Here are the first five paragraphs of a two-page letter from

an investment firm
Here are the first five paragraphs of a two-page letter from
an investment firm. The length of the letter is greatly against
it and the only hope the writer could have, would be in getting
the attention firmly in the opening paragraph:

If a man buys a farm and pays a part of the price and goes away saying

that he will pay the remainder within a week, expecting then to do so
and receive a deed, the seller, if he chooses, can escape giving that
deed and parting with his farm
If a man buys a farm and pays a part of the price and goes away saying
that he will pay the remainder within a week, expecting then to do so
and receive a deed, the seller, if he chooses, can escape giving that
deed and parting with his farm. The payment of a part of the money
does not bind the bargain, nor will the courts, though knowing this,
compel the seller to give such a deed. The reader may ask, if this is
the law, cannot the farmer practise a fraud on the buyer by receiving
his money and keeping it and the farm too? He cannot do both things.
If he refuses to give the deed he must, on the other hand, return the
money; if he refuses to do this the buyer can compel him by a proper
legal proceeding to refund the amount. In this way the buyer gets his
money back again, but not the farm that he bought.

One thing more may be added

One thing more may be added. If a bailee should be a scoundrel and
sell the thing left with him for safe-keeping and receive the money,
the true owner could, nevertheless, claim the thing wherever he could
find it. The owner would not get a good title. This rule of law
applies to everything except negotiable paper. A person who buys that
in good faith, honestly, not knowing that it was stolen, and pays
money, gets a good title. _This is the only exception to the above
rule in the law._

In one of the cases tried not long since, an old farmer offered a

reward of $15 to any one who would find the person who had stolen his
harness and also $100 to the man who would prosecute the thief
In one of the cases tried not long since, an old farmer offered a
reward of $15 to any one who would find the person who had stolen his
harness and also $100 to the man who would prosecute the thief. The
harness, in truth, was worth not even this small sum and the thief
still less. Yet he was caught and prosecuted, and then the prosecutor
and finder claimed the rewards. The farmer"s excitement had cooled off
by this time and he was not so loud and liberal as he was at the time
of finding out his loss. He refused to pay, saying that he did not
really mean to offer these sums as rewards, and the court decided in
his favour, declaring that his offer of reward could not be regarded
strictly as one, but rather 'as an explosion of wrath.' In another
case a man"s house was burning up and his wife was inside, and he
offered any one $5000 who would go in and bring her out--'dead or
alive.' A brave fellow went in and rescued her. Then he claimed the
reward. Was the man who made the offer obliged to pay, and could he
not have escaped by insisting that this was simply 'an explosion of
affection' and not strictly an offer or promise of reward? He tried to
hold on to his money, but the court held that this was an offer he
must pay. Possibly after the recovery of his wife his valuation of her
had changed somewhat from what it was while his house was burning up.

In this chapter we will consider description, explanation and

argument as the vehicles one may use in carrying his message to the
reader
In this chapter we will consider description, explanation and
argument as the vehicles one may use in carrying his message to the
reader.

On receiving the money the express agent gives to his customer two

papers; one is the company"s receipt for the money, the other is
the order itself
On receiving the money the express agent gives to his customer two
papers; one is the company"s receipt for the money, the other is
the order itself.

The correspondent may use a catch-line, just as the barker at a side

show uses a megaphone--the noise attracts a crowd but it does not
sell the tickets
The correspondent may use a catch-line, just as the barker at a side
show uses a megaphone--the noise attracts a crowd but it does not
sell the tickets. It is the 'spiel' the barker gives that packs the
tent. And so the average man is not influenced so much by a bold
catch-line in his letters as by the paragraphs that follow. Some
correspondents even run a catch-line in red ink at the top of the
page, but these yellow journal 'scare-heads' fall short with the
average business proposition.