That Awful Letter: A Comedy for Girls

"That Awful Letter: A Comedy for Girls" by Edna I. MacKenzie is a funny play from the early 1900s that shows what happens when people care too much about being fancy and looking down on others. The story is mostly about a city girl named Margaret and her cousin Elizabeth, who lives in the country and doesn't have all the fancy city stuff. The play is funny because of how different the girls are and how they don't always understand each other. The story gets going when Margaret's dad makes her invite Elizabeth to visit. Margaret is worried that Elizabeth will make her look bad in front of her friends, so she writes a mean letter trying to get Elizabeth to stay away. But Elizabeth isn't dumb; she knows Margaret is being rude, so she decides to visit anyway and pretend to be exactly the kind of awkward cousin Margaret expects. When Elizabeth shows up, she's actually really cool and confident, which makes things even funnier. In the end, Margaret realizes that she was wrong to judge Elizabeth and learns that it's better to be yourself and be a good friend than to worry about what other people think.