LETTER WRITING TIPS
from Eight or Nine Wise Words Ahout Letter Writing, published in 1890 by
Charles Dodgson (the pseudonym of Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll)
Here is a golden Rule to begin with. Write legibly. The auerage temper of the human race would be perceptibly sweetened, if everybody obeyed this Rule! A great deal of the bad writing in the world comes simply from writing too quickly.
…My second Rule is, don’t fill more than a page and a half with apologies for not having written sooner! The best subject, to begin with, is your friend’s last letter. Write with the letter open before you. Answer his questions, and make any remarks his letter suggests. Then go on to what you want to say yourself. This arrangement is more courteous, and pleasanter for the reader, than to fill the letter with your own invaluable remarks, and then hastily answer your friend’s questions in a postscript. Your friend is much more likely to enjoy your wit, after his own anxiety for information has been satisfied.
A few more Rules may fitly be given here, for correspondence that has unfortunately become controversial. One is, don’t repeat yourself. When once you have said your say, fully and clearly, on a certain point, and have failed to convince your friend, drop that subject: to repeat your arguments,
being able to stay with you when I visited New York last week.”). If you can, it’s always nice to mention looking forward to seeing them at some future event. Then say thanks again and wrap up the letter by signing off with “love,” “with gratitude,” “yours truly,” or your preferred way of closing. A brief example:
Dear Aunt Jessie,
Thanks so much for the fantastic roller skates! I can’t wait to use them at the skating party next month. When you come visit over the summer, maybe we can go skating together. Th anks again!
Love,
Emi
all over again, will simply lead to his doing the same; and so you will go on, like a Circulating Decimal. Did you ever know a Circulating Decimal come to an end?
Another Rule is, when you have written a letter that you feel may possibly irritate your friend, however necessary you may have felt it to so express yourself, put it aside till the next day. Then read it over again, and fancy it addressed to yourself. This will often lead to your writing it all over again, taking out a lot of the vinegar and pepper, and putting in honey instead, and thus making a much more palatable dish of it!…
My fifth Rule is, if your friend makes a severe remark, either leave it unnoticed, or make your reply distinctly less severe: and if he makes a friendly remark, tending towards “making up” the little difference that has arisen between you, let your reply be distinctly more friendly…
My sixth Rule (and my last remark about controversial correspondence) is, don’t try to have the last word! How many a controversy would be nipped in the bud, if each was anxious to let the other have the last word!…
My seventh Rule is, if it should ever occur to you to write, jestingly, in dispraise of your friend, be sure you exaggerate enough to make the jesting obvious: a word spoken in jest, but taken as earnest, may lead to very serious consequences. I have known it to lead to the breaking-off of a friendship…
My eighth Rule. When you say, in your letter, “I enclose cheque for £5,” or “I enclose John’s letter for you to see,” leave off writing for a moment—go and get the document referred to—and put it into the envelope. Otherwise, you are pretty certain to find it lying about, after the Post has gone!
Personal Letters
Longer than a thank-you note, a personal letter (or social note) has five parts and can be handwritten or typed.
The Heading: This consists of your address and the date, each on its own line, indented to the middle of the page. After the heading, skip a line. If you are writing on preaddressed stationery, just write the date.
The Greeting: This can be formal or informal—beginning with “Dear,” or just writing the person’s name (or even simply, “Hi”). Either way, the greeting ends with a comma, and you skip a line afterwards.
The Body: The main text of your letter. In this kind of letter, the beginning of each paragraph is indented, and no lines are skipped between paragraphs.
The Closing: After the body, skip a line and write your closing line, which is usually just a few words like “All best,” “Sincerely,” “Looking forward to seeing you,” “With love,” etc. Whatever you write, this line should end in a comma and should be indented the same amount as your heading.
The Signature Line: This is where you sign your name. If you are typing the letter, skip three lines after the closing and type your name there, then put your handwritten signature just above your printed name. If your letter contains a postscript, skip a line after the signature line, begin the postscript by writing “P.S.” and end it with your initials.
An additional postscript should be noted as P.P.S. rather than P.S.S., as it is a post (after) postscript and not a postscript script.
Reading Tide Charts
EVERY BEACH on the planet has a unique cycle of tides, and thus its own tide chart. Look for one in the local newspaper, or at a nearby marine store or surf shop.
Reading tide charts helps you pick the best times to go fishing, crabbing, or surfing. With boats, it helps to know what the water is doing, as paddling a canoe into a creek when the tide is trending low is a great deal harder than, say, swooping in with the rush of a coming high tide.
Tide charts come in different forms. Once you know the basics of high and low tide, water height, and moon phases, you’ll be able to read any tide chart.
FISHING: A NEW YORK TIDE CHART
This simple tide chart from Southold, New York, a fishing area, predicts tides for the first nine days of August 2006.
August 2006
Day A.M. P.M.
1 4:25 5:02
2 5:19 5:51
3 6:17 6:43
4 7:17 7:36
5 8:15 8:28
6 9:08 9:20
7 9:59 10:11
8 10:47 11:01
9 11:35 11:52
Plum Gut: minus 1 hour, 5 minutes.
Shinnecock Canal: plus 50 minutes.
Sag Harbor: minus 40 minutes.
• new moon
first-quarter moon (waxing moon)
full moon
three-quarter moon (waning moon)
This is a high tide chart because it’s primarily for fishing. When you fish, you wake up in the morning and before even opening your eyes you wonder, “When’s high tide?” High tide is when the fish are out and moving, whether on the incoming flood tide or the outgoing ebb tide. At least that’s what you hope. A smallprint note at the bottom of this chart mentions that low tide comes about six hours later.
The names and times beneath the chart explain how to calculate the tides for nearby beaches, since every bay and inlet will have slightly different tides.
Notice several things. First, high tide comes 50-60 minutes later each day. The tidal day is slightly longer than our regular 24-hour day, at 24 hours and 50 minutes. (Why? Because our regular days rely on the earth rotating around the sun, and tidal days rely on the moon rotating around the earth, which takes 50 minutes longer.)
Second, the tide chart lists the phases of the moon. During the first few days of August the moon will wax to a first-quarter crescent. The moon will be full by August 9th—and with any luck it will be a bulgingly orange late-summer moon, rising low and pumpkin-like in the sky.
Tide charts show the moon phases because tides are caused by the pull of the moon’s gravity—and the sun’s gravity—on earth’s water. It’s an awe-inspiring concept that the moon’s pull—even at 239,000 miles away—is so strong that it can control our ocean waters. Next time you are at the seashore, with the waves lapping at your feet, you can observe the power of the moon.
More practically, tide charts list moon phases because it matters when you go fishing. High tides are higher during the new moon and the full moon. T
hese are called spring tides. People who fish don’t much like spring tides—the water level is higher, and silt and sand from the bottom churn up and make the water murky. The result: Fish can’t see the bait on your line, and that’s no good if you’re trying to catch them. Some people will plan their fishing trips way in advance using the moon phases of tide charts, knowing to avoid the few days around new and full moon.
The opposite of high water spring tides are neap tides. They happen during the first and third quarters, when the moon waxes and wanes. There’s less water at high tide, and slightly less current.
There are two more moon trivia words you’ll want to know: a crescent moon is anything less than half, and any phase slightly-more-thanhalf to just-under-whole is a gibbous moon.
CRABBING: A CAPE COD TIDE CHART
* * *
Date Day Time Height Time Height Time Height Time Height
7/10/07 Mon 5:18 AM 0.0 L 11:10 AM 2.1 H 5:09 PM 0.4 L 11:24 PM 3.1 H
The next chart shows low tide, which makes it helpful for crabbing and beachcombing. The initial Time column lists the first tide after midnight, no matter whether it’s low or high. Set your alarm clock, because that first tide comes in at 5:18 in the morning. The next column, Height, tells that the height of the water is 0.0, or average water level, and that the tide is L, or low. If you’re not an early riser, look for the second low tide of the day. Reading from left to right, you’ll see a high tide at 11:10 A.M., and then another low tide at 5:09 P.M. That’s the one you want.
At 4:00, then, head for the beach. The hours just before and after low tide are especially good for beachcombing and crabbing. Low tide is also a good time to see birds along the shore. They’ll be there picking at small animals and crabs that were left on the beach after the water receded.
SURFING: A COSTA RICAN TIDE CHART
* * *
This chart from Nosara, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica shows the tides in 24-hour time, which is used throughout the world, especially in non-English-speaking nations. (In the United States, 24-hour time is called Military Time, since that’s where it’s most often used.)
Hours 13-24 are equivalent to 1 P.M.-12 A.M. on the 12-hour clock, so to convert, just subtract 12. Thus high tide at 16:13 is 4:13 P.M., and low tide at 22:21 is 10:21 P.M.
Date Day High Time/Height Low Time/Height High Time/Height Low Time/Height
February 19, 2007 Monday 03:49/ 9.56 ft. 09:55/ -1.01 ft. 16:13/10.05 ft. 22:217-0.96 ft.
Globe-trotting surfers, even American ones, must get used to 24-hour time so they can easily read the tide charts as they travel across continents, surfboard under arm, seeking the perfect wave. This chart does a great job of showing how high the waves will swell. For surfing, the combination of tide, wind, and swell determine whether any given surf spot, or break, will have rideable waves at any given hour.
For example, a reef break means the waves are created (or break) when incoming water hits a reef that comes up from the ocean floor. At low tide, a reef break may give an excellent ride, on fast, steep waves. At high tide, however, the water may be so deep that it does not make strong impact with the reef, and this results in barely any wave to ride at all.
On the other hand, a beach break means waves form off large sandbars underwater. Often a higher tide is best for these surf spots, because they need the force of a lot of water rushing over the sandbars to make long, rounded waves.
BOATING: A CALIFORNIA TIDE CHART
* * *
By now you’re an old hand at reading charts. The last chart comes from Half Moon Bay, California. It includes longitude (37.5017° N) and latitude (122.4866° W), which you’ll want to know if you’re taking a boat out on the Pacific Ocean and using your navigation equipment to find your way back to shore.
The chart also gives times for sunrise and sunset, so you can get out on the water early and you’ll know when you’d best return to the marina before nightfall. Notice, too, how the date is notated, as year-month-day; that’s standard tide-chart notation.
Tuesday 2007-07-03
Sunrise 5:53 AM Sunset 8:34 PM
Moonrise 11:04 PM Moonset 9:00 AM
High Tide 12:13 AM 5.76 feet
Low Tide 7:22 AM -1.00 feet
High Tide 2:29 PM 4.59 feet
Low Tide 7:23 PM 2.93 feet
Making a Seine Net
ASEINE NET is just a long fishing net used for dipping into the ocean to collect and study marine life.
WHAT YOU NEED
♦ Seine netting, often sold as minnow seine. Ours is 4 feet deep and 15 feet long, with a 1/8/1/8 inch mesh, but these measurements are flexible, depending on how big or small you want your net to be, and what’s available. It’s nice when the net has a bit of Styrofoam at the top edge to keep it afloat, and some metal weights on the bottom to help it sink. Some seine netting comes this way. It can be bought at marina shops.
♦ Two 4-foot poles or lengths of wood, to control the net, and to wind it up when you’re done.
♦ A large bucket, to keep your catch in water and to store the net.
Attach the shorter sides of the net to the poles. Do this by drilling a hole at each end of the pole (they might do this for you at a marine shop, if you ask). Or, use a Swiss Army knife to whittle a channel at each end of the pole, and wrap the rope there. Or forget the whittling and just wrap the rope very tight. If there’s not already a thin rope at each corner of your net, find a small length of light rope or twine and use that.
One person stands at the shoreline and holds a pole. The other person holds the second pole and wades into the water until the net is fully extended. Keep the top at water level and let the rest of the net sink. This is where the metal weights come in handy.
After a time, walk back to shore in a sweeping motion, keeping the net fully extended so that when you get to shore, you’ll be a net-length away from your friend or parent holding the other end of the net. As you get closer to shore, slowly change the net direction from vertical—where it is catching fish and other creatures—to horizontal, where you can scoop them up and lay out the net on the wet sand to see what you’ve got.
If you’re not catching much of anything, change your position, or your location, or trawl some, walking around with the net stretched, giving more fish more time to end up in your hands. Both of you can walk farther into the river or surf.
Toss back everything within a few minutes so that your spider crabs, starfish, striped bass, tiny snails, and shiny minnows can continue their lives at sea. Many towns have laws that tell you to toss the sea animals back where they belong, or else you will suffer a stiff penalty. (Some beaches ban large-scale commercial seine netting, but these small ones are usually okay.)
If you’re going fishing, though, those little minnows are good bait.
HOW TO CLEAN A SHELL
When your beachcombing and seine netting land you choice shells, here are two ways to clean them and turn them into long lasting treasures.
Bury the shells 12 inches underground in your backyard and let the earthworms and all those soil bacteria do their work. This can take several months.
Boil for five minutes in a large pot, in a solution that is half water and half bleach. You’ll see when the shells are clean. Take them out carefully with tongs, or ask someone older to do it, because the water is scalding. Rinse with cool water.
Women Spies
From the Revolutionary War to World War II
UNLIKELY SPIES
Julia Child
Before she became a famous chef, Julia Child was a spy. She worked for the Office of Strategic Services, a precursor of the CIA, and went undercover to Sri Lanka (called Ceylon at the time) with top security clearance. In World War II, she helped the U.S. Navy solve their problem with sharks—who had a habit of setting off underwater explosive devices, foiling U.S. plans to blow up German U-boats—by developing shark repellent. She met diplomat Paul Child when she was working for the OSS, and they married. When Paul was po
sted to Paris, Julia trained at the famous Cordon Bleu cooking school and began her second life as a chef.
Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr
Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler is best known as Hedy Lamarr, movie star of the 1930s and ’40s. But she was also an inventor who patented an idea that was to become the key to modern wireless communication. During World War II, Hedy, along with George Antheil, invented a way to make military communications secure through frequency-hopping, an early form of a technology called spread spectrum. Hedy’s status as a beautiful and successful actress provided her with the perfect cover: she was able to visit a variety of venues on tour and interact with many people, none of whom suspected that the stunning starlet might be listening closely and thinking of ways to help the U.S. cause.
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was another World War II-era entertainer whose celebrity status helped distract from her mission as a spy. Josephine was an African American dancer and singer from St. Louis, Missouri. She found some success in the United States, but was hindered by racial prejudice. She moved to Paris when she was nineteen and became an international star. When World War II began, she started working as an undercover operative for the French Resistance, transporting orders and maps from the Resistance into countries occupied by Germany. Her fame and renown made it easy for her to pass unsuspected, as foreign officials were thrilled to meet such a famous performer, but she wrote the secret information in disappearing ink on her sheet music just in case.
The Daring Book for Girls Page 18
