How to turn down an invitation

Happy birthday to a gem

E. B. White in 1953 (Photo by New York Times Co./Getty Images)

Please drop everything and join me in wishing the happiest of birthdays to E. B. White’s true masterpiece: a perfectly formed letter that never fails to lift my spirits, however dark the day.

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New York

September 28th, 1956

Dear Mr. Adams:

Thanks for your letter inviting me to join the Committee of the Arts and Sciences for Eisenhower.

I must decline, for secret reasons.

Sincerely,
E. B. White

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Letter excerpted from the exquisite book, Letters of E. B. White, edited by Dorothy Lobrano Guth.

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