social letter may be rather long and should be so written as to be a pleasure to the person who receives it. You will now write letters for a number of days, taking great care to say just what should be said and to say it with accuracy. You have been reminded frequently that one of your besetting sins is the failure to bring a sentence to an end and to begin again with a capital. Nothing will help you to overcome this fault so well as the group work. Some of the letters, therefore, should be written as you work in groups at the blackboard. All of them should not be written in groups, for you must gradually acquire the habit of writing correctly without any help at all.

The subjects given below are so selected that whether you live in the country, a small town, or a city you will probably be able to choose one that you will like, or at least will find some that will suggest suitable subjects to you. In the course of several days you will write several letters of both business and friendship.

It is, of course, better if you write letters that you can send, for then the writing of the letter is more than a school exercise. However, that is not always possible, and most of your letters will doubtless be merely for school practice.

BUSINESS LETTERS

131. a. Suppose that you are interested in gardening, or in growing corn, or in raising mushrooms, or in keeping bees. Write to the Secretary of

Agriculture, Washington, D.C., asking him to send you some of the pamphlets treating of the subject that you are interested in. No charge is made; thanks are the only payment you need make. If you are actually interested in one or more of these subjects, and intend to study them, send the letter, and when the pamphlets come, study them and, if possible, put into practice what you learn from them.

b. If your school does not receive the weather reports from Washington, write letters to the Chief of the Weather Bureau, Washington, D.C., and request that daily reports be sent to you. In this case only

one of the letters-the best one-should be sent.

c. Suppose that you are interested in woodwork. Find in a magazine the advertisement of a firm or a company that sells tools for such work, and write a request for a catalogue. It is clear that you should not send the letter unless you intend to buy tools or unless you really want the catalogue. And if you send the letter, you should inclose two or three stamps for postage. When you get the catalogue, write an order for goods—such as is found in section 95.

d. It may be that your father or your mother has need of the catalogue of a mail-order house and is willing to let you write the letter. If so, write it as a school exercise and send it after your father or mother has inspected it.

e. Suppose that you have what you believe to be good reason for wanting to attend some other school than the one which you are now attending. -Write a letter to the principal of your school, or

perhaps to the superintendent, asking that you be transferred.

f. Suppose that you and some of your friends wish to establish a school paper. Write to the principal of your school, asking for permission to do so, and for his assistance in arranging matters with the printer or in getting money to buy a printing outfit.

g. Suppose that you wish to play a match game of baseball, football, or basket ball with the pupils of some other school. Write a challenge to the principal of that school, or to the captain of the team.

h. Suppose that you wish, in company with other schools in your town or countryside, to have a joint exhibit of the things you have made in your school work-chairs, tables, bookcases, dresses, aprons, and other articles. Write to the principals of the schools, asking that a committee of teachers and pupils be appointed to meet a committee of teachers and pupils from your school in order to make the necessary arrangements.

i. Suppose that you wish to have a joint exhibition with other schools showing what you have done in the matter of gardening or farming. Write the same kind of letter as that called for under h.

j. Suppose that you want to attend a boarding school. Write to the principal, asking what class he will admit you to and what the expenses are.

SOCIAL LETTERS, OR LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP 132. a. Suppose that you have been paying a visit to one of your friends at a distance. Write

a letter showing your appreciation of the good times you had. Remember that such a letter should be rather long, for people like to get letters from their friends. Remember, too, that such letters should not be stiff and formal; they should not sound as if you had to write them; you should write, rather, in the free and easy way in which you would talk if you were face to face with the person to whom you are writing.

b. Suppose that you want some good friend of yours to make you a visit and to have all the fun two chums can have after they have not seen each other for a long time. Write a letter of invitation.

c. Suppose that you are away on a long journey or a camping trip. Write a letter to father or mother, giving an account of your travels and adventures.

d. Suppose that you have been very successful in making something at home or at school, and that you are eager to have some friend of yours at a distance become interested in the same or a similar kind of work. Write a letter showing what you have done and encouraging your friend to try something of the same sort.

e. Suppose that you once went to school in some other town or county. Write to some friend there, comparing your present home, school, and life in general with that which you have left.

f. One of your number might write to the superintendent of schools in some distant town or city, and ask him to choose some one of his schoolrooms whose pupils will correspond with you

about your school life, your home life, and the life and industries of your own community. This would afford each of you an opportunity to correspond with some boy or girl at a distance, and will perhaps be a help to you in the study of geography.

A SPELLING LESSON

133. Some of the business letters which you have written probably involved your writing the word principal. If so, some of you were probably corrected for misspelling it, for it sounds precisely like principle, which has a very different meaning. Now principal means chief. Thus, the principal of a school is the chief of the school; the principal man of a town is the chief man of the town; and when you write of principal and interest in a problem in arithmetic involving the lending of money, the principal is the chief sum of money, while the interest is a smaller sum which is paid for the use of the principal.

It is not so easy to define principle; but it generally means a law of action or of conduct. Thus, if you should write of a man who was honest, you would say that he was a man of principle or of good principles.

The following sentences illustrate:

1. The principal of our school is a man of good principles.

2. I make six per cent on my principal.

3. That boy does not understand the principles of arithmetic.