Dear Marie,

Great was my joy on hearing the news that you had been blessed with a strong, sturdy boy who bears a close resemblance to your beloved spouse. I should have long since sent you my congratulations, having had Mother’s notification in my pocket for almost six days now. But so ordinary a letter of congratulation is so ordinary and ceremonious a thing that I should have been truly ashamed to send off promptly by return a polite, conventional communication of this kind to you, my