The Oliver Letters

There is now a generation of people who cannot imagine a world without the internet. Not I. I remember the Ed Sullivan Show and Sputnik. But for 20 years, I did make a living building software that leverages the power of the internet, so I appreciate its capabilities. But I mourn some of the impacts - driving to dust modern-day "buggy-whips": small town main streets; the independent bookseller; newspapers on real newsprint; proper spelling and grammar (u r gr8); fit children who want to go outside and play; Civility; Humility; Dayton's department store; AAA TripTiks; Privacy - did you know your smart light bulbs can leak your wifi password. 

And the US Postal Service. Of course USPS is not dead but rather survives on a glut of junk mail. But it awaits a lingering death, its mission destroyed because people just don't write letters anymore. When is the last time you received an honest-to-goodness handwritten letter addressed to you alone? (not counting Christmas cards). Can't remember, can you. And if you are the lucky one, I'll wager the sender was over 70. On the other hand, when's the last time you received an email you would consider saving as a treasure in that shoebox under your bed? Or a text with all those shortcuts you have to Google to figure out. Not so much I suspect. 

(Note - the irony of that last paragraph being part of a blog post is not lost on me.)

Personal letters identify someone who holds you dear, someone willing to take the time to take pen in hand and compose a some thoughtful words - not to mention willing to spend 49¢ on you. A letter can become a treasured keepsake, the familiar handwriting keeping alive the memory of those gone but not forgotten. A letter may seem to be relate mundane, everyday events but almost always you will find a line to cherish. And, if you think about it, a personal letter benefits the writer perhaps as much as the receiver, inducing feelings of connectedness and warmth to someone across the pale. You don't get that with a text.

There are many inspiring letter writers. By some estimates Teddy Roosevelt wrote upwards of 150,000 letters in his lifetime. T.E. Lawrence (.. of Arabia) was a prolific letter writer. Many collections of letters have been published, notably, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Frederick Pollock' "An Autobiography of Friendship"; Shelby Foote & Walker Percy chronicling a 50 year correspondence between friends; Bonhoeffer's Letters from Prison;  Dear America: Letters from Vietnam edited by Bernard Edelman. John Barth's novel Letters is written completely in letter form. And here is a treasure for you fathers (and mothers):  Letters to My Children - A Father Passes on His Values by Daniel Taylor. And of course, the Apostle Paul wrote a few memorable epistles.



I have that shoebox of letters that includes some written by my grandmother in the 1910's to her mother while she worked as a housekeeper in far-off Minneapolis. I have letters written by my grandmother's brothers to each other which catalog their daily lives and a few from Olaf from France in 1918. 









We have a fat stack of letters written by my wife's army nurse aunt from North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France from 1942-1945. And letters by mother in that indecipherable hand - except to her sisters whose writing looked exactly the same. In my grandparents' day, letters from the "old country" were especially treasured, with news from family they would likely never see again. Often letters from family were forwarded along in the letters to other family members, making for a fat chain letter of the nicest sort. But .. knowing this, the writers had be careful with comments about other family members. Luckily, the daily letters I wrote to my beloved while I was in college and she 2000 miles away have disappeared, as well as the less frequent return missives. Sometimes the historical record is best left uncovered. 


So, at last, I get to what I want to share with you - excerpts from the "The Oliver Letters", written to his family back home in Lowry while attending school in the big city.  A treasure.

The Oliver Letters copyright 1939

1936
... So Glenn got a haircut, quite an event. I had one yesterday and that was quite an event. They charge 50 cents for a haircut down here. Tell Glenn he did a darn poor job supervising the sign painting on the truck. Where did he put the “undertaking”? It should have read
Hoplin & Nelson Hardware – Furniture – Undertaking Lowry, Minnesota
.. You don’t need to worry about me chasing out with any of these college women. There are over 1000 of them enrolled, but I wouldn’t take any of them to a dog fight.
.. I’ve got a B- & a C+ but I took a beaner of a test on object complement and I don’t know if that’s going to turn out so hot.

1937
.. I wrote a letter to Snella today. I suppose she will be tickled pink. I’m just itching to see what kind of letter she will write and how much bull she can really sling.
.. I’m going to write to Uncle Dave this afternoon. I need some cash. I feel kinda cheap writing to him only when I need cash. I think I should have a stenographer. There isn’t one in a million that would be as good as Uncle Dave.
.. Thanks for my laundry, the shirts were o.k. and the doughnuts were swell, only they didn’t last very long. .. Thanks for the cookies they were sure swell. I ate ‘em all my lonesome.
.. We have all our meals at a café and it really costs like the dickens about 80 cents to $1 a day.
.. That certainly was a tough break that the mill burned. I’d like to be home and see the wreckage.{Editor note: the large flour milling operation, the "Lowry Roller Mill", burned to the ground in 1937}

.. I got my pay check Wednesday $10 a week but I darn near eat that much. Sunday I almost spent a dollar on tokens. .. That certainly was nice of Dad to help me get an electricians license. I’ve got the best parents in the world.

.. We listened to the football game in the morgue today; last Saturday was the same way.
.. I had dinner with Paul Peterson a week ago Wednesday. He said Glenn was shining around his daughter.

1938
.. Thanks for the cookies and my laundry. The cookies were so good that we ate them all before Elsie came over. You better send them to Elsie next time.
.. Elsie is studying hard, she’s got her probe gown now – they really think they’re kinda ritzy with them on.
.. That was very nice of Happy to take my laundry with him, and the cookies were just swell – I didn’t get any of Mrs. Leslie’s apple sauce. Elsie fed it to the mugs at the Swedish.
.. I was glad to get my Funeral Director license and I got my electricians the other day. They issued me a license but it’s unbonded and it looks like I might hafta pay $10 every year – if it turns out that way I don’t think I can keep it up.
.. Elsie & I appreciate how you have kept us informed as to Glenn’s condition – I wish Maynard were there. We feel so helpless down here if we could only be of help in some way. {Editor note: Glenn had suffered a ruptured appendix and was not expected to live.}
.. We got our new man Friday. He’s from Melrose. He’s Catholic but I think I can get along with him.
.. Last night Vernon and I were out together, we visited at the Petersons. We played Chinese checkers most of the evening. .. Elsie got her cap last Wednesday and does she think she is somebody. P.S. Will mail my laundry this week.
.. I hope you can come down before Christmas. I’d like to have you see Nicollet Ave., all decked out in holiday attire.

1939

.. There’s a sale at Rothschilds. I was down Wednesday afternoon. I bought 3 colored shirts for $1.50 each and they are Manhattan and Van Huesens. They’re keen shirts and they fit swell, full cut and sleeves long enough. This morning I went down and bought a topcoat. It’s Oxford gray with a half belt, got it for $10.50.
.. Got a new vacuum cleaner last week and is it ever a honey. It’s a Hoover. The Hoover is the best machine I’ve ever used.
.. Dear Dave, Thanks heaps for the nice check to see the circus, it was grand. The tightrope stunts were the most spectacular. Another thriller was a man walking on a large ball up a cone shaped incline and down again
.. We’re very glad to hear that Glenn has that good job and hope he can keep it without too much fuss. We asked Lloyd if Glenn was home from St. Cloud yet and he said yes, and in the money too.
.. Thanks for the swell spice cake, lefsa and spam. We had lunch in our little room on Tuesday afternoon, served Coca Cola, cake and lefsa and was it ever good.
.. First, I must report on my younger brother. He’s stepping out. It’s Eileen’s cousin and she even had to ask for the date. But, mother, don’t worry about him. Elise & I are trying our best to take good care of him.
.. Enclosed is $5 which I want you to use for a little help this weekend. I will be very much disappointed if you don’t have help when this big gang of hungry mongrels comes home.
.. Last night all the cousins got together and went out to Excelsior amusement and had a swell time. You know what a gang of 13 wildcats would be like; well that’s what it was. 



And a word on etiquette from the Hills Manual of Social and Business Forms


As a rule, every letter, unless insulting in its character, requires an answer. To neglect to answer a letter, when written to, is as uncivil as to neglect to reply when spoken to. In the reply, acknowledge first the receipt of the letter, mentioning its date, and afterwards consider all the points requiring attention.

If the letter is to be very brief, commence sufficiently far from the top of the page to give nearly equal amount of blank paper at the bottom of the sheet when the letter is ended.

In writing a letter, the answer to which is of more benefit to yourself that the person to whom you write enclose a postage stamp for the reply.

Letters should be as free from erasures, interlineations, blots and postscripts as possible. It is decidedly better to copy the letter than to have these appear.


So surprise someone and perhaps yourself with a handwritten composition on real stationery and and a 1st class stamp. No typing and no stickers for the return address!


Copyright © 2016 Dave Hoplin