If you are sending a letter acknowledging a compliment or some kindness
done you may say, _Yours gratefully,_ or _Yours very gratefully,_ in
proportion to the act of kindness received.

It is not customary to sign letters of degrees or titles after your name,
except you are a lord, earl or duke and only known by the title, but as
we have no such titles in America it is unnecessary to bring this matter
into consideration. Don't sign yourself,

Sincerely yours,
Obadiah Jackson, M.A. or L.L. D.

If you're an M. A. or an L.L. D. people generally know it without your
sounding your own trumpet. Many people, and especially clergymen, are
fond of flaunting after their names degrees they have received _honoris
causa_, that is, degrees as a mark of honor, without examination. Such
degrees should be kept in the background. Many a deadhead has these
degrees which he could never have earned by brain work.

Married women whose husbands are alive may sign the husband's name with
the prefix _Mrs:_ thus,

Yours sincerely,
_Mrs._ William Southey.

but when the husband is dead the signature should be--

Yours sincerely,
_Mrs._ Sarah Southey.