Old Time Letters

1895

AN EPISTLE WRITTEN NEARLY ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

The Reverential Manner In Which a Young Girl of That Period Addressed Her Father — Proper Way For a Lover to Ask His Sweetheart to Elope With Him.

If the prim Puritan maiden of a century ago did not startle masculinity by wearing bloomers on the public highway, or pompously presiding at political mass meetings, or — horrible to relate — smoking perfumed cigarettes on the sly, she must have been a deucedly charming girl withal. A typical gentlewoman, she commands, irresistibly, more than ardent admiration.

If character can be portrayed in letter writing — and no one doubts the fact — an epistolary message written nearly a century ago by a devoted young Bostonian maiden to her much beloved papa in Philadelphia will afford an intensely interesting study of commencement de siecle womanhood, as it were.

To be sure, the dear young girl who penned the loving message decades and decades ago never dreamed that her letter would be published at the dawn of the twentieth century in a Chicago newspaper and read by the eyes of modern woman, so called. For a fact Chicago was not on the map in those days, and woman — lovely woman — had not been modernized. To peer into this primitive maiden's private affairs really seems a sacrilege. The epistle is, however, so essentially unique, so different from the flippant style of correspondence today and withal so suggestive of the excessive formality and great reverence accorded parents by children in the proverbial good old times that its perusal may be pardonable. In a word, it is the embodiment of filial affection. It would doubtless surprise the average indulgent papa of today, who is quite used to being told a few things occasionally by his "advanced,” all wise daughters.

The fair writer was evidently a young woman of exceptional culture in those early days. Of course she must have been, or did she not reside in the Hub City and eat baked beans? In a peculiarly artistic and legible handwriting the remarkable letter is thus addressed: "Rev. John Murray, to the care of Colonel John Connelly, Philadelphia."

There is the customary heading — "Boston, Feb. 13, 1804" — but the usual salutation of "My Dear Father" is omitted. After this interesting fashion Miss Julia Marcia Murray makes reparation for a supposed slight to her paternal ancestor: "You are astonished, my dear papa, at not receiving an answer to your letter, and I, my dear sir, am equally astonished that my answer written as early as the 8th of January has not yet reached you.

"Yes, indeed, you are entitled to my utmost gratitude, my utmost affection, to my duty, and my veneration, and I should have considered myself inexcusable if I had delayed a day to acknowledge a letter which gave me such heartfelt pleasure. If you have received my letter, you will find in it expressions of the warmest gratitude. It will always, my dear father, make me unhappy to know that you are so, and particularly if I have any reason to suppose myself, even unintentionally, the cause of it. You ought not to be kept in suspense, and I do indeed, my dear papa, consider it a prime duty to attend to you, and I have given a circumstantial account of the school exhibition and other particulars. And now, my dear sir, indulging the hope that I have rendered you easy on the subject of my not writing to you, I will go on to a part of your letter over which I shed many, very many, tears.

"Oh, my father, my heart is indeed filled with tender affection for my dear, my excellent parent, and if my heart be an affectionate feeling heart how could you expect that I should read the following very affecting line in your letter without its being torn: 'Sweet soul, you will not have your parents long?' When I came to read this, I could no longer restrain my tears, so covering my face with my handkerchief I audibly sobbed. Can I endure the thought that those dear, indulgent parents must ascend to the bosom of their God before me? Would to heaven I could continue here as long as I could be useful to them and then wing my flight to the regions of the blessed, where I might prepare garlands of never fading roses to crown them with, but as this is a felicity too great for human beings to attain I must content myself with the lot of mortality and meekly bow my head in pious resignation.

"And now, my dear papa, hoping that you will acquit me of either neglect or inattention to the best of fathers, I repeat again and again that I am your ever affectionate and dutiful daughter,

"JULIA MARCIA MURRAY.

"We have got our buckwheat meal. Mr. Jones and Cousin Mary Allen desire their best regards. J. M. M."

A writer on etiquette of those days tells amorous youths how to write "fetching" billet doux to their ladyloves. Clandestine marriages must have been as popular in the long ago as they are today. At any rate, the writer gives an ideal letter from "a young gentleman, who is in expectation of an estate from his penurious uncle, to a young lady of small fortune, whom he desires to elope with him to New England." After this fashion was the anxious lover instructed in this interesting branch of lovemaking:

"MY DEAR MARIA — My uncle's laying his injunctions upon me not to see you more has only served to add fuel to my passion. I cannot live without you, and if you persist in refusing to comply I am miserable forever. I pay no regard to his threatening when put in competition with the love I have for you. Don't be afraid of poverty. If he should continue inexorable, I have still education sufficient to procure a genteel employment in one of the public offices, where I may rise to preferment. Therefore, if ever you loved me, let me beg that you will not make me any longer unhappy. Let me entreat you by all that's dear that you will comply with my request and meet me at 6 Sunday evening at the back door of the garden, where a chaise and four will be ready. I will fly on the wings of love to meet my charmer and be happy in her embraces forever. I am your dear lover." — Chicago Tribune.

"Dead Man" Greets Seekers For Body

1920

Explains Mystery That Saddened Neighbors

"You Will Find Me Dead" Inscription on Door Was Error, He Says

WILCOXIE, N. H. - Phil Magg of Baxter street is much alive. Phil says he is not dead, is not ready to die and he hopes that in the future his neighbors will use more discretion, and when they think he is dead to be sure of it before they make the announcement.

Magg lives alone. He works by the day and when he leaves his house he writes on a slate: "You will find me at John Smith's" or where he is working and hangs the slate on the outside of the door.

On a recent afternoon, Mrs. Joel Batterton went to the house to get Magg to beat a carpet for her. When she reached the door she saw the slate and read this inscription: "You will find me dead."

She Notified the Neighbors

Mrs. Batterton left the place in a hurry and stopped at every house in the street and notified the neighbors of her discovery. Soon the house was surrounded by people. Deputy Sheriff L. D. Frentz was notified of the discovery and hastened to the house.

The sheriff summoned Coroner Harry McGee. The men hastened to the place, read the writing on the slate and decided that Magg had committed suicide. They broke open the door of the kitchen, searched the house from cellar to garret but could not find the body. The coroner and sheriff secured a gang of men and started them out in all directions, searching for Magg.

The men searched through the woods for a radius of three miles of the village. Barns and other buildings were entered. They returned late at night, reporting that they had made no discovery.

Searched for His Body

The next morning the entire male population and a number of women joined in the search for Mr. Magg's body. All wells and cisterns in the village were examined, but they did not contain the body. Deep creek was dragged, but to no avail.

That afternoon newspapers announced that Mr. Magg had committed suicide. Then - -

The next morning Magg walked down Main street. He was approached by the Deputy Sheriff who informed him of the proceedings. Mr. Magg replied that he had read the account of his homicide in the newspapers while in Deadwood, a village near here. The Sheriff accompanied Magg to the house and showed him the slate.

Drops of Water Erased Slate?

Magg said he had written on the slate: "You will find me at Deadwood." Magg expressed the opinion that drops of water had fallen from the eaves of the house, had struck the words at and wood, erased them and made the notice read: "You will find me dead."

The villagers are divided in their opinion. A number of them believe that boys erased the words.

Magg said he went to Deadwood to visit his son, intending to remain a week, but that he decided he had better come home and show his neighbors that he is a very active dead man.

He says that hereafter he will write his absence notice on a sheet of paper, using pen and ink.

Prospector Digging Gold Finds Wife Instead

1907

FIND GIRL'S NOTE HIDDEN TWELVE YEARS; TO WED HER

Gold Seeker Discovers Missive That Was Buried In Fun and Speedily Answers It.

LEAD, S. D., Jan. 5.—A few weeks ago Benjamin Hurst, a young prospector, unearthed in the Black Hills, west of here, a rusty tin can containing a note scribbled in pencil by Miss Julia Demming and buried by her twelve years ago.

As a result of the finding of the note, Hurst and Miss Demming are soon to be married. The note, written and buried in a spirit of fun by Miss Demming, read:

"Whoever finds this note will please the writer of it by advising her that he has unearthed it. Her address in Portland, Ore. JULIA DEMMING."

Hurst promptly wrote the young lady that he had found the note. A week or two later he received an answer to his letter written at Seattle, the present home of Miss Demming.

He wrote her again, she replied, and thus was begun a correspondence which grew into friendship, resulting finally in love and an engagement. Hurst is a young gold seeker who has spent the greater part of his life in the Western mountains.

War Envelopes Used In Civil War Correspondence

1907

War Envelopes

The story of the civil war has been told and retold from platform and press, particularly on Memorial day, until the shelves of our libraries teem with the volumes of records of that epoch of our country's history.

In many a garret or family cabinet may be found some cap or portion of a garment worn during the strife by the soldier boy of the family; possibly the battered, bullet-pierced canteen may have its place.

To each or to all of these the grayhaired veteran may point his children at this memorial season, while telling them of the part he took in the struggle. But there is still another reminder of those years of national trial, simple though it may be, that serves to recall the spirit that prevailed before hostilities began, as well as to remind us of the progress of events during the development of those four years of bloody conflict. It is the stationery used in the correspondence between camp and fireside and between home and battlefield.

One envelope shows Gen. Scott to be the bulldog, with Jeff Davis as the smoking car, and the bone of contention as the city of Washington. The gamecock and shanghai envelope has no significance only as one turns to an issue of the Richmond Examiner of that period and reads, "The capture of Washington is perfectly within the power of Virginia and Maryland. The entire population pant for the onset. Our people can take it. They will take it, and Scott, the archtraitor, and Lincoln, the beast, combined, cannot prevent it. The just indignation of an outraged and deeply injured people will teach the Illinois ape to repeat his race and retrace his journey across the border of the free negro state still more rapidly than he came. And Scott, the traitor, will be given the opportunity at the same time to try the difference between Scott's tactics and the shanghai drill for quick movements."

The Ellsworth envelope was popular throughout the union, as was the "young man of 24 years" and his Chicago zouaves. His genuine energy and self-confidence had won the attention and admiration of the whole country.

Addressing Someone as "Esquire" on Letters

1903

"ESQUIRE" ON LETTERS.

In a Great Many Cases Its Use Is Much Abused.

About half the letters that go through our mails are addressed to some "Esq." Occasionally you will find a "Mr." at the front of the name and the "Esq." at the tail end.

The 'Squire in the United States is usually a police justice in the small country towns. The title originally was bestowed upon the shield-bearer, or armor-bearer, of a knight. In these days we use it loosely, tacking it on to everybody, just as "Hon." is tacked. Any old or young scoundrel in a state legislature is "Hon."

Esquire may be divided into five classes; he who does not belong to one of them may or may not be a gentleman, but is no esquire. According to Wharton these are the classes: "Younger sons of peers and their eldest sons; eldest sons of knights and their eldest sons; chiefs of ancient families (by prescription); esquires by creation or office, as heralds or sergeants at arms, judges, justices of the peace, the higher naval and military officers, doctors in the several faculties, and barristers; each Knight of the Bath appoints two esquires to attend him at his installation and at coronation. No estate, however large, confers this rank upon its owner." — New York Press.

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 7, 1903, page 4.


About half the letters that go through our mails are addressed to some "Esq." Occasionally you will find a "Mr." at the front of the name and the "Esq." at the tail end.

The 'Squire in the United States is usually a police justice in the small country towns. The title originally was bestowed upon the shield-bearer, or armor-bearer, of a knight. In these days we use it loosely, tacking it on to everybody, just as "Hon." is tacked. Any old or young scoundrel in a state legislature is "Hon."

Esquire may be divided into five classes; he who does not belong to one of them may or may not be a gentleman, but is no esquire. According to Wharton these are the classes: "Younger sons of peers and their eldest sons; eldest sons of knights and their eldest sons; chiefs of ancient families (by prescription); esquires by creation or office, as heralds or sergeants at arms, judges, justices of the peace, the higher naval and military officers, doctors in the several faculties, and barristers; each Knight of the Bath appoints two esquires to attend him at his installation and at coronation. No estate, however large, confers this rank upon its owner." — New York Press.

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 7, 1903, page 4.

Mrs. H. D. Spencer Tells of the Art of Letter Writing

OF UNUSUAL interest to Decatur people was a paper read before the Bloomington Woman's club, last week by Mrs. Henry D. Spencer, formerly Miss May Rogers, daughter of the late Hon. Jason Rogers of Decatur. She is often in Decatur and has as large a circle of friends here as in Bloomington where she has made her home since her marriage to Attorney Henry D. Spencer.

"Of all arts none is more satisfactory, more comforting, more delightful than letter writing," said Mrs. Spencer. "It is founded on a need as old as humanity, the need of one human being for another. The French were the best letter writers in Europe some generations ago, and in no other country have letters formed so large a proportion of published literature."

FRENCH WRITERS

Particular reference was made to the letters of Madame Sevigne, beautiful, rich, cultured, and admired in the most exclusive circles of France. She became a widow early in life and her letters to her daughter who for several years was separated from her, were models of elegance and wit. An earlier French writer was Jean Louis Balzac, royal councilor under Richelieu.

Mrs. Spencer quoted one of those letters as an example of the stilted, ceremonious and fulsome style in which letters of that day were written. It was of date 10 March, 1624.

FROM ENGLISH WRITERS

"If the French of the early days excelled the other nations as letter writers, what cannot be claimed for the English in the art of correspondence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? Horace Walpole was the king of English letter writers, but Lamb, Cowper, Gray and Carlyle rank very high as such. Walpole's letters to distinguished people of his day have survived time's influences and are still read with interest.

A FAMOUS MODEL

"Of course, Lord Chesterfield must be reckoned with every list of English letter writers. He belonged to an exalted social station and his letters to his son are models of elegance, good sense and wit, but are not of a moral tone that one would expect from father to son. They began when his son was 7 years old and first treated on simple facts of history and mythology and then as the son grew older, upon political and social philosophy, anecdotes, criticisms and comments.

LOVE LETTERS

"The love letters of Browning, Hawthorne and Hugo have found their way into print, and although they are delightful, many of you will share with me a feeling of sacrilege in reading epistles meant only for the eye of those long passed away.

"The letters of our American ancestors are of a stiff and ceremonious style and not particularly interesting." A letter was read by Mrs. Spencer written before Washington had appointed a regular Thanksgiving day.

BEFORE THANKSGIVING

This missive was dated at Westfield, Dec 7, 1783, and begins thus

"Dear Miss--How do you stand affected toward Thanksgiving? I begin to hear much talk about it, and guess that will be all." In another place he says, "I've been trying for many days to get a spark for Thanksgiving, but they all say they are engaged, so that I almost despair of success."

OLD SCHOOL GIRL LETTER

Mrs. Spencer then quoted a selection from a letter by a boarding school girl at South Hadley, Jan 1, 1783. It was addressed to the man whom she afterward married, and begins thus

"Sir - I am retired from the busy crowd in order to solace myself by writing to a friend, and what shall be my theme? Shall it be virtue? Alas, then, my pen will fail. Virtue deserves the most exalted name; it is a native of heaven, a mother of friendship and friendship constitutes the greatest part of human felicity." This young lady closes her letter by saying, "I am, sir, your humble servant."

THEY'RE A RELIEF

"While these letters may seem exceedingly stiff and formal," said Mrs. Spencer, "I think they are a very agreeable change from the silly, sickening, slushy, breach of promise letters which too frequently flood the twentieth century newspaper."

Mrs. Spencer exhibited a letter which she secured on a trip to old Kaskaskia in this state, which was written by once Governor Pierre Menard to his son Edmond. It was dated in August, 1884, and was written in French.

PRAISES CELIA THAXTER'S

The letters of Celia Thaxter written from her lonely home on the isle of Shoals were enthusiastically praised by Mrs. Spencer.

"Celia Thaxter continued writing poetry and charming letters to the end of her useful sixty years, after she had become a grandmother several times, and so indeed she 'slipped away' from those who loved her, leaving suddenly this beautiful sorrowful world wherein she had loved and rejoiced with the children of men. No letters, no record, no description can express adequately the richness and tenderness of her nature."

MODERN LETTER WRITERS

C. L. Dodgson, whose nom de plume was Louis Carroll, was the most famous as the author of "Alice in Wonderland," but he too, was a charming letter writer. He wrote many letters to children, sometimes about his three cats and all full of quaint humor. He hated publicity and "Alice in Wonderland" was a tabooed subject when he was present. The many letters of Richard Mansfield as lately published by William Winter, were referred to by Mrs. Spencer who closed her paper with a quotation from a letter once written by Sir Henry Sidney to his son Philip: "There is nothing that winneth so much with so little cost, and we know in times past how a kind and courteous letter has won almost everything from a heart to a kingdom."

--The Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois, February 20, 1910, page 7.

Comment: I left Lewis Carroll's name as spelled in the original article.