posed, of course, that it had been delivered long ago. I will write the factory in this mail to send the furniture at once, provided it has not already gone forward.

Inclosed you will find a money order for four dollars, for which please send The Atlantic Monthly to the above address during the coming year, beginning with the January number. Yours truly,

Kindly note the following change of address: The new address is 1068 Lewis Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. The old address was 394 Fifth Avenue, Oak Park, Ill.

Very truly yours,

(Mrs.) Caroline Lee Roberts.

279. The Telegram. Another form of business communication is the telegram. This must be clear and brief. The usual length of the message is ten words, exclusive of date, address, and signature.

Missed connections. Reach Albany to-night eleven thirtytwo. Telephone Father.

EXERCISE 53

Edward L. Scott.

1. Write a letter to the manager of a football team, making arrangements for a game to be played in your own town on a definite date.

2. You desire to enter college. Write a letter to the secretary asking for some definite information as to

courses.

3. Write to John A. Lansing, a noted explorer, asking him on what terms he would give a lecture for the benefit of your High School.

4. Write a letter subscribing for The Youth's Companion, sending an enclosure for the amount of the subscription.

5. Write a letter to your school principal asking him to tell you the date of the opening of school and to send you a list of the books you will need for the fall term.

6. Write to the principal of some neighboring high

school, suggesting a debate between his school and your own. State the conditions under which you would suggest that the debate be conducted.

7. Write to the proprietor of a summer camp for boys asking for a circular giving information about numbers, location, and prices.

8. Write to A. G. Spaulding and Brothers, Chicago, asking them to send you a catalogue of sporting goods. 9. Answer one of the following advertisements:

a. Wanted.

Boy to work in doctor's office. W. B. Hutton, M. D., 278 Central Ave.

b. Wanted. Girl to sell Red Cross Stamps afternoons

during December. Mary C. Peary, 1728 Albany Street. 10. Your cousin is moving to Buffalo. Write a letter introducing him to an old school friend.

11. Write a letter to some publishing house, ordering two books that you need. Be sure to give all the necessary details to insure getting exactly the books you desire.

12. Write to your principal asking him to write a letter of recommendation for a position you wish to secure.

13. Write to some newspaper of which you are a subscriber, and give instructions for having your address changed from your former place of residence to your pre

sent one.

14. Write to some firm asking them to send you designs for a class pin. Explain the general style of pin the class prefers.

15. Write to a Steamship Company asking for descriptive circulars.

16. You wish to enter the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Write a letter to the Senator from your district asking him how you can become eligible for examination.

17. Write headings, salutations, and the complimentary

closings that would be appropriate in writing to (1) the Mayor; (2) your minister; (3) a doctor; (4) the Board of Education; (5) a man much older than yourself; (6) a noted man of letters; (7) an unmarried woman whom you know only slightly; (8) the Superintendent of Schools; (9) a manufacturing concern; (10) the chairman of a debating council.

18. One of the books sent in response to your order in exercise 11 was not the book you wanted. Write to the publishers calling attention to the fact and notifying them of the return of the book.

19. The publishers acknowledge the receipt of the letter and book (see exercise 18) and explain that the error was due to the fact that you did not specify the edition you preferred. Write this letter and your reply.

20. Adding date and address, express in a telegram of not more than ten words, the following:

Your uncle has been unexpectedly called to San Francisco and asks you to meet him at your station prepared to go with him on a certain train.

21. Write the telegram you send in reply to the one called for in exercise 20.

22. Upon your arrival at the Manhattan Hotel in New York, you find your baggage has not arrived. Telegraph the baggage master in Albany making inquiries and describing your baggage so that it may be identified. Use not more than fifteen words.

CHAPTER IV

WRITTEN COMPOSITION: NARRATION

280. Introduction. The art of composition is acquired by practice in self-expression. Obviously a great deal of help is derived from reading what others have written and from hearing what others say; but in the end it is a matter of expressing your own self. If you find composition difficult, it is because there has not been sufficient practice to give such a command over language as to make writing and speaking easy.

281. Written Composition. The object in studying written composition is to get practice in expressing one's self clearly, correctly, and forcefully. The aim is precisely the same as in oral composition; so are the methods employed. Hence the two should be practiced together. Written composition, however, is addressed to a reader who has no opportunities to ask questions if he does not understand, or to note intonations of the voice, expressions of the face, and all those aids which the speaker uses to convey his meaning. Only the word forms are before him, with such helps of interpretation as punctuation can give. Therefore, the writer must so express himself that the reader may readily understand his meaning.