With cell phones and the Internet, few people write letters anymore. Most would not know how to compose an interesting letter. They are so used to sending short blurbs. A detailed letter would almost be like writing a book for them. Another thing—very few people use cursive anymore. Printing is the norm.
I remember my grade school days. I could ace every subject except Penmanship. The old Palmer method was beyond me. Some days I couldn’t even read things I had written a few days before.
It caused problems for me when I worked as a telephone operator back during World War ll. My supervisor would bring back long distance tickets for me to decipher words and numerals. I had quit school when the school burned down, set by an arsonist. It is hard to imagine now that I went to work there at the age of 16 with a work permit. I was too young to work in a factory, but certain jobs were available to me. Being a telephone operator was one of them.
During my early married years, waiting for the morning mail was a pleasant task. We didn’t have a telephone so our only contact with the outside world was by mail. The mailman picked up letters we wanted to mail from our mailbox. They still do that, I guess.
Mother lived about 125 miles away. All phone calls outside our local area were long distance and those minutes could be expensive. We corresponded on a weekly basis. It was comforting to hear from her. Mother would send me what I called “goodie bags” from time to time.
But her letters were more than the “How are you, we are fine” kind. She detailed what was going on with my grandparents and her neighbors. Mother knew that I was stuck at home. We had one car and little gas. Our Sunday trips to church and the grocery store was about it, other than my husband’s drive to work.
I have my Dad’s postcard album. There are cards in there from family and adult friends sent to Master Owen Stimer. It was obvious that he wrote to them as well. This was from a ten-year-old boy. Back in the day, they learned to write letters at an early age. Today, it’s texting on a cell phone.
I don’t have a cell phone. We don’t get service back in here where I live in Union County. It would be almost useless for me anyway. They use a jargon and abbreviations that aren’t learned in a few minutes. I do know that “lol” means “laugh out loud.” Beyond that, it is like reading a foreign language. I will stick to phone conversations and letter writing, thank you.