ONGRATULATORY letters are those written to a friend who has exper- ienced some good fortune, success, prosperity, or great joy. Such letters should embody cheerful- ness and cordiality of sentiment, hearty express- ions of pleasure and good will,   and   should  be   free

from all admixture of envy or foreboding. Letters expressing this pleasure admit of a little more egotism than is sanctioned by decorum in some other cases. One may be allowed to allude to one's own feelings when so pleasurably associated with those of one's correspondence. Brevity is quite admissible in letters of felicitation. It is in better taste not to introduce extraneous matter into them, especially when they are of a merely ceremonious nature. Congratulations should be offered as soon as possible after the occasions that call them forth.

If one have [sic] a painful subject to communicate concerning one's self or any one else, or any advice to give, and it must be sent, it should never be written in a letter of congratulation, but sent by a separate letter, even if it has to go by the same mail.

While it is the desire to make one's expressions of pleasure and good will hearty and cheerful, great care should be taken that we do not use exaggerated expressions of joy, as they have an air of insincerity and should therefore be avoided. To sum up all, in a word—feel right and write as we feel.

A Father to His Son on the Marriage of the Latter.

PORTLAND, CT., Dec. 6, 1880.

My Dear Son:—It is with no small pleasure, and with no slight feeling of parental pride, that I now congratulate you upon your recent change of state. That you have my best and heartiest wishes for your future happiness, you already know; but I feel a natural pleasure in again giving them expression. And here I have to add, that no parent could join in those wishes with more fervent sincerity than your dear and kind mother, who desires you to unite with me in the most affectionate regards to our new relation, our long_word_to_justify_prev

daughter-in-law. That your marriage state may be blessed with the same domestic happiness that has fallen to my lot, is the sincere wish of

Your ever affectionate father,

CLARK HAYES.

TO CHESTER HAYES, ESQ.

Thomas Jefferson to General Washington, Upon His Return From Abroad, and Success at Yorktown¹.

MONTICELLO, Oct. 28, 1781.

Sir:—I hope it will not be unacceptable to your Excellency² to receive the congratulations of a private individual on your return to your native country³, and, above all things, on the important success which has attended it. Great as this has been, however, it can scarcely add to the affection with which we have looked up to you. And if, in the minds of any, the motives of gratitude to our good allies were not sufficiently apparent, the part they have borne in this action must amply convince them. Notwithstanding the state of perpetual solicitude to which I am unfortunately reduced, I should certainly have done myself the honor of paying my respects to you personally; but I apprehend that these visits which are meant by us as marks of our attachment to you, must interfere with the regulations of a camp, and be particularly inconvenient to one whose time is too precious to be wasted in ceremony. I beg you to believe me among the sincerest of those who subscribe themselves your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,

TH. JEFFERSON.

Congratulating a Daughter on Her Birthday.

MILWAUKEE, WIS., Jan.23, 1881.

My Dearest Child:—Your father, brothers, and sisters, all unite with me in wishing you a thousand good wishes on this your __th anniversary. We could all have wished that circumstances would have allowed of your spending it with us; but feeling, in these matters, must oftentimes be sacrificed to utility, and our selfish delights must not be suffered to interfere with the prospects of those dear to us. The package which accompanies this letter contains not only some triding tokens of affection from all of us, but the materials for a little entertainment which, I have no doubt, Mrs. Ranney will allow you to give to your schoolfellows, as I have written to beg a half-holiday on the occasion.

God bless you, my dear child I and that every succeeding year may see you increase in all that is desirable in body and mind, is the earnest prayer of your ever anxious parents. With best compliments to your mistress and teachers,

Believe me,

Your ever affectionate mother,

MARY C. WEAVER.

TO MISS CLARA WEAVER.

To a Friend Upon the Birth of a Son.

EVANSTON, ILL., Aug. 16, 1880.

My Dear Boy:—Congratulations most heartily upon the fulfillment of your hopes in a birth of a son. May he be always the source of happiness and comfort to his parents that he is now, and be the pride and help of your old age. As for the little fellow himself, I can wish him no greater good fortune than to grow up the copy of his father in all things. Remember me kindly to Mrs. Wiggins.

And believe me ever,

Yours sincerely,

J. S. WHITE.

TO J. B. WIGGINS, ESQ.,

Peoria, Ill.

Reply.

PEORIA, ILL., Aug. 18, 1880.

Dear Jerry:—I thank you for your congratulations on the birth of our boy. In matters of this kind, hopeful husbands are often doomed to disappointment. I have noticed frequently that anxiety for a son generally results in a daughter. We are lucky. Need I say that the boy is a fine boy? Did you ever know a baby of either sex that was not “fine”? Mother and child—Heaven bless them both!—are doing well, and the father is delighted to be able to make such a good report of them. The latter, proud of his new acquisition, remains now, as ever,

Sincerely yours,

J. B. WIGGINS.

TO J. S. WHITE, ESQ.,

Evanston, Ill.

A Friend Upon His Good Fortune.

TOLEDO, O., Sept. 15.

My Dear Seaton:—I have just learned from your brother that you have received the appointment of General Agent of the Ætna Insurance Company for Northwestern Ohio, and hasten to offer my congratulations. I think the long_word_to_justify_prev

Company fortunate in securing your services, and I know that you deserve all the good fortune that can come to a man of honor, intelligence and industry. I hope this may be but the forerunner of something better. Should it be so, no one will rejoice more heartily than

Your sincere friend,

GEORGE DELACY.

TO FREDERICK SEATON, ESQ.,

Sandusky, O.

A Friend Upon His Marriage.

SCRANTON, PA., Sept. 6, 1880.

My Dear Eddy:—I have to-day received the invitations to your wedding, and as I cannot be present at that happy event to offer my congratulations in person, I write.

I am heartily glad you are going to be married, and congratulate you upon the wisdom of your choice. You have won a noble as well as a beautiful woman, and one whose love will make you a happy man to your life's end. May God grant that trouble may not come near you, but should it be your lot you will have a wife to whom you can look with confidence for comfort, and whose good sense and devotion to you will be your sure and unfailing support.

That you may both be very happy, and that your happiness may increase with your years, is the prayer of

Your friend,

ARCHIBALD GRAY.

CLARENCE EDDY, ESQ.,

Harrisburg, Penn.

On the Marriage of a Friend.

MT. VERNON, O., June 13, 1880.

My Dear Walker:—The tidings of your happy marriage have just reached me, and I sincerely wish you joy and prosperity in this new life upon which you have embarked. I have known the constancy of your attachment, and the devotion which you have cherished for the one now so completely entrusted to your keeping, and I am confident in the belief that your efforts will not be wanting to insure every advancement of the material comforts this union may bring upon you. That your enjoyment of these earthly felicities may be combined with Heaven's choicest blessings, is ever the prayer of

Your true friend,

WESLEY SEARS.

EDWIN WALKER, ESQ.,

Watkins, N. Y.

A Formal Letter of Congratulation.

Mr. and Mrs. Roberts desire to offer to Mr. and Mrs. Barnard their heartfelt congratulations on the convalescence of Miss Barnard, and to express thh hope that she will speedily regain her usual good health.

1326 Broad Street,

April 5, 1881.

Anniversary of a Silver Wedding.

Dear Friends:—It is seldom one is privileged to add a tribute congratulatory to twenty-five years of wedded life. With such an opportunity, memory dwells on the tranquilities and vicissitudes experienced. The thoughts turning from the cares, troubles, and anxieties, reviews with more cheerfulness time felicities of the past, so natural is it for us to overlook the shadows and see only the brightness, even though it be but the "silvery edge."' With such pleasant memories, dear friends, I pray you may continue on through life's journey, and may your paths be strewn with flowers of kindness and affection , and while looking at the bright, pure surface of the gift accompanying this, may you see the foreshadowing of a blessed future.

Your sincere friend,

GEO. FIELDS.

MR. AND MRS. M. C. HARNEY.

Sir Walter Scott to Robert Southey on His Investiture as Poet Laureate.-(Abridged.)

EDINBURGH, Nov. 13, 1813.

I do not delay, my dear Southey, to say my congratulatory. Long may you live, as Paddy says, to rule over us, and to restore the crown of Spencer and Dryden to its pristine dignity. * * *

I was greatly delighted with the circumstances of your investiture. It reminded me of the porters at Calais with Dr. Smollett's baggage, six of them seizing one small portmanteau and bearing it in triumph to his lodgings. * * *

Adieu, my dear Southey; my best wishes attend all that you do, and my best congratulations every good that attends you—yea, even this, the very least of Providence's mercies, as a poor clergyman said when pronouncing grace over a herring. * * *

My best compliments attend Mrs. Southey and your family.

Ever yours,

WALTER SCOTT.

To a Gentleman Elected to Congress.

LEXINGTON, KY., Nov. 8, 1877.

Hurrah! the battle is fought and the victory won! Give me your hand, old friend, while I give it a squeeze of congratulation on your election. The result has not surprided me in the least. I knew you would be elected, because I knew that you deserved to be, and that the people of your district had sense enough to know it, too. Some say, "Principles, not men;" but I say "Principles and men." This honor is as much a tribute to your personal worth as to the correctness of your principles. Just such men as you are needed in Congress—never more than now; and I believe you will fulfill every expectation, and honor yourself and your constituents. That such may be the case, shall ever be the prayer of

Yours faithfully,

WM. M. DAVIS.

CARTER HARRISON, ESQ.,

Chicago, Ill.

1. Washington's army's defeat of a large British force led by General Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va., on Oct. 17, 1781 is considered to have sealed the victory of the American Revolution. See Washington's diary entry.

2. Washington's contemporaries commonly addressed him and other general officers as Your Excellency.

3. Jefferson's use of the term “your native country” must refer to Washington's return to Virginia; Washington only travelled outside the North American continent once, in a 1751 trip to Barbados with his half-brother, Lawrence.

4. Robert Southey (1774-1843), poet laureate of England 1813-1843. Curiously, the Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, offered the laureateship to Scott at the same time as to Southey, but Scott turned it down! Lord Byron sealed Southey's reputation in these famous lines from stanza 105, Canto I of  Don Juan:

Thou shalt believe in Milton, Dryden, Pope;
Thou shalt not set up Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey;
Because the first is craz'd beyond all hope,
The second drunk, the third so quaint and mouthy...

You may wish to read Southey's sonnet  To a Goose and judge his literary merit for yourself. (John Dryden was the first poet laureate [1670-1688] and Edmund Spenser [1552?-1599] received royal patronage.)

5. Carter Henry Harrison, III served in the U. S. House of Representatives 1875-1879 from Illinois. He was a relative of both Presidents Harrison, and was later Mayor of Chicago for four terms, 1879-1887.