Good letters are the springboards for those who wish to dive right into the sea of writing. Just be yourself and make a note of it! Here are a few letters written by just plain folks who know the trick of being natural. Here is a part of one of Jane Carlyle's letters, concerning the goose on their Scots Farm:

"Did you ever watch any hatching thing? ... I have a goose sitting on five eggs - a rather flighty sort of character - quite a goose of the world in fact, who from time to time drives me to the brink of despair by following her pleasures whole hours with the other geese, to the manifest danger of cooling her eggs. I hover about the nest during these long absences with a solicitude quite indescribable, and it will end, I believe, in my sitting down on the eggs myself."

Here is another example, part of one of Charles Lamb's letters describing his method of dealing with his friend Coleridge's eloquence:

"And in spite of my assuring him that time was precious, he drew me within the door of an unoccupied garden by the road-side, and there, sheltered from observation by a hedge of evergreens he took me by the button of my coat, and closing his eyes, commenced an eloquent discourse, waving his right hand gently, as the musical words flowed in an unbroken stream from his lips. I listened entranced; but the striking of a church clock recalled me to a sense of duty. I saw it was of no use to attempt to break away, so taking advantage of his absorption in his subject, I, with my penknife, quietly severed the button from my coat, and decamped. Five hours afterwards, in passing the same garden on my way home, I heard Coleridge's voice, and on looking in, there he was, with closed eyes - the button in his fingers - and his right hand gracefully waving, just as I left him . . ."

A Round Robin Is Fun

If you have a few friends or relatives all scattered about our fair land, you will enjoy the round-robin letter. Just start off and write a general newsy letter that will be of interest to all of them and send it on to a favorite whom you can depend upon to back you up in the venture. Send him a note explaining the idea, which is simply this: just add to the letter any news you have and send it on to another on the list. In a month or so, depending, of course, on the time, interest, and speed of the circle, you will be amazed at the size of the epistle that will be delivered to you and the wealth of news it has collected! Take out your original letter, add fresh news, and send the packet again on its round, so that each person in the circle has the chance to read each letter.