string can phone

Once or twice daily, a young delivery lad knocks on our door with the latest bundle of post. We flip the endearing street urchin a shilling and retire to the smoking room to enjoy the correspondence from you, Dear Readers. Most often, we grammar- and punctuation-correct each, then slip them into the walls as insulation. However, every once in a while we receive a note which we feel compelled to share. Today’s correspondence is from M______ of Scranton, PA, who writes:

Dear Sirs,
Why haven’t you ever written about [the vintage and antique typewriter site] Machines of Loving Grace? It would seem to be a natural fit for inclusion in your publication.

Regards, & Etc. [sic]

Rest assured that Machines of Loving Grace has not eluded our detection. The fact that is has not yet been featured in these pages is simple: it is a site owned and maintained by one of our editors. To write about it could be construed as Shamless Self-Promotion, and that–as we were so often reminded by the hymnal-wielding women who raised us– is something one Does Not Do.

Another reason is that we prefer to features pages of Quality. And from what we have seen of Machines of Loving Grace, it is sorely lacking in typographic and design skills, is far too verbal where it oughtn’t be, and not verbal enough where it should be.

Therefore, kind sir, please understand why we shall refrain from posting about Machines of Loving Grace, or its companion ocean liner postcards site.

Kind regards,
The Management