Page:A Desk Book on the Etiquette of Social Stationary.djvu/32

SOCIAL STATIONERY

Use of the Third Person the third person. It is only needed in the most formal correspondence, or in the answering of an invitation, but when used in the opening sentence, it must continue to the end, and remain unsigned.

Occasionally we meet such blunders as:

Mrs. John Brown returns the coat purchased yesterday from Smith & Co. I do not like the color.

The note should be couched in the first person throughout, and bear Mrs. Brown's signature, or should read:

Mrs. John Brown returns the coat purchased yesterday from Smith & Co., the color being unsatisfactory.

In the lower left corner Mrs. Brown's address is written, if it does not appear on the paper heading.

The telephone, telegraph and cable have done much to obliterate correspondence. We shorten our lines in these hurried times to note

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