CHAPTER IX CHILDREN'S LETTERS CHILDREN'S letters may be written on ordinary stationery, but it adds a good deal of interest to their letter writing if they may use some of the several pretty, special styles to be had at any good stationer's. The following examples of children's letters include: Letter of invitation from a child to a child. Letter of invitation from a parent to a child. Letter to a teacher. Letter to a grandmother on her birthday. Invitation to a birthday party Dear Frank: April 14, 1921. I am going to have a birthday party next Friday afternoon, from three-thirty until six o'clock. I hope you will come and help us to have a good time. 500 Park Avenue Sincerely yours, Harriet Evans. Accepting Dear Harriet: 439 Manhattan Avenue, April 16, 1921. It is so kind of you to ask me to your birthday party next Friday afternoon. I shall be very glad to come. Regretting Sincerely yours, Frank Dawson. 439 Manhattan Avenue, April 16, 1921. Dear Harriet: I am very sorry that I cannot go to your birthday party on next Friday. My mother is taking me to visit my cousin, so I shall be away. Thank you for asking me. I hope you will all have a great deal of fun. Sincerely yours, Frank Dawson. Invitation from a parent to a child Dear Ethel: The twins are going to have a little party on Friday afternoon and they would like you to come. Can you come at three-thirty? Tell your mother we will arrange that you get home at six. Cordially yours, Katherine G. Evans. From a parent to another parent Dear Mrs. Heywood: Dorothy will have a birthday on Tuesday, the thirteenth of June. We are planning, if the weather is fine, to have a lawn party. Otherwise we shall have it in the house. She hopes that you will let Madeline come and I am sure they will all have a good time. If you send Madeline at four I will see that she returns home at six. Will you visit us on the farm during your summer vacation? Father has bought me a boat and we can go fishing and swimming. Mabel has a pony and I know she will let us ride him. Please let me know if you may come and if you may stay two weeks. Sincerely yours, Thanks for a gift: 159 West Tenth Street, December 12, 1921. Dear Aunt Louise: You were wonderful to think of sending me those fine skates for my birthday. They are just the kind I wanted and I wish to thank you. I shall take good care of them. Your affectionate nephew, To a sick playmate 46 Elmwood Avenue, June 16, 1922. Dear Dorothy: I am so sorry you are ill, but your mother says you are getting better. If you like, I shall let you have my book with the poem called "The Land of Counterpane." It is about a sick little boy who is playing with his toy soldiers and people and villages. In the picture they seem to be making him forget he is sick. All the boys and girls hope you will soon be out to play again. Sincerely yours, Betty Foster. To a teacher 500 Park Avenue, New York, N. Y., Dear Miss Sewell: I want to thank you for your kindness in helping me with my studies, especially arithmetic. Without your help I should not have been able to pass my examinations. Mother asks that you will come some day next week to take tea with us. I wish you a very happy birthday and I hope you will like the present I sent you. Mother helped me to make it. I send you my best love. Your loving grandchild, Here is a charming letter1 that Helen Keller when she was ten years of age wrote to John Greenleaf Whittier on the occasion of his birthday: Dear Kind Poet, South Boston, Dec. 17, 1890. This is your birthday; that was the first thought which came into my mind when I awoke this morning; and it made me glad to think I could write you a letter and tell you how much your little friends love their sweet poet and his birthday. This evening they are going to entertain their friends with readings from your poems and music. I hope the swift winged messengers of love will be here to carry some of the sweet melody to you, in your little study by the Merrimac. At first I was very sorry when I found that the sun had hidden his shining face behind dull clouds, but afterwards I thought why he did it, and then I was happy. The sun knows that you like to see the world covered with beautiful white snow and so he kept back all his brightness, and let the little crystals form in the sky. When they are ready, they will softly fall and tenderly cover every object. Then the sun will appear in all his radiance and fill the world with light. If I were with you to-day I would give you eighty-three kisses, one for each year you have lived. Eighty-three years seems very long to me. Does it seem long to you? I wonder how many years there will be in eternity. I am afraid I cannot think about so much time. I received the letter which you wrote to me last summer, and I thank you for it. I am staying in Boston now at the Institution for the Blind, but I have not commenced my studies yet, because my dearest friend, Mr. Anagnos, wants me to rest and play a great deal. Teacher is well and sends her kind remembrance to you. The 1This and the letter following are from "The Story of My Life,” by Helen Keller. Copyright, 1902, 1903, by Hellen Keller. Published in book form by Doubleday, Page & Co. |