This week I received a lovely gift from a coworker, Gene, who was looking to lighten his bookshelves at home. Knowing I had my little obsession with advice books (he came to my Valentine’s Day presentation at the Library of Congress), he so graciously gave me a book written in 1881 called National Encyclopedia of Business and Social Forms: The Laws of Etiquette &c.; &c.; by James D. McCabe.
Coincidentally, the book has a section on correspondence, which ties in nicely with the Post article I mentioned in my previous post.
For those of you thinking about texting a very brief note to the one you are wooing, let’s take a look back at how things were done back in the 1880s, waaaay before all this technology hit. I was going to quote something from the “Love Letters” section, but this one from “Letters of Excuse” struck me as a bit more entertaining, and more appropriate for the length of a blog post. The subject for this sample letter is “To a lady, apologizing for a broken engagement.”
~~
Richmond, Ind., May 10th, 1881.
My Dear Miss Lee:
Permit me to explain my failure to keep my appointment with you this evening. I was on my way to your house, with the assurance of a pleasant evening, when I unfortunately stepped upon some slippery substance, lost my footing and fell to the ground, spraining my ankle severely. I am now confined to the house in consequence of this accident.
I regret my disappointment as much as the accident, but hope that the future may afford us many pleasant meetings.
Sincerely your friend,
Albert Holliday
~~
Now, would you prefer this instead?
“sorry cant keep fun date W U this evening. but slipped and fell 2 the ground, hurt ankle. stuck @ home. sorry, try again 2MORO?”
Yeah, I didn’t think so.