I can't tell you, dearest Mary, of all the wishes I send for your happiness. Give Jim my love and tell him how lucky I think he is, and how much I hope all good fortune will come to you both. Lovingly, Aunt Kate. =CONGRATULATION ON SOME ESPECIAL SUCCESS= My dear Mrs. Brown: We have just heard of the honors that your son has won. How proud you must be of him! We are both so glad for him and for you. Please congratulate him for us, and believe me, Very sincerely, Ethel Norman. Or: Dear Mrs. Brown: We are so glad to hear the good news of David's success; it was a very splendid accomplishment and we are all so proud of him and of you. Please give him our love and congratulations, and with full measure of both to you, Affectionately, Martha Kindhart. =CONGRATULATING A FRIEND APPOINTED TO HIGH OFFICE= Dear John: We are overjoyed at the good news! For once the reward has fallen where it is deserved. Certainly no one is better fitted than yourself for a diplomat's life, and we know you will fill the position to the honor of your country. Please give my love to Alice, and with renewed congratulations to you from us both. Yours always, Ethel Norman. Another example: Dear Michael: We all rejoice with you in the confirmation of your appointment. The State needs just such men as you--if we had more of your sort the ordinary citizen would have less to worry about. Our best congratulations! John Kindhart. =THE LETTER OF CONDOLENCE= Intimate letters of condolence are like love letters, in that they are too sacred to follow a set form. One rule, and one only, should guide you in writing such letters. Say what you truly feel. Say that and nothing else. Sit down at your desk, let your thoughts dwell on the person you are writing to. Don't dwell on the details of illness or the manner of death; don't quote endlessly from the poets and Scriptures. Remember that eyes filmed with tears and an aching heart can not follow rhetorical lengths of writing. The more nearly a note can express a hand-clasp, a thought of sympathy, above all, a genuine love or appreciation of the one who has gone, the greater comfort it brings. Write as simply as possible and let your heart speak as truly and as briefly as you can. Forget, if you can, that you are using written words, think merely how you feel--then put your feelings on paper--that is all. Supposing it is a young mother who has died. You think how young and sweet she was--and of her little children, and, literally, your heart aches for them and her husband and her own family. Into your thoughts must come some expression of what she was, and what their loss must be!