the folding of letters, and in
addressing, stamping, and sealing the envelopes. Haste and
slovenliness here take away the suggestion of compliment in the
courtesy of the note, and are as insulting as any rudeness of manner
can well be.

The fastidious and leisurely still seal their envelopes with wax,
imprinting thus their monogram. The well-gummed envelope now in vogue
makes this superfluous for the ordinary informal letter. Addresses
should be written with an eye to legibility, and the stamp should be
affixed to the upper right-hand corner of the envelope with care and
neatness. Social invitations, although engraved and therefore
containing no handwriting, should always be sent with letter postage.

Letters should be plainly and completely addressed to insure their
safe and prompt delivery.

Persons who have a large business correspondence should use for it
envelopes on which their name and post office address are printed in
the upper left-hand corner. In social correspondence these should be
clearly written or engraved upon the back of the envelope.

Sometimes where a business firm is small or little known, it
facilitates the delivery of a business letter to place the number of
the office room in a building upon the envelope. Where, however, the
firm is so large that probably the entire mail is carried from the
post office in bags, or where a post office box is doubtless made use
of instead of the carriers' delivery, even the street number is
superfluous. Letters for departments should be so marked.

If the city is one of the largest in the country, the name of the
state is not added; as, New York City, Boston, Chicago, and
Philadelphia would stand alone.

Only a business letter should have the word "City" in place of the
name of the city, and it is better to write the name, omitting, if you
choose, the state. This is permissible only when the central post
office is used, as the postmark of any suburban station might cause
confusion, and railway post office clerks, especially, should not be
expected to guess accurately the intents of a writer.

When street addresses like "Broadway," "Park Row," "Aborn Drive," are
written, it is superfluous to write "St." after them.

The older form of writing an address was to end each line with a
comma. The more recent style, and one coming into quite common use, is
to omit the comma, using only such punctuation as the sense of the
words within the line demands. Either wa