We begin with the subject of business letters, and the first thing we
shall say about them is--Be very particular about their appearance.
There is a proverb, to be sure, warning us that appearances are
deceitful, but that proverb is only true occasionally; in general we may
safely draw an inference as to the writer from the look of her letter.
An ill-folded, clumsy, up-and-down-hill, blotted, greasy-looking letter
almost certainly comes from an untidy house and a stupid girl, whereas a
neat, carefully-written epistle suggests just as surely the opposite.

In friendly letters our correspondents know something about us
beforehand, but in business we may be writing to perfect strangers, who
can only judge of us by the figure we cut on a sheet of note-paper. To
secure prompt attention and a polite reply, no plan works so well as
putting good taste into the appearance of letters. They are really a
part of ourselves, and a girl should as soon think of sending them
marked with carelessness to either a friend or a stranger as of going to
make a call in a patched frock, a faded hat, and gloves with holes.

An indispensable point in a business letter is to have the meaning quite
clear. It must say exactly what the writer intends, leaving nothing to
be guessed at.

And after clearness the next point is shortness. A brief letter makes
far more impression than a long one, besides which it usually gets
attended to at once. We have known a man open a lady's letter on a
matter of business, and, seeing it a long rigmarole, put it at once in
his pocket and let it lie there forgotten for a week.

That long letters receive most notice is a mistake into which girls fall
very often, but she who aspires to be a real business woman must give