Cursive Hand Writing

Recently, I wrote about the demise of letter writing and the loss of cards and letters in our mailboxes. The Postal Service is having trouble keeping afloat with our high tech world, and if you have not  learned the special symbols used to text these days, you are at a distinct disadvantage. Now, along with this archaic activity, we are  talking about doing away with teaching cursive writing in schools. How do I feel about this? Mixed, at best. I grew up at a time when we still had ink wells on the right side of our desks, and nibbed pens were used for our best penmanship. I can remember having to write and rewrite (in cursive, of course) a Christmas letter to my parents, which the good nuns had us do each year, until I got it just right. The beauty of the penmanship was as important to them as the sentiment of the words. Today, "joined up writing" as cursive is often referred to is becoming less and less popular with students and teachers alike. Why spend time on an activity that does not favor the test of time where many people presently, and in the future will not even have to sign their own name, or will sign it in a way that is unreadable to the mass majority of people. Just trying to read my Doctor's medical orders rests my case. And why teach two ways of writing when one will do? As a matter of fact, many people today use a form of both cursive and print when they write, so why not just learn to print which is readable to all. Have you ever wondered why, on legal documents etc., they ask you to sign and print your name. Why have to do both? For me, being a left hander, I can certainly attest to the trials and tribulations I had trying to learn to write in cursive at a right-hander's desk. But all of that aside, I have to admit that I love the beauty of the written word in cursive. I have only to look at the treasured documents of our fore-fathers to appreciate the elegance of their important messages. What is interesting to me is that, even though many schools today do not require their students to learn cursive (to the delight of the students), many teachers still feel that it is a good skill to have.Writing is one of the major ways kids learn. After school clubs have formed for the very purpose of learning to write in cursive, just like taking an art class. Is it possible that, in the future, people will not even be able to read cursive writing because the have not learned to write it (or read it.) Ah, not to be able to read the original documents and letters of those who have come before us...would this be a significant loss of our heritage. Just wondering. In the meantime, I am glad that I learned to write cursive in school and appreciate the elegance of the written word....sometimes, a work of art in itself.

GETTING TO KNOW ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Presidents' Day, 2013 seems to be the perfect day to share with you an awesome "gem" of a book that I received from my daughter, Michelle, this past Christmas. It is called, "Abraham Lincoln Traveled This Way," narrative by Michael Burlingame with Photography by Robert Shaw. If you are a Lincoln fan, or would just like to know this very humorous, humble man as he really was in life, this is a book not to be missed! Along with the dialogue, and actual writings and letters from Lincoln himself, there are stunning photos of the places Lincoln traveled and lived, particularly in Illinois, before he became president. As never before, here is where you can read about the real, human side of Lincoln as a boy, young man, poet, hard worker, lawyer and an all-around "great guy" who was loved by almost everyone he met. Some of my favorite quotes, I will share here:

As Lincoln reached his new home in Indiana from Kentucky, he writes, "We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up." Lincoln was eight years old at the time. And later, he wrote a poem about his childhood here.

"My child-hood home I see again,

And gladden with the view,

And still as memories crowd my brain,

There's sadness in it too.

Oh, memory! thou mid-way world

Twixt Earth and Paradise,

When things decayed, and loved ones lost

In dreamy shadows rise.

 

So memory will hallow all

We've known, but know no more.

Now twenty years have passed away,

Since here I bid farewell

To woods, and fields, and scenes of play

And school mates loved so well.

Where many were, how few remain

Of old familiar things!

But seeing these to mind again

The loss and absence brings.

The friends I left that parting day--

Now changed, as time has sped!

Young childhood grown, strong manhood grey,

And half of all are dead. (1846)

And, upon his marriage to Mary Todd, he writes to a friend,

"Nothing new here, except my marrying, which to me, is matter of profound wonder."

And of everyday household things he humorously writes,

"Dear Sir: Some specimens of your soap have been used at our house and Mrs. L declares it is a superb article. She, at the same time, protests that I have never given sufficient attention to the "soap question" to be a competent judge."

I did not know this, but when Lincoln spoke his famous line, " a house divided against itself cannot stand," he made reference to the "great fabulists and philosopher, Aesop," who made this same point in his fable "The Bundle of Sticks."

I also think that Lincoln, who valued his friends above all else, wrote,"the better part of one's life consists of his friendships," and also said something very profound when he penned,
'How miserably things seem to be arranged in this world. If we have no friends, we have no pleasure, and if we have them, we are sure to lose them, and be doubly pained by the loss." (Amen to that!)

 

And shockingly, when Lincoln was quite angry, he made a speech at Bloomington, Ill. (where I live) and said,

"If I cannot rightfully murder a man; I may tie him to the tail of a kicking horse, and let him kick the man to death." Ah, Lincoln, a man of strong feelings, and not afraid to express them!

And, Lincoln being a lawyer himself for much of his life had much to say about lawyers. One of my favorite quotes being, "If in your own judgement you cannot be an honest lawyer, ....choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave."  And on preachers, lawyers and hired agents, he writes,

"The preacher, it is said, advocates temperance because he is a fanatic and desires a union of Church and State; the lawyer, from his pride and vanity of hearing himself speak; and the hired agent, for his salary."

And last but not least, did you know that Abraham Lincoln, with his family, visited Niagara Falls? Nor did I, but, in fact, they did, and actually wrote his thoughts when he wrote,

" Like scenes in some enchanted isle,

All bathed in liquid light

As distant mountains please the eye'

When twilight chases day--

As bugle tones, that, passing by,

In distance die away--

As leaving some grand water-fall

We lingering, list its roar"

O.K. one last item to share....Lincoln regarding his children wrote to his wife,

 

"Get another as soon as you can (person to take care of the kids, I suppose) to take charge of the dear codgers!"

In closing, I cannot say enough about this book, both in its insights into Lincoln as "just a man" like you and me, and for its beautiful photography. And who knew that Lincoln was a poet???

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Mail

"NO SATURDAY LETTERS? SIGN ME, HEARTBROKEN." Ah, a person after my own heart! This was the headline in our local newspaper the day that the Postal Service let the nation know there would soon be no delivery on Saturday. Now, I am all for saving money, and know that the Postal Service has been losing money ever since the "tech" invasion, but that is not my lament. The bigger worry for me is that "letter writing" is dying, if not already dead, as well as card sending and any other kind of personal snail mail. I agree that most of what we get in our mail box is either bills or junk advertising, so I really am not too unhinged by the demise of Saturday mail. But, don't you just love, every now in then, going to your mail box and finding a real letter or card from someone who took the time to think about you, and write to you! For me, it is always the jewel in the crown, or the prize in the box of crackerjacks.  In a previous BLOG, I wrote about the significant loss of letter writing (see letters), and what, in the future, our children and grandchildren will not know about how we felt about things; what we thought about things etc. or ever be able to save that special card or letter from Dad, Mom or Grandma. This loss is made more potent to me as I read the historical David McCullough books that give us such a genuine and real picture of the person he is writing about. We are able to peer into the person's real psych and personality by reading so many of the letters that are included in these books. I am presently reading "Truman" and were it not for the many letters that President Truman sent to his wife Bess, his mother and his sister...we would not know this profound and complicated man, nor would we know him as a real person who, thru his letters, lets us know how he is feeling about the major and significant years and events of his presidency. I know that letter writing cannot be brought back in this fast, tech society, and I am only lamenting what will be lost. Each week, I still try to write several letters, and perhaps send a card to someone I am thinking about.....not a big thing, but perhaps something that can brighten someone's day to know that someone was thinking about them.

What's Valentine's Day Have to Do With LOVE

WHEN FEBRUARY FIRST ROLLS AROUND, I ALWAYS THINK OF VALENTINE'S DAY. AFTER ALL, HERE IN THE MID-WEST IN MID-WINTER, IT IS A BRIGHT SPOT IN THE OTHERWISE COLD, WINTRY AND UNINTERESTING MONTH. FOR WHO DOESN'T LIKE TO THINK OF LOVE IN ALL ITS VARIOUS FORMS, AND MANIFESTATIONS! WHEN I WAS IN GRADE SCHOOL, VALENTINE'S DAY WAS A DAY TO LOOK FORWARD TO WITHIN THE CONFINES OF A STRICT CATHOLIC SCHOOL WHERE NOT MUCH CHANGED IN THE REGULAR ROUTINE, AND THERE DID NOT SEEM TO BE MUCH REASON FOR JOY. BUT, ON VALENTINE'S DAY, WE WERE ALL ENCOURAGED TO DECORATE A SHOE BOX WITH VALENTINE'S DAY PARAPHERNALIA OF WHITE LACE DOILIES, RED TISSUE PAPER AND VARIOUS SIZES OF RED HEARTS. A CUT IN THE TOP OF THE BOX WAS FOR SLIPPING IN YOUR RECEIVED VALENTINES FROM EACH MEMBER OF THE CLASS, GIRLS AND BOYS. I REMEMBER GOING HOME AND WONDERING WHETHER THE VALENTINE FROM THE BOY I HAD A CRUSH ON AT THE TIME, HAD ANY SIGNIFICANCE AT ALL...BIGGER, NICER, PRETTIER THAN THE OTHERS....USUALLY NOT. ONE YEAR, MY BROTHER HAD BEEN SO STRUCK BY CUPID'S INFLUENCE THAT HE SHOT AN ARROW INTO THE FRONT YARD OF HIS GIRL-FRIEND'S HOUSE TO THE HORROR AND CONSTERNATION OF HER PARENTS. I THINK THAT THEY CALLED THE POLICE!
AS I GOT OLDER, VALENTINE'S DAY SEEMED LESS OF A DAY TO CELEBRATE THAN A DAY TO LAMENT THAT I DID NOT HAVE A BOYFRIEND OR "SIGNIFICANT OTHER" SENDING ME A CARD, CANDY OR FLOWERS. I BECAME A MEMBER OF THAT VAST GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO WERE "SINGLE" ON VALENTINE'S DAY AND WISHED THAT THE DAY WOULD BE OVER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. TO THIS DAY, I HAVE A DEEP FEELING FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE A SPECIAL "SOMEONE" TO SHARE THE DAY WITH. IT IS A VERY LONELY DAY FOR MANY.
TODAY, THANKS TO HALLMARK, FLOWER SHOPS AND CANDY MAKERS, VALENTINE'S DAY HAS A WIDER, MORE INCLUSIVE RANGE TO INCLUDE ANY AND ALL PEOPLE WE LOVE....MOMS, DADS, KIDS, GRANDS, FRIENDS AS WELL AS "SIGNIFICANT OTHERS" WHICH I THINK IS A VERY GOOD IDEA! AFTER ALL, LOVE IS LOVE WHICH TAKES MANY FORMS AND IS FELT BY EVERYONE TOWARDS THE SPECIAL PEOPLE IN THEIR LIVES. SO, HURRAH FOR VALENTINE'S DAY, A DAY TO RECOGNIZE ALL THE PEOPLE WE LOVE IN THIS WORLD. AND JUST A THOUGHT, YOU NEVER HAVE TO WAIT FOR VALENTINE'S DAY TO LET THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE KNOW IT!