Name of the State. The only additional rule needed is that the name of the State should be written out in full, especially when the letter is to go to some other State than that in which it is written. The Reason. There are so many towns having the same name. that in the haste of post-office business a letter is often sent to two or three different places before it reaches the right one, and sometimes it is lost altogether. But there are never two post-offices of the same name in the same State, and the postmasters are always familiar with the location of all the offices in their own State. The name of the State being written in full, in a clear, legible hand, on the face of the letter, it is almost sure to go to the right State, and being once in the State, it is equally sure of reaching the right office, and by the most direct route.* Arrangement of the Items. It is proper to observe, also, that in writing the residence on the envelope, instead of putting it all in one line, as is done at the head of a letter, each item of the residence forms a separate line; thus, Bridgeton, Cumberland County, New Jersey. 315 Green St., Trenton, New Jersey. Where to put the Name.- The name and title should occupy the central portion of the envelope. If they are placed higher up than the middle, the appearance is awkward, and besides, a clear space above is needed for the postmark and stamp. If the name is written much below the middle, as young misses have an affected way of doing, it does not leave room below for writing the residence without unsightly crowding. It is better, therefore, both for appearance, and for practical convenience, to let the name and title occupy a line that is just about central between the top of the envelope and the bottom. Nor should the name be crowded off to the extreme right of the envelope, as inexperienced persons are apt to place it, but it should be placed about centrally between the two ends. The name stands out more distinctly to the eye, and it gives a more symmetrical appearance to the whole, if there is a clear space left at each end. At a critical moment in American affairs, (the time of "John Brown's raid" at Harper's Ferry,) Governor Wise, of Virginia, wrote an important letter to Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania. The letter was addressed to "Harrisburg, Pa." The country postmaster, being naturally more familiar with the towns in his own State than with those farther off, and mistaking Pa. for Va., mailed the letter to Harris[on]burg, Virginia, and before the mistake was discovered, the rapid march of events had made the letter too late. A Diary, as the name imports, is a daily record. Subjects. The subjects recorded vary, of course, with the ago sex, occupation, and character of the diarist. It is a form of com position more used perhaps than any other for recording religious experience. Travellers record thus their daily adventures and observations. Students, men of business, men of pleasure even, are wont to write down from day to day things which interest them, or which they desire particularly to remember. Essential Character. — A Diary is the least exact and formal of all kinds of composition. The primary and governing idea which should control the writer in its formation is, that its pages are meant for his own eye only. He writes an entry to-day in order that, some years hence, wher memory begins to fail, he may see exactly what to-day's thoughts or experiences were. It is a record made for the information of one's future self. The first quality, therefore, in such a record, is that it be absolutely honest. Style. Embellishments and figures of rhetoric are utterly out of place in a diary. It is not necessary, indeed, to the truthfulness of such a record, as some seem to imagine, that it be written in defiance of the laws of grammar. On the contrary, some attention to grammatical and verbal accuracy shows only a proper self-respect. But studied elegance, and what are called the graces of style, show that the whole thing is a sham, and that the writer is not making what he is pretending to make, a private record for his own future information, but is really writing for effect upon the minds of other people. Dates. - It is essential to the honesty and truthfulness of a diary that the date of an entry should be that on which the entry is actually made. Inexperienced persons, in keeping a diary, sometimes omit making any record for several days, and then, on some day when they have leisure or inclination, make one job of it, and fill up the missing days from memory. This is to make the whole record valueless, either for themselves or for any one else. Blank Days. — If, on any particular day, no record is made, let the day stand blank. Such blanks are no blemish to a diary; the best diaries often have them. In making the record of a particular day, the writer may, if he chooses, register his recollections of what took place on previous days, but let them be entered as recollections. The inexorable rule for a diary, from which there should be no exception, is that each entry have a date, and that the date mark truthfully the time of the writing. The Place. Persons who keep a diary will likewise find it of great value to themselves to register the place where, as well as the time when, each entry is made. Accuracy and particularity in regard to facts are indeed the essential points in the composition of a diary. III. NEWS. Next to writing letters, there is, in modern times, no species of composition of which so much is done as News writing. Amount. The innumerable items which fill the news columns of the daily and weekly papers are enormous in amount, and constitute the chief reading of the public — the daily bread of our literary life. bread. Literary Character. The literature of the news columns is not, perhaps, of a very high character; yet that it is a part of the literature of the day cannot well be denied, and the rules which should govern it ought not to be entirely ignored in any work professing to treat of the various kinds of composition in actual use. The True Medium. - News items are for the most part written in haste. The writers have not time to correct and prune their composition as other writers have. Personally, therefore, they are not held to as strict an account as other writers are, for general accuracy of diction and style. Yet every reader is sensible of the difference between a paragraph of news correctly written and one incorrectly written, and by the exercise of only a moderate degree of attention, the writers of these paragraphs could certainly avoid most of the glaring errors which now mar their work. Things to be Aimed at. - The chief excellencies of style to be cultivated by the writer of news are accuracy, condensation, and perspicuity. The higher graces of style, such as those growing out of the use of rhetorical figures, lie in a different plane. The news writer has not the leisure for such ornaments, nor, if he had, would their use be in accordance with good taste. What the reader requires of him is simply a statement of facts, and this statement should aim at the three qualities just named. 1. Accuracy. By this I do not here refer to the truth of the facts stated. That is a question of morals, not of style. What I mean is that the language should be accurate; that it should convey the meaning which the writer intends. Sources of Mistake. — News writers err in this respect partly from an inaccurate use of words, and partly from an inaccurate construction of sentences. Thus: In reporting a man's death, if the newsman happens to be one of those ambitious of fine writing, he will tell us of the man's "demise," which is something quite different from what he intended. Another reporter, who is careless in construction, speaks of "inventing a ballotbox arrangement which cannot be stuffed," though how an arrangement is to be stuffed is something of a mystery. Another tells us of "a mad dog which was killed after several other dogs had been bitten by Eli Beck." He meant to say that the dog was killed by Eli Beck. What he does say is that the other dogs were bitten by that gentleman. "The Military Committee did not report against Mr. B., of Tennessee, for selling his cadetship to-day." The reporter meant to say, "The Committee did not report to-day." The portions of rhetoric which are particularly important for correcting inaccuracies of this kind are the chapters on Diction and Sentences. 2. Condensation. By this it is not meant that the news writer should suppress the particulars which give body and substance to a statement of facts. These particulars are usually exactly what the reader wants; and the best reporter, in any case of special interest, is generally the one who can gather and give these particulars with the greatest minuteness. What is Meant. The condensation required of the reporter refers to the number of words used in expressing any particular item of information. An expert will express the item fully in about half the number of words used by a bungler, and the report will increase in vividness and sparkle in consequence of this condensation. The unnecessary expletives with which a news paragraph is so often swelled out into forbidding proportions originate in bad taste and conceit. The writers pelt the public with inflated bladders, when they should use solid shot. A Safe Rule. A beginner in this species of composition will find it a safe rule, after having written a paragraph, to go over it and strike out on an average about one-half the words. Any one who has not given the subject some attention will be surprised at the skill in condensation acquired by some of the newspaper reporters, as well as at the want of skill manifested by others. 3. Perspicuity. People read news in haste; the most imperative demand of the writer, therefore, is clearness. The meaning should be so plain that "he may run that readeth it." Different from other Reading. — There are times, indeed, when men find pleasure in solving the mystery of some hard sentence in Latin or Greek, or in finding out the meaning, if there is any, in some orphic saying of Emerson. But no one is ever in this mood over his morning newspaper. What it has to tell us in the way of news must be told in the clearest and most straightforward manner. How Obtained. - This clearness is to be obtained chiefly by skill in the construction of sentences. As this topic has been fully treated elsewhere, the reader is referred for further information to the chapter on that subject. A Serious Fault.. - The most serious fault of style among news writers, at the present day, is their propensity to indulge in the use of slang words and phrases. This mistake of slang for wit is a sore evil. It may not perhaps lead to a deterioration of the language, as many fear; for the fault is too glaring and offensive to lead to general imitation. But it is a serious drawback to the pleasure with which one opens his paper for information in regard to the news of the day. Slang is next door to ribaldry, and neither of them is pleasant company at the breakfast table. IV. EDITORIALS. In the arrangement of a modern newspaper—and the same is true to some extent in magazines — a portion of the space is reserved for the expression of the opinions of the |