Review of Robert M. DeWitt’s WEBSTER'S PRACTICAL LETTER WRITER [1866.]
Review of Robert M. DeWitt’s WEBSTER'S PRACTICAL LETTER WRITER [1866.]
De Witt, Robert M. WEBSTER'S PRACTICAL LETTER WRITER; CONTAINING GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WRITING; ALSO MODEL LETTERS: FAMILY LETTERS, CHILDRENS LETTERS, LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP, LETTERS OF SYMPATHY, LOVE LETTERS, SOLDIERS’ LETTERS, LETTERS OF DISTINGUISHED MEN, LETTERS OF DISTINGUISHED WOMEN, LETTERS OF DISTINGUISHED AUTHORS, BUSINESS LETTERS, LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION, AND MODEL NOTES OF INVITATION. TOGETHER WITH BIBLE QUOTATIONS, CHOICE PROSE SENTIMENTS, SELECT POETICAL QUOTATIONS; ALSO, A, COPIOUS DICTIONARY OF SYNONYMS; ALL THE LATIN, FRENCH, SPANISH AND ITALIAN WORDS AND PHRASES USUALLY MET WITH; A FULL LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, MOTTOES OF THE STATES, AND A MODEL OF PRINTERS’ PROOF CORRECTIONS. New York: DeWitt, 1866. [192 pp.]
De Witt’s WEBSTER'S PRACTICAL LETTER WRITER, uses the name of Daniel Webster to enhance his text’s credibility. Ultimately, De Witt’s text lives up to the credibility that is due to Webster’s name. At the core of this text is a collection of actual model letters designed for readers of the nineteenth century to in corresponding with friends and family during significant life events. While the letters are entertaining from a historical perspective, they are also refreshing because each model letter comes from the actual correspondence of different peoples. Because different authors have written each model-letter, each letter contains its own sense of tones and individual linguistic patterns. In examining this text for modern teaching applications, it is important to recognize that for many modern students the art of letter writing is something alien. When communicating through text, many students are familiar only with text messaging and e-mail. These mediums of communication are often more curt, and more immediate than what students will encounter when studying the letters of De Witt’s text. Students can learn much from these letters about writing clearly, establishing an empathetic tone with readers, and with art of developing a narrative story to make a point.
De Witt’s fifteen-page introduction to letter writing may also prove valuable. The text helps place the importance of the nineteenth century letter carrier in context, “the importance of the messenger who brings our missives of love, life and death, of joy, ruin or gossip…” (De Witt 18). Curiously enough, the author also raises ergonomic issues of letter writing that seem very similar to health advice on how to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome.
For the writing instructor planning a lesson on letter writing, this volume is worthy of review; its letters will provide students with valid examples of clarity of language, mastery of tone, and the persuasive use of practical narrative storytelling.---Samuel Gordon Paley
De Witt, Robert M. WEBSTER'S PRACTICAL LETTER WRITER; CONTAINING GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WRITING; ALSO MODEL LETTERS: FAMILY LETTERS, CHILDRENS LETTERS, LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP, LETTERS OF SYMPATHY, LOVE LETTERS, SOLDIERS’ LETTERS, LETTERS OF DISTINGUISHED MEN, LETTERS OF DISTINGUISHED WOMEN, LETTERS OF DISTINGUISHED AUTHORS, BUSINESS LETTERS, LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION, AND MODEL NOTES OF INVITATION. TOGETHER WITH BIBLE QUOTATIONS, CHOICE PROSE SENTIMENTS, SELECT POETICAL QUOTATIONS; ALSO, A, COPIOUS DICTIONARY OF SYNONYMS; ALL THE LATIN, FRENCH, SPANISH AND ITALIAN WORDS AND PHRASES USUALLY MET WITH; A FULL LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, MOTTOES OF THE STATES, AND A MODEL OF PRINTERS’ PROOF CORRECTIONS. New York: DeWitt, 1866. [192 pp.]
De Witt’s WEBSTER'S PRACTICAL LETTER WRITER, uses the name of Daniel Webster to enhance his text’s credibility. Ultimately, De Witt’s text lives up to the credibility that is due to Webster’s name. At the core of this text is a collection of actual model letters designed for readers of the nineteenth century to in corresponding with friends and family during significant life events. While the letters are entertaining from a historical perspective, they are also refreshing because each model letter comes from the actual correspondence of different peoples. Because different authors have written each model-letter, each letter contains its own sense of tones and individual linguistic patterns. In examining this text for modern teaching applications, it is important to recognize that for many modern students the art of letter writing is something alien. When communicating through text, many students are familiar only with text messaging and e-mail. These mediums of communication are often more curt, and more immediate than what students will encounter when studying the letters of De Witt’s text. Students can learn much from these letters about writing clearly, establishing an empathetic tone with readers, and with art of developing a narrative story to make a point.
De Witt’s fifteen-page introduction to letter writing may also prove valuable. The text helps place the importance of the nineteenth century letter carrier in context, “the importance of the messenger who brings our missives of love, life and death, of joy, ruin or gossip…” (De Witt 18). Curiously enough, the author also raises ergonomic issues of letter writing that seem very similar to health advice on how to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome.
The position in which you sit when writing is very important. If the body is bent or contracted or contracted, it is not only very inelegant, but it is also injurious to health. Sit erect; let both arms rest equally on the desk or table; let your paper lie before you, slightly to the right; hold your pen steadily and firmly, and guide in lightly over your paper (De Witt 21).
For the writing instructor planning a lesson on letter writing, this volume is worthy of review; its letters will provide students with valid examples of clarity of language, mastery of tone, and the persuasive use of practical narrative storytelling.---Samuel Gordon Paley
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