Do not consider anything too trivial to write about which you would think worth mentioning Write as in conversation. Writing letters is simply you talk. talking on paper, and your friends will be much more entertained by the narration of little every-day affairs than by profound observations upon topics which they care nothing about.

In writing to very intimate friends, who will be interested in the details of your daily life, it is well sometimes to make your letters a sort of diary-telling something of how you have spent each day since you wrote last; what books you have been reading, what letters you have received from mutual friends, and what you have seen or heard that has interested you.

Many persons, not much accustomed to use the pen, have a notion that if any occasion happens Don't defer to call for a letter on any business matter writing. they must immediately compose a tedious rigmarole of statements and explanations; and, finding it difficult to make up what they consider. "a capital letter", they defer writing until the occasion is perhaps gone, or at least until the business in hand has suffered considerable injury by the delay. But if they divest their minds of all ideas of literary composition, and just write what they would say, in the fewest possible words, and at once, such persons would find correspondence agreeable rather than irksome.

Finish your

You will find it easier to reply to a letter soon after you get it than if you neglect it for a few weeks, because you will have the impressions stories. which the first reading made upon your mind. Tell your friend when you received the letter which you are

answering, and take up the topics in the order which they naturally come, remembering to answer all the questions which have been asked. Try to think what your friend would like best to hear about, and when you undertake to tell anything do not leave it half told, but finish the story. People who are not careful about this often give a false impression without meaning to do so. For instance, one of these careless writers, in giving an account of a fire, simply stated that the house was burned, without giving any qualifications, thus giving the impression that it was entirely consumed, and causing a whole family much unnecessary trouble and anxiety, as the actual burning in question was very slight.

When to delay.

To this rule there is a single exception. Friendship, like all other moral and material adornments of life, is subject to blight occasionally, and the strongest union may be dissolved by a fiercer heat arising from the combustion of the very dregs and lees of amity. Your friend annoys you, disappoints you, breaks his word, or lets off a bit of scandal that reaches your ears. Then you will "write him such a letter", you'll tell him plainly what you think of him, and put him to shame by the evidence of black and white.

Now, if you are wise you will do nothing of the sort; you will never write a single word that may cause shame or pain in the reader's mind, or that the writer may have cause hereafter to regret. A letter is a document that may be preserved forever; and should you be mistaken, or only partially informed, or the victim of your own too hasty or incompetent judgment, your own hand and seal may remain as a witness of your rashness, perhaps

of your meanness, to the end of your days, aye, and long after that, to the end of the world even.

Bitter

words.

Therefore if you want to tell your friend your mind, do not write, but speak it; a spoken bitterness may be forgotten and forgiven, but a written one cannot be so readily forgiven, and can never be forgotten; no, not even if burnt; for when we are stung in the perusal of something, the effect goes deep, and can never be obliterated, even by all-corroding time. A fierce letter, a sharply written reproof, a disparaging communication to a friend, has been the cause of embittering many pairs of lives. Never should that be written which we may hereafter wish to recall. We are all fallible, and may be much in error when we feel sure that we are right. That consideration should be sufficient to make any sensible man or woman pause before giving vent to anger, with the pen in hand.

But exceptions to such a rule may occur; an admonition, a reproof, nay, even an accusation, may sometimes be necessary, and a letter be the only possible mode of conveying it. Let good sense and good feeling determine how the case shall be, and let it at the same time be borne in mind that what is once written cannot be unwritten, and that greater caution is necessary in using the pen, than in using the tongue.

In apologizing for misconduct, for failing to meet an engagement, or for lack of punctuality, always state the reason. Letters of excuse should be written as promptly as possible.

Apologies.

In asking favors, do not urge the claims too strongly. Should a refusal be the result, the humiliation will be felt deeply.

Letters refusing favors should be kindly worded, and should state the reason.

Enclose postagestamps.

In writing a letter, the answer to which is of more benefit to yourself than the person to whom you write, enclose a stamp for the reply. This may seem to be a small matter, but business firms usually adopt it, and it is only just. A letter of introduction, or recommendation should never be sealed, as the bearer by whom it is sent ought to be presumed to know the contents.

Hints.

As a rule, every letter, unless insulting in its language, requires an answer, which should usually be immediate. To neglect to answer a letter shows ill-breeding.

Business letters must be pithy, short, and go straight to the point. Pleasantry is not advisable. It is best carefully to distinguish letters of business and of friendship.

Every paragraph should be marked by extreme clearness and perspicuity; so clear and unambiguous that the dullest person may be able to understand it exactly.

For the sake of perspicuity, careful attention to punctuation is necessary.

All intercourse between parents and children should be free and confidential.

Read your letter carefully when finished, to see that you have made no omissions or mistakes.

Be very sparing of letters of advice. Even when solicited, advice often gives offence, and it should be obtruded only when the necessity seems overwhelming.

Useful hints and illustrations will be found in Bardeen's "Primer of Letter-Writing", 25 cts.

ARITHMETIC

In order to teach arithmetic successfully the teacher

tion.

should have an idea of the subject as a whole. All depends The most difficult part of the subject—as in on the foundaall subjects is the fundamental part; and unless that is thoroughly taught, the after results will be unsatisfactory.

More time is given to the subject of mathematics in the schools than to any other study. Important as it is, it should not receive an undue proportion of time,—it should not be pursued at the expense nor to the neglect of other studies of equal importance, as language, reading, spelling, etc.

Nothing is gained by passing rapidly through the primary part. Pupils should be perfectly Make haste familiar with all the fundamental operations; slowly. able to write numbers of five and six periods without hesitation; to add rapidly and accurately long columns of figures; and to perform all computations in the fundamental rules with dispatch.

Facility be

ing.

The first part of arithmetic should be simple, and the lesson should be given orally by the teacher. More attention should be given to the study fore reasonof processes than to analysis-computation comes first, elaborate reasoning afterward. During the primary course the aim should be to make pupils learn how to do it.