, he is my man; he understands orders when
they are sent, goes to work immediately, and answers them punctually.'

Again, the clothier at Devizes says to his head man, or perhaps his son,
'This Mr H. is a very good employer, and is worth obliging; his orders
are so plain and so direct, that a man cannot mistake, and if the goods
are made honestly and to his time, there's one's money; bills are
cheerfully accepted, and punctually paid; I'll never disappoint him;
whoever goes without goods, he shall not.'

On the contrary, when orders are darkly given, they are doubtfully
observed; and when the goods come to town, the merchant dislikes them,
the warehouseman shuffles them back upon the clothier, to lie for his
account, pretending they are not made to his order; the clothier is
discouraged, and for want of his money discredited, and all their
correspondence is confusion, and ends in loss both of money and credit.

FOOTNOTES:

[8] [The practice of trade now sanctions courteous expressions of this
kind.]

CHAPTER III

THE TRADING STYLE

In the last chapter I gave my thoughts for the instruction of young
tradesmen in writing letters with orders, and answering orders, and
especially about the proper style of a tradesman's letters, which I
hinted should be plain and easy, free in language, and direct to the
purpose intended. Give me leave to go on with the subject a little
farther, as I think it is useful in another part of the tradesman's
correspondence.

I might have made some apology for urging tradesmen to write a plain and
easy style; let me add, that the tradesmen need not be offended at my
condemning them, as it were, to a plain and homely style--easy, plain,
and familiar language is the beauty of speech in general, and is the
excellency of all writing, on whatever subject, or to whatever persons
they are we write or speak. The end of speech is that men might
understand one another's meaning