putterings 232 < 233 > 234 index
on Friday’s part, then, and only a letter
Robinson Crusoe, when he was alone on his desert island, practically was just a human machine. But when his man Friday appeared, and Crusoe took an interest in him, thus awakening a return of interest on Friday’s part, then, and only then, did Crusoe begin to express his personality. And a letter that talks entirely about the writer or entirely about the writer’s interests, of what he can do and what he can’t do, what his merchandise is or what it isn’t, is like Robinson Crusoe puttering about on his desert island with no one to observe, or admire, or obey, or care a snap of the fingers about him.
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ex chapter 5, “How to make your letter sincere,” in Herbert Watson, Applied Business Correspondence (A. W. Shaw Company, 1922) : 256 : link
same (UC copy, via hathitrust) : link
Arch Wilkinson Shaw (1876-1962), founder of System, The Magazine of Business... : wikipedia : link