Wednesday, July 20, 2022

OLD-FASHIONED LETTERS - GOING, GOING, GONE?

This is a lovely illustration I picked up on pixabay.com and I replaced a few of its original photos with my own.  On the left is a wedding photo of my Mom’s parents   Next to it is a family group with my Dad sitting front left.  His mother is on the right of that group with his father behind her.  The others were an aunt and uncle and cousins.  On the right of this illustration is my Mom and Dad, taken in the early 40’s.  I also placed the camellia in a space that I could not work with on the left, also from pixabay.  It was an easy fix.

Old-Fashioned Letters

Old-fashioned letters! How good they were!
And nobody writes them now;
Never at all comes in the scrawl
On the written pages which told us all
The news of town and the folks we knew,
And what they had done or were going to do.
It seems we've forgotten how
To spend an hour with our pen in hand
To write in the language we understand.

Old-fashioned letters we used to get
And ponder each fond line o'er;
The glad words rolled like running gold,
As smoothly their tales of joy they told,
And our hearts beat fast with a keen delight
As we read the news they were pleased to write
And gathered the love they bore.
But few of the letters that come to-day
Are penned to us in the old-time way.

Old-fashioned letters that told us all
The tales of the far away;
Where they'd been and the folks they'd seen;
And better than any fine magazine
Was the writing too, for it bore the style
Of a simple heart and a sunny smile,
And was pure as the breath of May.
Some of them oft were damp with tears,
But those were the letters that lived for years.

Old-fashioned letters! How good they were!
And, oh, how we watched the mails;
But nobody writes of the quaint delights
Of the sunny days and the merry nights
Or tells us the things that we yearn to know-
That art passed out with the long ago,
And lost are the simple tales;
Yet we all would happier be, I think,
If we'd spend more time with our pen and ink.



This poem was a memory jogger for me, of my Father's handwritten letters.  I still have them kept in a draw.  His writing was that old-world scroll. To put it succinctly, he had a beautiful penmanship, and I have never seen anything like it since.  My artistic side saw its great worth.  My Mother also had a lovely handwriting, small, neat letters, but hers was in a regular style and not like the scrolling Italic written by my father.  Dad was born in 1916, and when he went to school, every letter learned was beautifully curved and formed.  It reminds me now of those written by Monks.  
Okay, that was a little bit of humor.  Dad would have appreciated it.  

Dad was a letter writer when he had the time.  I remember he sent a written thank you to someone I knew, and they showed it to me and well, criticized and made fun of it as they couldn't understand its cursive.  I was used to it I suppose and read it without missing a beat, as I still do when I get his old letters out of the drawer.  I was shocked they thought he had terrible handwriting, that it was funny, but I definitely was not amused.  My younger mind said how dare they criticize my Dad!  I was truly appauled.  I found it rude and unkind, turning his kindness into something laughable.  I was also homesick for my family (this was after I got married) which didn't help at all.  But, years later I had an ah-ha moment.

Handwriting even then was definitely evolving, or perhaps I should say, devolving.  I am not sure if it is the case now, but it was no longer being taught extensively in school anymore.  If you disagree please let me know.  Do you think handwriting is a dying art?  Today it seems like it is all keyboarding and computers.

So, this poem was definitely a memory jogger.  I feel so fortunate that I have my Dad's old letters.  I kept my Mother's too.  I always had a strong connection to my parents, even though there were many miles between us.  Their letters keep that connection going and, as I get older, I think of them more and more.

One more memory, of the first day Dad went to school.  No doubt he would have been shown his letters even at five years’ old.  This is a story he told me many, many years ago in my early teens, and he would have a good laugh during the retelling of it.  He was the youngest, having an older brother and sister by several years.  

He didn't say much about the day itself, because after only an hour or two, my Nanny, heard wailing all the way from several streets over.  As it got closer the wails got more urgent and she saw Dad hurriedly climb over the garden gate, and with big heaving sobs he ran into her arms. She picked him up and with yet more big heaving sobs, he vehemently told her he didn't like school and was never going back.  He did and went on to be an excellent student, and also an all-round sportsman.

I don't remember my first day and I have no memory of my dear Mom or Sister telling me about theirs.  But I will always have the memory of Dad and thinking about that sobbing little boy climbing over the garden gate.  It always brings a smile.  I would ask him to tell it again many times over the years, and laughter always followed.  I wish I had thought to ask what his second day was like!



32 comments:

  1. I don't know how you created this picture, but it is really cool, they way you inserted your own pics. I would have been SO angry had any person critisized either of my parent's writing! Taking the time to write someone, then having thm laugh at you, so rude and uncouth!! My grandmother had writing like you describe. I do agree that letter writing is a lost art for sure.

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    1. Thank you for your sweet and supportive comments Ginny :) Lovely you can remember your grandmother's writing. I have none of mine.

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  2. Old fashioned letters are a treat. Both of my parents had dreadful handwriting - and how much I would love to see it now...

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    1. It's all relative isn't it Sue? I would feel the same way, and yes, old-fashioned letters are a treat :)

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  3. Dawniej wszystko pisano "recznie" litery musiały być piękne. Dziś już nikt nie pisze listów do bliskich i przyjaciół. Mamy telefony i komputery i mało czasu na pisanie listów. Piękny wiersz. Miłego dnia.😊

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    1. Dziękuję za piękny komentarz. Zgadzam się! Wam też życzę miłego dnia :)

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  4. Love the way you did that picture.
    This reminds me of the lengthy letters I used to write to my grandmother. She only lived a half hour drive away but I would write her letters often.
    I agree that handwriting is fast becoming a thing of the past. For a while they weren't even teaching cursive in school. I don't know if they started again or not.

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    1. Thank you Ann, I enjoyed working with it. You have lovely memories of writing to your grandmother. She must have treasured them.

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  5. Hello,
    I love your image and the poem. I can not remember the last letter I wrote. Take care, enjoy your day!

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    1. Thank you Eileen, you take care and enjoy your day also :)

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  6. My father's handwriting was stylish and artful too. As was his English. My mother's penmanship was tiny & cramped.

    My first day of school was one where when I got home, I told mom 'I won't go back, ever!'. Come to find out it was the warm milk they made us drink...when that was stopped, I loved school.

    Great poetic intro.

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    1. Hi Anni, how lovely to have those memories of your parents' handwriting, and I thoroughly enjoyed the memory of your first day at school :))) Thank you for sharing that with me.

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  7. Mom kept my letters that I wrote to her, while I was in the Army (1974-1977). My letters were returned to me, via my brother, when Mom passed away. I transcribed each letter, before tossing them. The letters were memory joggers about my time in the military.

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    1. How wonderful for your Mom Linda, and for you :) Important to have those memory joggers. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. the photo is beautiful and a super duper Idea to create it. I much rather do what you did to the photo than write a letter. I never was a letter writer, but my mother was. the only reason I looked forward to a letter when a child was the fact that each one would have money in it. I like the new better way, no need to write long letters about what has happened, now we can call or email it imediately. I only have one letter from the past, the one to me when I was 3 months old from Mothers daddy, when she died it was in a jewelry box, now it is in mine. I was born during the WWII which means the letter is old.
    when my mother was alive I could only talk to her for 10 to 20 minutes on Saturday, phone calls were expensive and weekends were cheaper rates. now I could talk to her 10 times a day and she is not there to talk to.

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    1. Thank you for sharing those memories Sandra :) I love creating things as you do, and you are the one that put me onto Pixabay, and I can't tell you enough how grateful I am for you doing that. They have the most wonderful photos and illustrations, and tubes for my paint shop pro. How wonderful that you still have your grandmother's letter. It would have been great to have this technology to keep in touch with our parents. I remember those days of letter-writing and phone calls, not being able to do them more often as they were so expensive. So glad people can keep in touch with their families today.

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  9. I bemoan the loss of letter writing. I have saved many but not enough from friends and my family but living local as they did, there aren't that many, just mostly cards. But I treasure the letters my dad wrote to my grandparents while serving in India in the WWII. There is so much family history that will be lost to future generations because of the ephemeral and easy-to-delete use of email, as well as texting. When I was writing my book, having those things just made it come far more alive.

    I just love the memories you shared about your dad and your family. I hope you have shared them with other family members or chlldren.

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    1. Thank you Jeanie, and how wonderful that you have your dad's letters he sent to your grandparents :) Progress isn't exactly progress in matters such as these, we gain a lot but miss a lot too. To answer your question, I have shared with my family. In fact, I started blogging so that our son would have a record of everyday things that we do. I so wish I had those from my parents. I have a private blog that I share a lot more personal info. Hubby also started with our genealogy several years ago. That's been very interesting.

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    1. Thank you Christine :) It is funny what one photo does, sends you on a whole journey, lol!

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  11. How sweet to have your father's letters and that he enjoyed writing letters with good penmanship. Somewhere we have Dear's father and mother's letters to each other when he was in the war. That is a fun illustration you reworked. I enjoy Guest's writings, too. Happy day to you.

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    1. It is one of our true treasures/blessings to have these letters, as you well know with your own :) Thank you Ellen :)

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  12. My dad always wrote in block letters for whatever reason.

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    1. There are times when I write like your Dad used to William :)

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  13. I do like how you've done the picture.

    I still write letters, and I enjoy writing letters ...
    I know many people do not and of course the younger generation use text messages and emails.

    However, one thing I do still appreciate is receiving a thank you note or postcard when other family members are on holiday or visiting places, and I thank them for keeping this 'tradition' alive a little longer.

    Wishing you a lovely week.

    All the best Jan

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    1. So glad Jan :) Thank you! I'm glad you still enjoy letter-writing, and those thank-you's are important, especially if they pop in your letter box. I hope you have a lovely week also, and all the best to you too :)

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  14. I wish I'd kept letters from my Mom. I still get great letters from a sister in law.

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    1. I wish I had kept a lot of things Red :) How wonderful you are still getting your sister-in-laws letters.

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  15. The lovely collage is certainly beautiful, Denise. Like you, memories of my parents visit me often. How wonderful your Dad shared his first day of school. You are so fortunate to have his letters. It's always nice when I see my Mama's handwriting from a letter or a recipe. She had a lovely handwriting, but my Dad was lefthanded and was forced to use his right hand to write. So his handwriting was less than perfect! Our grandsons do not write in cursive--I'm really sad about that. How will they sign their names?

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    1. Thank you Martha Ellen :) It's interesting about your Mama and Dad. Gregg is left-handed but fortunately those old ways had gone by the time he went to school. Cursive is a thing of the past I'm thinking. Signatures will all be taken care of by computers :0

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  16. Denise, this was a very sweet post in tribute especially to your dad. It's amazing to read that you have his handwritten letters, such treasures. The story about his first day at school was charming and yes, it would have been fun to hear about the next day as well. Also the art at the beginning of the post was lovely as was the poem. Memories are very special to have and cherish for sure.

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    1. Hi Dorothy :) so glad you liked it. I feel very blessed to have those letters, some are 60 years' old. Memories hopefully will stay with me for a very, very long time. If not I have these posts to help me :)

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