Manager, Wells Fargo Bank Credit Services Department Dear Sir or Madam: I am writing to express my appreciation for your generous offer to consolidate my outstanding credit card debts into one account, thereby enabling me to execute a single payment each month to Wells Fargo at an exceptionally favorable rate of interest. It would be callous of me to overlook the fact that this would not only save me lots of time each month, but also increase my “financial security,” as you call it, and thus assist me to advance more expeditiously on the path to “a better life.” However, I must reluctantly advise you that current circumstances compel me to decline at this time, as I have been spending a deal of time outdoors lately and have been very much occupied with other matters. I love to see the old heaths withered brake mingle its crimpled leaves with furze & ling, while the old Heron from the lonely lake starts slow & flaps his melancholy wing & oddling crow in idle motions swing on the half rotten ash trees topmost twig Beside whose trunk the gypsey makes his bed. Up flies the bouncing wood cock from the brig Where a black quagmire quakes beneath the tread the field fare chatters in the whistling thorn & for the awe round fields & chosen rove & coy bumbarrels twenty in drove Flit down the hedgerows in the frozen plain & hang on little twigs & start again. Yours respectfully, James Mitchell
Apologies to John Clare (1793-1864): Emmonsails Heath in Winter.