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There are a lot of Tumblrs out there that stick a bunch of pictures up and don't tell you anything about it. Black and WTF is a fascinating photoblog that's dedicated to doing its homework on some of the wackiest, most inexplicable black and white photographs from the past. Some of the images and th
Posted via email from Paul Michael Sparks
Monday was a marvelous mail day for me - I had a package from a dear 'Cousinette' in Wisconsin. We call each other 'cousinette' but really I guess we would be second cousins? Anyway, she is dear to me, and I have learned an endearing lesson from a book she sent me. It is called "Faithful and Devoted: To My Adelaide ~ A Quilted Love Story." It is a quilting book, but also a great piece of history, as it chronicles a love affair and courtship between a civil war soldier, Charles, and a young lady named Adelaide. I was soon transported in time back to 1861 and proper etiquette overpowered me. I wanted to write with a 'fountain pen', a real caligraphy pen. I couldn't get to an office supply store fast enough. After securing my writing instrument and ink, I tried to write like I always do, but talk about a mess! It took 3 dips of the pen into the ink to get my name on paper, let alone a sentence! It must have taken HOURS for one to pen a love letter during the civil war era! Correspondence was truly a labor of love! And today, sometimes e-mail, tweeting, texting, or FaceBook isn't fast enough for us! Oh, where is the felicity in bringing back the love letters and everyday correspondence? This soldier and his sweetheart even had to wait weeks and/or months to receive a response.... the agony! To receive a two page handwritten piece of parchment in the mail would be so endearing and show a fondness from the sender to the recipient. This book goes on to chronicle the growing relationship between Charles and Adelaide, with photos of them and photos depicting the civil war. I do not doubt that they would never had guessed that their love story would be the center of a quilting book 150 years in the future, but it is, and a great love story at that! Such a treasured gift from my cousinette! Life was so much slower then, but look at what we are missing! I keep a journal, and even to write in that faithfully with a working ball point pen takes effort. I can't imagine using a caligraphy pen, but I should try. What a legacy of faith I would be leaving my posterity. They don't even teach penmanship in schools anymore, but how beautiful the writing was even 50 years ago. In then end, Charlie and Adelaide were never married, as he died before the war was over. Kind of reminds me of the Hallmark Movie "Love Letters". If you haven't seen that movie, you should. And then write a love letter with a caligraphy pen to a dear one ~ it may be in a book someday! Regards from yours faithfully, Shanda
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