34p. · 2020. 5. 4. · 1922, and letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter. Student activities include writing to pen pals, making a quill pen, answering questions about Clara

ED 429 858

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JOURNAL CITEDRS PRICEDESCRIPTORS

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DOCUMENT RESUME

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Frese, Millie K., Ed.Letters and Letter Writing.Iowa State Historical Society, Iowa City.ISSN-0278-02081998-00-0034p.Iowa State Historical Society, 402 Iowa Avenue, Iowa City,IA 52240-1806; Tel: 319-335-3916 (subscription: $10 for 4issues).Collected Works Serials (022) Guides Classroom -

Learner (051)Goldfinch; v19 n3 Spr 1998MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.Elementary Education; Enrichment Activities; *Letters(Correspondence); *Local History; *Social History; *SocialStudies; *State History; World War IIFrank (Anne); *Iowa; *Pen Pals; Wilder (Laura Ingalls)

"The Goldfinch" is a periodical that introduces youngchildren to various facets of Iowa history. Each issue has a different themetopic and a number of articles covering diverse aspects of the topic beingaddressed. This issue focuses on letters and letter writing. Featuredarticles discuss letters that illuminate historical events. The volumeincludes letters belonging to a woman who moved from Pennsylvania to Iowaaround the time of the Civil War, Anne Frank and her Iowa pen pal, lettersexchanged by an Iowa draftee and his wife during World War II, letterswritten by a group of pen pals at Iowa State University between 1918 and1922, and letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter. Studentactivities include writing to pen pals, making a quill pen, answeringquestions about Clara Hinton's diary, and a writing game. (BT)

********************************************************************************* Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made *

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Letters and Letter Writing

by

Millie K. Frese

Iowa State Historical Society, Iowa City

PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE ANDDISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS

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TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

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CD Minor changes have been made toimprove reproduction quality.

Points of view or opinions stated in thisdocument do not necessarily representofficial OERI position or policy.

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s a college student, I could count on weekly letters frommy Grandma Kehrli. She wrote in pencil on a tablet ofwhite paper, telling me everything that happened during

the previous week and reminding me to stop in for ice cream anda card game next time I was in town. Rarely did she write aboutanything my journalism professors might have considered news.But it didn't matter. Those letters were an important connectionto someone I loved, the next best thing to being with her.

Today, my family has a really big mailbox. We are optimistic,certain that something wonderful will come in the mail. It doesn'talways happen, but six days a week, we hope that along with junk

mail and bills will come aletter or, better yet, a

Eh it stacruH.A. Olander was the firstStratford, Iowa mail carrier toown an automobile. He startedusing it on his route in 1909.

SHSI (IOWA CITY

package from far away.This issue of The

Goldfinch takes you on atrip through time asletters tell stories ofordinary peoplesometimes inextraordinary times.

Read this issue withthe same anticipation as

when you're expectingsomething really cool in themail. Wait a minuteTheGoldfinch something really

cool that comes in the mail! When you're done, drop me a lineand tell me about your life and what you think about the storiesyou've read. My address is: 402 Iowa Avenue, Iowa City, Iowa52242. Or e-mail me at [email protected]. I'm waitingto hear from you!

%-Etzeevely 5)-(24-vs9

2 The Goldfinch

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Volume 19, Number 3 Spring 1998

Member, Educational PressAssociation of America

Winner of two 1997 EdPressDistinguished Achievement Awards

for Excellence in EducationalPublishing

INTERIM EDITOR: Millie K. FresePUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR: Shaner MagalhaesEDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Lin LyILLUSTRATION: Mary Moye-RowleyCONSULTING EDITORS: JoAnn Castagna, PhD,has a degree in American Studies and still writesletters by hand; Mary Evans, Education Specialist,Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; and Tyler 0.Walters, Head, Special Collections Department,Iowa State University Library

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Debra Atkinson, SarahFrese, Diane Nelson and Jan Wolbers

EDUCATORS' ADVISORY BOARD: Betty Arndt,Greenwood Elementary School, Des Moines; GaryCoffelt, Central Decatur Elementary, Decatur City;Linda Vandeventer, Harrison Elementary School,Davenport; Karla Willoughby, HanawaltElementary School, Des Moines

CHILDREN'S ADVISORY BOARD: Sarah Frese,Danville; Muriel Huckins, Council Bluffs; WilliamMartin, Waterloo; Nina Moeller, Iowa City

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Mrs. Griffith Buck; Mr. andMrs. Leoral Evans; Winifred Murray Kelley; BelitaKruse, West Liberty Middle School; Roger LeaMacBride Estate; Dwight Miller, Herbert HooverPresidential Library, West Branch; Mr. and Mrs.Gilbert Schlarbaum; and Betty Wagner.

CREDITS: The characters Wild Rosie and Goldieby SHSI exhibit designer Jerry Brown.

COVER ARTKris Atha, Oskaloosa

The Goldfinch (ISSN 0278-02081 is published quarterly bythe State Historical Society of Iowa, 402 Iowa Avenue,lowa Cit9, Iowa 52240-1806 (319/335-3916). Second-class postage paid at Iowa City, Iowa. Subscriptions are$10 for four issues.

Postmaster: Send address changes to: Carol Carey,subscriptions coordinator, The Goldfinch, State HistoricalSociety of Iowa, 402 Iowa Avenue, Iowa City, Iowa 52240-1806. State Historical Society of Iowa, 1998. Noportion of The Goldfinch may be reproduced without priorpermission except for classroom use.

The Goldfinch is also available on cassette tapefor the blind, the visually impaired, the physically

handicapped, and the learning disabled. For moreinformation contact the Iowa Department for the Blind, 1-800-362-2587. Or write to the Iowa Department for theBlind Library, 524 4th St., Des Moines 50309.

FM:UT=Iowa Letters Write HistoryHistory in a Shoebox

{3 Postmarked from AmsterdamAnne Frank and Her Iowa Pen Pal

ft@ Wartime Letter Writing -M The Courier's Appointed

RoundsftE3 Laura and Rose

Letters Preserved inIowa Archive

20 History Mystery30 Griffith Buck's

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Read aboutAnne Frank'scorrespondencewith her IowaPen Pal!Page 8

Courtesy of the Library/Archives of the SimonWiesenthal CenterMuseum of Tolerance

The Goldfinch 3

efore telephones were common in Iowahomes, and fax machines and e-mail madecommunication instantaneous, people

relied on letter writing to keep in touch withfriends and family. Frontier Iowans often waitedweeksor monthsfor replies to their letters.Isolation was part of rural life, but letters helpedrelieve the loneliness.

Slow mail delivery was overlooked as lettersdated weeks earlier were eagerly read for "news"of family and friends back East. "A letter from theEast is of much importance to we poor exiles outhere," wrote an Iowa settler to her mother in1856. In another letter she begged her mother towrite as often as possible because letters werelike bread and molasses to a hungry child.

One advantage "old-fashioned" letters have overmodern telephone calls: they can be saved andread over and over again. A letter writer in 1860

confided that her husband carried a family letterwith him all the time. She believed when he gottime to himself he read the letter and cried.

It takes more time to write words on paper thanit does to say them out loud, but writing lettersallows people to think through their ideasbefore putting them into words.

Most letters are meant to be read only bythe person to whom they are ad-dressed, but when letters survivethrough time, others read them tolearn about history. Andrew KeachieMurray was a 41-year-old bachelorwhen he proposed to Margaret MartinGordon, 27, in a letter.

"Pardon the liberty I now take inaddressing you in this manner on a4 The Goldfinch

rather delicate subject," Murray wrote on Febru-ary 15, 1854. "You are aware that I am an OldBachelor very much in need of a partner to dividewith me the cares and troubles of this life and tocheer and encourage me in the path that leads toa better life..."

Fourteen letters preserve details of Margaret'sand Andrew's courtship. One hundred years later,their youngest son, Frederick, found the letters ina trunk stored in his Cedar Rapids attic.

Frederick's daughter, Eleanor Murray Shep-herd, observed, "It might seem that we shouldnot be reading other peoples' love letters, nomatter how long ago they were written. But theseletters are a legacy to us. That they were pre-served, wrapped up and left in a trunk means thatthe writers felt they should be passed on."

During the Great Depression of the 1930s,

people wrote letters to President and Mrs.Franklin D. Roosevelt begging for help. Today,those letters help readers understand the des-peration people felt. In a June 1936 letter to Mrs.Roosevelt, a woman from Aurelia, Iowa, wrote, "Iam coming to you for help.

Photos Courtesy Windre

Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration

others have wntten. They interpret what happenedby sorting through details and deciding which ones

to include and which ones toleave out. While history booksoften describe the past in terms offamous people and importantevents, letters offer a moreintimate look at ordinary lives.Letters surviving across time givevoices to people whose livesmight otherwise be lost to history.Who knows? Maybe the letters

you write and receive today will be discovered insomeone's attic 100 years from now. Future histori-ans may study what you wrote to see what life waslike in the late 20th century!4D

Sometimes people wroteto President Rooseveltduring the 1930sdepression asking for help. rjThese children fromsoutheast Iowa are eatingChristmas dinner(potatoes, cabbage andpie) in 1936.

,

Please do not think this does not cause a great feeling ofshame to me to have to ask for old clothing...I thinkyour clothes would fit me by your picture. Please do notthink me unworthy, I am so badly in need..."

On September 11, 1934, a 72-year-old woman fromElkader, Iowa, begged President Roosevelt to help saveher home. "No one else will help me...I am an oldwoman and...can't get around at all. So that makes itpretty hard for me to be put out of my home, the one Iworked so hard for...If I could only raise thirteenhundred dollars then I could stay in my home...Soplease help me Mr. Roosevelt and answer right away or

else it will be toolate...I sure will try 1

and pay you back."Letters preserve

history as it happens.In books, oftenwritten after an event,authors analyze what

This red leather wallet holdsthe 14 courtship lettersexchanged between Andrewand Margaret Murray. Thewallet was found in a CedarRapids attic 100 years afterthe letters were written.

ley. Wallet photo by David F. Penney

tt

y Dear Folks:I am not going

to pose beforeyou as a

physician,and I certainly

have no cure-allfor any disease...Mbst

people...willkeep

well if they will look after two or threematters

carefully.One is that the skin be

kept clean.[A bath

tub] is a nice thing to

have, but it is not a necessity...Allthe

appliancesyou need

are a basinand a

privateroom.

The next thingtoward keeping

well is to

keep clean inside...Ifyou will take plenty

of exercise,eat the proper food...you

will

not be dirty inside. Wash yourselfinside

by drinkingplenty

of water...Don'timagine

you are goingto be sick,

but insteadbelieve

you are going to be well.,

Henry Wallace, editor of theDes Moines-based Wallace's Farmer Magazine from1895 to 1916, wrote letters to his readers offeringadvice for living a good and moral life.

7

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

The Goldfinch 5

mma Hoadley packed a small leather trunkfor her journey from Pennsylvania to Iowa in1873. Perhaps she emptied and repacked it

many times to make sure the things she neededand treasured most would fit inside. Among theitems she squeezed into the trunk were letterswritten by her brother during the Civil War.

Today, those letters bring Civil War times to lifefor Emma's granddaughter, Helen Evans.

Sept. 11, 1862Dear Sister,

I am going to give you something of an idea of Camp

Curtin: In the first place you will please imagine a field-containing thirty or forty acres without a green thinggrowing upon it except a few small locust trees...thisfield has been nearly all covered with cloth tents...about6 feet square at the bottom and running up to a sharppeak-Five of us make it our home...We cookourrations over a fire made in a hole dug in the earth...Write as soon as you get this.

Illness, poor living conditions and inadequatenutrition were common problems in Civil Warcamps. Still, Augustus P. Hoadley consideredfighting to preserve the Union his duty. Hebelieved the common practice of hiring anotherman to fight in one's place was intolerable.

"Brink Canfield has hired David out for asubstitute for two hundred and fifty dollars...Thatprice wouldn't hire me to go to war...It would haverequired something more than money to separate6 The Goldfinch

:so-4

saves them because they are history.-Helen Evans

me from the loved ones that I have left behind, itwas a principal of duty, a principal which I hope Imay always cherish as long as I live," A.P. wrote.

A.P. scolded Emma in his letter dated June 6,1863. "I am surprised that you could not fill awhole sheet, there are thousands of things foryou to write about...You don't say a word aboutany of the neighbors...Hasent father plantedanything in the garden but beans? Why don't youtell me all about every thing? How much newfence has he made this spring..." He also askedabout the chickens and goslings and wonderedwhat became of the addition to their house Fatherwas building. "You can answer these questions ifyou can't find anything more sensible to write."

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photos

Detailed descriptions of plants and flowers filledA.P's letters to Emma. Once he enclosed a sprigof Virginia cloves. "Roses are in bloom...there areapples as large as robins' eggs, the cherries beginto turn red...It would be splendid down here if notfor this terrible war."

A.P. fought in gruesome battles but spared histeenage sister from graphic details. But there wasone tragedy he could not hide.

April" 21', 186.5"

Dear Sister,

'The city is draped in...mourning. 'The death of the

President has cast a groom over the whole nationWehave been on duty most of the time since themurder...This morning they started with his remains forSpringfield, Ill I saw him yesterday. I have a piece ofcloth which I wilt send in this. It is a piece of the

An historic moment is frozen in that smallsquare of black fabric. Touching it brings thatmoment to life, rich in awe and tragedy.

A.P. taught school in Clarence, Iowa after thewar. He died in 1869. How he died and where heis buried are mysteries Helen Evans wants tosolve. Emma was 27 when she married HenryBrink and moved to Iowa in 1873. Airs letterstraveled through generations of Emma's family,eventually finding a home in ared shoe box in the attic ofEvans' Mt. Vernon home.

"I saved them because theyare history," Evans said."I've always likedhistory." 4D

covering of the Bier of President Lincoln...I prize it4),,,,,

very highly.

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Postmarked from Amsterdan21][28 Fmk and h37 UowsJUANITA WAGNERwas a sixth-gradestudent at DanvilleElementary Schoolwhen she chose the

name of a ten-year-old girl in the Netherlands from alist of potential overseas pen pals. It was autumn, 1939.World War II raged in Europe, and the Danvilleteacher who arranged for the letter exchange hopedthe experience would open students' eyes to the worldbeyond this small, southeast Iowa town.

Little did Juanita know that her Amsterdam pen pal,Anne Frank, would become a symbol of the horror ofthe Holocaustand the triumph of the human spirit.

In her first letter to Anne, Juanita wrote about Iowa,her mother (a teacher), sister Betty Ann, and life ontheir farm. When Anne wrote back, her sister Margot,14, enclosed a letter for Betty Ann, also 14.

"We just wrote kid things," Betty Ann Wagnerrecalled. "It was such a special joy as a child to havethe experience of receiving a letter from a foreigncountry and a new pen pal. In those days we had noTV, little radio and maybe a newspaper once or twice aweek."

The Frank sisters wrote with ink on light bluestationery. Although the Amsterdam letters, datedApril 27 and 29, 1940, were in English, expertsbelieve the girls probably composed the letters inDutch then copied their father Otto's Englishtranslation.

Anne wrote of her family, the Montessori schoolshe attended and her postcard collection, enclosing apostcard of Amsterdam and school pictures of herselfand Margot. She did not mention the war in Europe,but Margot told Betty Ann that "we often listen to theradio as times are very exciting, having a frontier withGermany and being a small country we never feelsafe."

0 The Goldfinch10

Juanita and Betty Ann answeredAnne's and Margot's lettersimmediately, but replies nevercame. Betty Ann thought that J

vv"--perhaps mail was restricted or agnercensored. They did not know the Frankswere Jewish and in grave danger as Hitler's armyadvanced.

Anne wrote her only letter to Juanita just threeweeks after Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.On May 10, 1940, eleven days after Anne's letter leftAmsterdam, the Dutch surrendered to the Nazis.

Jews in Holland as elsewhere suffered the effects ofHitler's harsh anti-Jewish measures. Anne turned 12 in1941. By then Jews were required to attend separateschools, carry identification cards stamped with aand were restricted from business activities. Thedeportation of Holland's Jews to extermination campssoon began.

On July 5, 1942, Margot was ordered to report fordeportation. A day later, the Frank family went intohiding in the rear part of the building where OttoFrank had operated a food products business. Thedoor to the "Secret Annex," as Ann called it, was

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LETTERS & LETTER WRITING

hidden behind a bookcase in one ofthe offices. Aided by loyal friendswho still worked in the officesoutside their Secret Annex, theFranks remained in hiding for 25months, sharing the space with fourothers.

Betty Ann Wagner German police arrested the eightJews living in the Secret Annex on August 4, 1944.They were later transported to Auschwitz, the infa-mous Polish death camp. Margot and Anne weretransferred to Bergen-Belson in October. The warended in 1945. Otto Frank was the only member of hisfamily who survived.

After the war, Betty Ann wrote to Anne's address inAmsterdam. She received a handwritten letter fromOtto telling of his family's experiences in hiding and ofAnne's death in a concentration camp. Betty Ann, thena teacher in Illinois, took Otto's letter to school andread it to her students. "I wanted them to realize howfortunate they were to be in America during WorldWar II," she said. OD

--rhe Frani: family tooK few possessions with them

into hiding. In her diary, kne wrote, "Margot and

I began to pack some of our most vital belongings into

a school satchel. The first thing I put in was this diary,

then hair curlers, hanUerchiefs, schoolboos, a comb,

old letters; I put in the crazjest things with the idea

that we were going into hiding. F2ut I'm not sorry,

memories mean more to me than dresses."

)k)(1.)-1-A,Q,

Perhaps among the letters she paaed was one from

Tuanita Wagner postmarud Danville, Iowa.

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t. LLLt Ld Ly Apri4,

nne Frank kept a diary whilein hiding from the Nazis

during World War II. Sheaddressed her entries to animaginary friend named Kitty anddescribed her fears about growingup, falling in love, and beingmisunderstood by her parents.She also wrote as a Jew hiding from the Nazis as warraged outside. Through it all, she believed peoplewere inherently "good at heart."

When German soldiers plundered the Secret Annex,they left Anne's diary on the floor. Interested only injewels and other items of value, they discarded whatappeared to be a meaningless childhood relic. Butthe powerful words of an adolescent girl outlived theiratrocities. Her wish, as recorded in her diary, "to goon living even after my death" had come true with thepublication of her diary in 1947. Since then, AnneFrank: The Diary of a Young Girl has been translated

into more than 30 languages,performed as a play and made

10 6 into a movie.The Wagners moved to

California in 1946. Ten yearslater, Betty Ann heard a reviewon her car radio of a hitBroadway play called The Diaryof Anne Frank. "What anemotional and humblingexperience to read her diary,"

Betty Ann recalled. Over the years, Betty Ann's letterfrom Otto Frank had been misplaced, but the 1940letters from Anne and Margot survived.

In 1988, Betty Ann showed the letters to a friendwho insisted the letters should be in a museum.Betty Ann and Juanita decided to auction them. "Howwould anyone know the value or to whom to givethem?" they wondered.

The letters sold for $150,000 to an anonymousbuyer who then donated them to the SimonWiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.

Pin7C

Adapted from a story by Shelby Myers-Verhage whichappeared in The Palimpsest, Volume 76, Number 4. Photosof Anne and Margot Frank and letter: Courtesy of theLibrary/Archives of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museumof Tolerance. Juanita and Betty Ann Wagner photos:Courtesy Betty Ann Wagner.

;V. E' C

4 The Goldfinch

by Millie K. Frese

time," Ferne said. "It was terrible not knowingwhere he was."

"I wrote home every day while over there," Gibsaid. "I don't know what I wrote about. There

wasn't much news to tell." Hisletters, like all others written byU.S. soldiers, were censored. Hewas forbidden to write news of thewar, discuss his work or disclosehis location.

"He wrote about the boy whowashed his clothes and polished

his shoes," Ferne described. "He told me aboutthe tents he slept in and the movies he went to."

"There were movies shown on base almostevery night,"Gib explained.

"He wroteabout howmuch hemissed me,and he askeda lot of ques-tions aboutGary," Ferne said.

Every envelope Gib sent home was stampedwith the censoring officer's name. "CaptainAnderson read every word," Gib stated. Censorsdeleted anything they believed might give theenemy clues about Allied troop locations orstrategies. Soldiers couldn't describe things like

Letters kept GibSchlarbaum and hisfamily close duringWW II. At right, Ferneand Gary visit Gibbefore he leaves forIndia.

ib Schlarbaum of Van Horne was draftedin December 1942. He trained with the14th Armor Division in Arkansas, then at

Army/Air Corps bases in Mississippi, Texas andMichigan before being sent overseas.

In 1944, Gib boarded an airplane in New Yorkcarrying sealed orders. "I couldn't open myorders until the plane was in the air," Gib said.Once airborne, he tore open the envelope todiscover he'd be stationed in Calcutta, India.

Gib's wife, Ferne, and their son (Gary was borntwo months after Gib was drafted) visited him inMichigan prior to his departure. 'We left Gib inMichigan and didn't hear from him for a long

10 The Goldfinch

_doose _ips Sin ,c ShipsWartime slogans like this remindedpeople in the U.S. not to talk abouttroop locations, strategies or shipmovements. The information couldendanger U.S. soldiers if spiesoverheard the conversation.

12

weather conditions or scenerybecause such details might leadthe enemy to them.

"I was pretty careful," Gibsaid. "I knew what I could andcould not write about." Heunderstood why his letters wereread by a censor but did notlike having someone else readthem.

Ferne wrote to Gib every day,too. "I wrote a letter everyevening, then walked uptown tomail it the next morning," Fernerecalled. The daily ritual kepttheir family connected. "Iwrote about everythingevery detailof whathappened at home withGary so Gib would knowhis son," she said.

Though they wrote everyday, the letters arrived inbunches, usually out of

Photos Courtesy of Ruthanne SchlarbaumLetter Courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Leoral Evans.

order. "But that didn't matter,"Ferne said. She read Gib'sletters over and over, as he didhers.

Gib, who describes himself as"just an enlisted man," wasawarded the bronze star for hisservice in India. And he stillkeeps in touch with some of themen with whom he servedthrough phone calls and anoccasional letter. "It's good totalk with someone who's beenthere...who knows what it waslike."

After the war, it took Gib 30days on a ship to get back to theU.S., then a long train ride toreach home. When his trainstopped in Van Horne at 2o'clock on a January morning in1946, Ferne was there to meethim. Gary was almost threeyears old, but thanks to lettersand photographs, his fatherwasn't a stranger. OD

WAR & NAVYDEPARTMENTV-MAIL SERVI

The Japanese bombing ofPearl Harbor in Hawaii on

December 7, 1941 propelledthe United States into WorldWar II. By then Nazi leader AdolfHitler had conquered most ofEurope. Americans joined "TheAllies" fighting against Hitlerand other "Axis" powers inEuropean, Asian, African andPacific theaters of militaryactivity. For U.S. soldiersdeployed overseas, letter writingmaintained a vital link with thefamilies and friends they leftbehind.

Notice the censor's stamp inthe upper left corner of thisWWII letter. The censor crossedout the writer's references toweather conditions. The "V" in

V-Mail stands forVictory!

(1_,P..bc..il/bEc7

By Debra Atkinson

Imagine having a pen pal for over fifty years.And not just one, but eleven! So it was for twelveyoung women who attended Iowa State College (nowIowa State University) between 1918 and 1922.

The "round robin" began in 1922, shortly after thewomen left I.S.C. in Ames, Iowa. Envelopes plumpwith letters circulated among the twelve friends for atleast fifty-four years. The letters traveled from onefriend to another in a continuous circle. Each recipi-ent in turn read the letters, added a new one of herown, then mailed the bundle of letters on to the nextpen pal. The correspondence carried a lifetime of tri-umphs and tragedies.

The twelve women attended college at a time whenstudents packed their belongings in heavy steamertrunks in the fall and traveled by train to campus. Theyusually returned home only for Christmas and summerbreaks. Developing new friendships helped themadjust to life away from home.

Young women going to college in 1918 were likelythe first in their families to do so. Their world was dif-ferent from the one their mothers andgrandmothers knew. Rapidly chang-ing times meant more opportu-nities for women in highereducation, work, socialclubs and fashion. Womenwho chose to marry andhave families still experi-enced fewer boundariesthan previous generations.

The paths of the soon-to-be pen pals crossed often atI.S.C. They all lived at East Hall, and nine of them weremembers of the Quill Literary Society. Among the group,Maijorie, Anvy, and Eleanor had known each otherbefore college. Blanche and Mae were sisters. Otherwisetheir friendships began in college.

Scrapbooks the women kept show pictures ofsome or all of the group with captions that read, "TheFamily," or "The Twelve." On autograph pages and inother photos they also refer to themselves as "TheTP.C." The initials are a mystery, their meaning asecret the group members guarded. A weddingannouncement of Marjorie's reads, "...dinner wasserved by Eleanor and Helen, who were TP.C. sistersof the bride in college."

Iflhe group renewed its ties with annual reunions

on the I.S.C. campus, holding picnics at a shelternear the Veenker golf course. Over the years the pic-nic grew as husbands and children accompanied thewomen. In later years, though, attendance declinedas families moved on. The round robins' friendshipsspanned so many decades that they saw each otherthrough weddings (all but one of them married),childbirth, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, ill-ness, and loss of loved ones.

"The family" retained its close-knit ties until theycould no longer write letters. The last known

reunion was in 1976, 54 years afterthe pen pals attended college

together. Letters the womenwrote were lost or discard-ed over the years. But sto-ries of their friendship,strengthened for decades

through a round robin,survive.

MUTIOTtle amou llielten OW0Um Ms Up

41n7Iy Draw/ HMI &Mt Sett AN, Esu Sul Tante

Manage *PIM& Mfit Milive Whigmvin

Mould you like tokeep in touch withfriends from camp orcousins from acrossthe country? Why not

start your own round robin!Think up a name that describes your

group or has a secret meaning. Make a list of people whowant to write to each other and start writing letters.

Be sure to get your parents' permission since theenvelopes will require extra postage as the bundle of let-ters grows.

IIIPO VCDM QEmala OMMTE19:a. Contact people you want to include. Consider limitingyour group to 10 or fewer members. The members shouldknow each other and have a parent's consent. Promise tokeep the robin flying by responding within a week.

2. Make a name & address list, putting your name first.Make copies of the list for everyone.

2. Write your first letter! Place it in an envelope with thename/address lists. Address the envelope to the personafter you on the list (you will always send to this person)and send it on its way.

Z3. Each pen pal will take a copy of the address list,read the letters, put them in a new envelope, add his orher own letter, and mail it to the next person on the list.The last person on the list will send it back to you. Readall the letters, remove your old one, add a new letter, andsend the packet around again.

Include your photograph, a poem, or some artworkwith your letter. Be creative! The hardest part is waiting forthe letters to return to you! by Debra Atkinson

15

ound robin originally meant apetition with signatures arranged in acircle so no one would know theorder in which the names weresigned. Sailors used this methodwhen registering a written complaintso no individual could be chargedwith leading amutiny. In17th-centuryFrance, gov-ernment offi-cials deviseda method ofsigning griev-ances on rib-bons that were attached to docu-ments in a circular form. That way,no signer could get his head choppedoff for signing first! They called itruban rond, or "round ribbon." Rubanrond eventually became round robinin English and became associatedwith a method of circulating lettersbetween several people. Messageswere sent from person to person witheach recipient adding his or her owncomments.

1,

oday, round robin is more com-monly used to describe a type ofsports tournament. Other uses of theterm are considered obsolete. Maybeyou can help revive round robin bystarting your own letter exchange!

The £ourier's Amointby Jan Wolbers

, either snow nor rain nor heat nor gloomof night stays these couriers from theswift completion of their appointed

rounds." This unofficial U.S. postal service mottomentions some of the challenges facing mailcarriers. Poorly maintained roads and heavy mailloads can still cause problems for rural carriers.During the early days of rural mail delivery inIowa, however, the "courier's appointed rounds"were sometimes nearly impossible to complete.Sagecoach DeNevyIN THE 1850s, mail was not deliveredrural residents.Stagecoaches,which also carriedpassengers, deliv-ered mail to postoffices throughoutIowa. These postoffices did not lookanything like thosein Iowa cities today.Since towns werefew in number,many country farmhouses also servedas stage stops andpost offices. Stage-coach drivers could feed and water their horses,give their passengers a chance to rest and deliverthe mail all in one stop.

Traveling between stage stop post offices was

directly to

Round5difficult because Iowa roads were often little morethan dirt trails across the prairie. Mud, snow andice often made travel treacherousif not impos-siblefor the horse-driven stagecoaches. NettieBolton, a young woman who lived at a rural postoffice near Danville, Iowa, described road condi-tions in her diary, written in the late 1800s. Sheused words such as muddy, sloppy, icy, drifted,impassable, and horrid to describe rural roads.

Storms caused big problems for stage drivers.Snow was the worst hazard. In 1867, Charles Halebecame lost in a blizzard while delivering mail to

Fort Dodge. The

4

i.

Mail carrier Emma Morr with her horse and buggy inSandyville, Iowa, ca. 1915. SFISI (Iowa City)

14 The Goldfinch

ground was coveredand Hale could notfind his way in thedriving snow. Afterwandering aimlesslyfor three days, heunhitched his team ofhorses and let themgo, hoping that theywould find shelter.Then he abandonedhis stagecoach andwalked. Hale spentfour days and fournights lost in the

prairie before finding a farm house where hereceived aid. He lost an ear and parts of both feetas a result of his ordeal. One of his horses froze todeath. The other was never found.

1

SPRING1998

Relzdz:94,

0--,3e ;SI:7,T,

A.A. Deo was one of Stratford, Iowa's first three mail carriers in 1903.SHSI (Iowa City)

Murra Fvee Devevy (RFD)MAIL DELIVERY IMPROVED by the end of the nineteenth century. Most ofthe small rural post offices were replaced by larger post officeslocated in towns. These post offices relied upon trains, not stage-coaches, for the mail. Rural free mail delivery (RFD) to Iowans livingin the country began in 1896. The first RFD route in Iowa started inMorning Sun. Four carriers were hired to deliver the mail. They eachtraveled an average of 23 mileswhich took about six hours by horse-back! Within three years after the first route began, 21 routes wereestablished in Iowa, serving nearly 12,000 farmers.

Ruth Hully Parrott was a young girl in the early days of RFD. Shegrew up on a Des Moines County farm. "The roads were awful," sheremembered, "but the mailman usually managed to get through onhorseback." The mail route was long and tiring, and Ruth's familyoften provided the carrier with a much appreciated break. "My dadwould meet him at the mailbox and invite him to eat lunch with us."

Despite the obstacles, rural carriers have always found away to complete their "appointed rounds." OD

17

n the early 1800s,the cost of mailing

a single sheet wasbased upon the distance thatthe mail was carried. Forexample:

Not over 30 miles-64Over 400 miles-25(PUnlike today, the postage

did not have to be pre-paid.The mail carrier collected theamount upon delivery.Collection was difficult;twenty-five cents was hard tocome by in those days!Sometimes people soldeggs, butter or farm produceto save enough money to paypostage due.

In 1845, postal rates werebased upon weight. For aletter weighing no more thanone-half an ounce (300 milesor less) 5(P. For a letterweighing no more than one-half an ounce (over 300miles) 10(P. The costincreased according to theweight.

Finally, in 1863, an ordinaryletter could be sent anydistance in the United Statesfor only 34P! That rate didn'tchange until postage went upto 44 in 1958.

3c

"" EXPED'ici?.

c

1; Goldfinch 15

By Millie K. Frese

hat you'll need:

a large feather that hashardened or dried oututility knife

scissors

straight pin

cutting board

bottle of ink

paper

Askan adultto help you cut offthe end of the largefeather. This cut formsthe point or "nib" of yourpen. You may also need totrim the feathers an inch ortwo up the stalk to give you \plenty of room to comfortablyhold your pen.

ntil the early 1800s, students learning to write with ink onpaper had to first learn how to cut their own quill pens.

Quill pens are mentioned in writings dating back to the sixth cen-tury A.D. and remained the principal writing tool for nearly 1300years. They can be made from the outer wing feathers of any bird,but writers preferred goose, swan, crow and turkey feathers. Gooseand turkey feathers were popular because the birds were raised forfood, making the feathers easy to obtain.

II

Clean out theinside of the feather

stalk with the straight pinif necessary, being careful

not to crack the nib.

3 Cutting the end of the nibat a slight angle will make iteasier to use. Lay the quill facedown on the cutting board.

Trim it like this or like this ifif you are right- you are left-

handed handed.

Experiment with differentangles until you find one

that's comfortable.

Art by Mary Moye-Rowley18

Cut a small slit inthe nib to help controlthe ink flow.

5 To write withyour quill pen, dipthe nib in ink,gently wiping itagainst the insideof the bottle toremove excess.Too much ink onyour quill resultsin blotchy hand-writing.

74s you write, your nib will wear down. To"sharpen" your quill pen, repeat steps 1-4. Earlyscribes had to recut their pens frequently tomaintain a sharp edge and neat lettering. Theyused a special tool called a penknife.

Through the1700s, inventors experi-

mented with materials from tortoiseshells to precious stones to create pen nibs thatdidn't require recutting. An English engineerpatented the first steel pen point in 1803. Use ofthe quill pen declined rapidly,although the new metal nibsstill had to be dipped in ink.

In 1884, Louis Waterman of NewYork patented the first practicalfountain pen. It contained a reser-

voir to hold ink and a mechanism tofeed the ink smoothly to the nib. Thefountain pen remained the chief writ-

ing instrument in the Westuntil ball point pens wereintroduced after WWII. Felttip pens were introduced inthe U.S. in 1963.

.19

re you someone who freezes upafter penning the salutation? Do you cringeat the thought of writing thank-you notesfor all those birthday gifts you received?No matter what writing instrument youselect, letter writing can be fun. The moreyou practice, the better you'll get atexpressing yourself on paper. Soon you'llenjoy the pleasure of describing your activi-ties, thoughts and feelings in words. Yourfriends and family will enjoy your letters,and you may get to know yourself a littlebetter in the process of writing.

Wou don't know

where to begin?That's easy! Justwrite the way youtalk. Do you live faraway from your grandparents?Tell them about that new trumpetyou lugged home today and your firstattempts at playing real music. Write to afriend who moved away and describe yoursubjects, teachers and classmates. Tell aboutthe funny thing that happened on the play-ground last week. Ask lots of specific ques-tions that show the recipient you're interest-ed in her lifethat helps generate a speedyreply! Remember to number your pages.Once you get going, it's hard to stop!

xchanging letters with far-awayfriends and family members keeps relation-ships growing when you don't see eachother very often.

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collection of letters exchangedbetween Laura Ingalls Wilder and

er daughter, Rose Wilder Laner-cle ma.< a:reA, .141,19-' are housed in the Herbert Hoover Presi-

cm, ,.alt.

itat

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dential Library in West Branch-almostby accident.

Rose wrote a biography of Herbert-4/71-10over in 1920. After her death in 1968,

the presidential library wanted her papersbecause of her connection to the Iowa-bornpresident. When her "adopted" grandson-

Laura and Roseexchanged many letters asLaura wrote and Roseedited the Little Housebooks. Laura also wrote toher sister, Grace, tosharpen memories of herpioneer girlhood.

18 The Goldfinch

Charlottesville, Virginia, attorney RogerLea MacBride-agreed to donate her papersto the Hoover Library in 1981, DwightMiller, the library's senior archivist, visitedCharlottesville to collect the materials. Asan afterthought MacBride asked, "Do youwant her mother's papers, too?"

Having the famous mother-daughterduo's papers has opened up a new audi-

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"You must takeinto account the actualdistinction between truthand fact," Rose wrote toLaura on January 21,1938. Facts, she said, areinfinite in number. "Thetruth is a meaningunderlying them; you tellthe truth by selecting thefacts which illustrate it."Rose helped Laura see thatshe could convey the truthof her pioneer girlhood evenif she didn't include all thefacts.

SPRING LETTERS & LETTER WRITING by Millie K. Frese,

ence for the library, Miller said. ,poyer's on------takeriiVfar-y--almg in the story as she should be ifletters and papers are the only collection re-searchers access more often.

Time has yellowed the pages Laura penned toRose in her neat, Palmer method handwriting.Laura described ordinary things: weather condi-tions at Rocky Ridge farm, making curtains, her andher husband Almanzo's health, money, politics, andrecipes for fancy sandwiches she planned to serveat a club meeting. In some letters Laura thankedRose for gifts; in others, she scolded her daughterfor not writing soon enough.

"The long, involved correspondence was aboutthings the two would have discussed over thekitchen table if they had been together," Millersaid.

Laura's letters to Rose also trace the origins ofthe Little House books, and the sometimesagonizing process of writing them.

In a letter to Rose dated February 5, 1937,Laura wrote, "Looking through my desk yester-day, I found a book Ma made of writing paper.When I put them in there I couldn't bear to readit, but I am having to live over those days with Paand Ma anyway, so I did. Ma had written some ofher own poetry in it and copied some that sheliked. And Pa had written two songs..."

Perhaps digging through some of her child-hood memories made Laura sad or homesick forher family and pioneer days long gone. Laurastruggled to convey the truth about difficulttimes her family faced without overwhelming herstories with tragic details.

In December 1937 Laura wrote of her dilemmaabout what details of Mary's illness to include asshe started By the Shores of Silver Lake. "I can't

4 21

she were not blind. She would not fit in. A touchof the tragedy makes the story truer to life andshowing the way we all took it illustrates the spiritof the times and the frontier," Laura wrote.

"Besides, if it had not been for her blindness,she would have been the school-teacher insteadof me. I never would have. I hated it, and mycharacter in the story would not have developedinto a teacher. Mary had the measles in Burr Oakand the illness, they called it brain fever, thatcaused her blindness was the effects of themeasles."

In her books, Laura doesn't write of the year herfamily spent in Burr Oak, Iowa. "When we leftthere was not money enough to pay the lastmonth's rent and feed us on the way back toWalnut Grove," Laura wrote in a letter datedMarch 23, 1937.

Rose, a respected journalist and writer, was hermother's editor. Miller describes Laura as beingsimilar to a landscape artist. "She painted sweep-ing pictures," Miller said. Rose sharpened details,descriptions and added the dialogue. "Writingdialogue was hard for Laura, but came moreeasily for Rose."

"Be careful with the copy of Hard Winter,"Laura wrote on May 23, 1939. "I mean don't loseit...it is the only copy." Laura hand copied herwork before sending it to Rose. "I expect you willfind lots of fault on it, but we can argue it outlater."

Photos courtesy Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, West Branch. Letters reproduced andquoted with permission of the Roger Lea MacBride Estate, whose assistance we acknowledge.

The Goldfinch 19

Histor \<,---- (

Story by Sarah FresePhotos by Millie Frese

me WE WALKED through the'N. 1 door marked "Authorized

Personnel Only" My authori--1 zation: I'm on special assign-

ment as History Detective for--I The Goldfinch. Mary Evans,

education specialist at the Herbert Hoover Presi-dential Library, led the way into a room with rowafter row of shelves. Each shelf was lined withgray boxes. Security cameras mounted in theceiling watched us from all directions.

3 Why does it feel colder in here?

The temperature is 63 degrees, and thehumidity is 58%. Old paper is highly susceptible tomold. Higher temperatures and humidity willcause mold to formor to reactivate.

(( a What is in all of these boxes?

ic The Hoover Library holds more than 160v

major collections of letters, papers and diaries.There are no objects in the archiveonly papers.Most pertain to Herbert Hoover, his contempo-raries, political associates, colleagues and friends.The gray boxes, called Hollinger boxes, arespecially made for archival storage. Most paper

History detective Sarah Frese,10,explores the Hoover Library Archive.

contains acid and will slowly destroy itself. Theacid-free boxes and the way the papers are storedwithin preserve them. Laura's and Rose's paperstogether occupy 30 linear feet.

'PA Why are there sprinklers on the ceiling?Wouldn't water ruin the documents?

Specially trained people can dry out wetdocuments. But fire consumes paper. The docu-ments would be gone forever if we could not putout a fire.

Evans carefully removed a tablet from one ofthe boxes. Writing covered every page from edgeto edge on both sides. There was even writing onthe back cardboard cover! On the reddish cover

20 The Goldfinch dItp

was the title, "The First Three Years and A Yearof Grace."

Now it was Evans' turn to ask a question: "Doyou know what you are reading?"

"It's one of Laura's books!" I answered.The manuscript I held was not published as a

book until after both Laura and Rose died. Thelast book in the Little House series, it was retitledThe First Four Years.

"It tells about sad times in Laura's life," Evanssaid. "Maybe Laura wrote it as therapy. She neverintended it to be published."

-,-\\

Why did Laura write with pencil on tablets?

Laura did not own a typewriter. Some peopledescribed her as frugal. She didn't waste anyspace. When she finished writing each of herbooks, she mailed the tablets to Rose. Roseedited the stories. Sometimes Laura complainedabout Rose "running the stories through hertypewriter." She did not always like the changesRose made.

Why did Laura sign her letters Mama Bess?

c; One day an aunt, also named Laura, came tostay with the Wilders. Having two Lauras in thehouse was confusing, so Laura went by Sess'anickname for Elizabeth which was her middlename.

adults, but publishers rejected it."She could have given upbut she didn't," Evans

said. "Even though she was more than 60 yearsold, she decided to try something new."

No one had ever written a series of books forchildren before. But Laura did it, expanding eachchapter of Pioneer Girl into a book for kids. Thefirst, Little House in the Big Woods, was a hugesuccess. It won lots of awardsand generated aton of mail.

"That's when Laura and Almanzo bought thebiggest mailbox you have ever seen," Evans said."A kindergartner could have crawled into it!"Kids wrote to Laura demanding to know whathappened next.

What happened next is...HISTORY!

Little House in the Big Woods was not Laura's Mary Evans, education specialist at the Herbertfirst book. "Did you know that her first book was Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, talksa flop?" Evans asked. Laura wrote Pioneer Girl for to The Goldfinch history detective.

The Goldfinch 21

ourth-gradestudents atWest Liberty

Middle School aremaking friendsthrough letter writ-ing. They write lettersto students, staff, andfaculty of the Univer-sity of Iowa in IowaCityKarina Camarillo, UI

student, coordinatesthe exchange forOpportunity at Iowa,a university organiza-tion committed tomaintaining diversityon campus. The penpal exchange pro-vides elementarystudents with positive role models. It helps keepthem interested in school and gets them to startthinking about college.West Liberty students and university pen pals

filled out information sheets about themselves.Camarillo then paired pen pals, matching inter-ests such as sports, hobbies or food. The pen palsexchange nine letters throughout the school year.

"The letter format is really kind of free-style,"Camarillo said. "That way kids can write about asmuch or as little as they want. They can writeabout anything."

Fourth-grade teacher Belita Kruse hands MariaZamora a letter from her University of Iowa pen pal.

22 The Goldfinch

For those who can't think ofanything to write about, theprogram sets up themes ortopics for every letter. Penpals may write about whatthey like to read, favoritemusic or movie, or theirfamily and friends.

Maria Zamora, 10, has asimple definition of what thepen pal program is all about."You learn about them andthey learn about you," shesaid.West Liberty teachers like

letter writing just as much asthe students.

"It enhances all languagearts skills, all the writingskills," said Nancy Ekwall,who teaches fourth grade.

"Sentence structure, capitalization, punctuation."The pen pal program complements a letter

writing unit in West Liberty's fourth-grade cur-riculum. Ekwall's class makes letter writing forthe program a part of the regular school day."So many people communicate through e-mail

now, that letter writing could become a lost art,"Ekwall said. "I just feel it's important to keepthose actual writing skills."

"Society's changing so much, even handwritingskills soon will be obsolete," predicted BelitaKruse, a fourth-grade teacher who also acts as

24

01-bp,

LETTERS & LETTER WR IN

the program's mail carrier. Letters from UI penpals are sent to Kruse who then distributes theletters to eager young readers.

Camden Hahn, 9, likes to take a break fromhandwriting sometimes and type letters on thecomputer. However, technology has some disad-vantages.

"The computers are sort of hard because youhave to look for the letter you want," said YvetteAguero, 10.

Some students have written letters before theystarted the program and others haven't. Agueroand Zamora both write to family and friends inMexico. In addition to her university pen pal, 9-

year-old Kayla Wiele has a pen

Yvette Agueroholds a photoof her penpal.

pal outside ofIowa. Having pen pals some distance away is adefinite plus in Kayla's book.

"I like it because you can talk to other peopleabout stuff that you can't talk to your best friendsbecause they might tell other people," Wiele said.

5

Marvin Loya writesto his grandmother.

Jason Feldman, 9, said the best part of having apen pal is getting letters. Hahn agreed."I like to find out what they say," said Hahn.Marvin Loya, 9, knows that what's written in

letters can become history."Letters by famous people a long time ago might

tell history, or letters you got one month ago orone week ago," Loya said.Courtney Aber, 9, suggests where to look for

history in a letter."Sometimes they put a lot of good news in the

middle of the letter," Aber said.By looking at the date, address, and content of

letters, everyone agreed that letters are a goodway to explore history.This is the second year that West Liberty has

participated in a pen pal exchange with theUniversity of Iowa. The school has about 80students involved in the program. The universityalso has pen pal exchanges with Grant WoodElementary in Cedar Rapids and Lincoln Elemen-tary in Waterloo. OD -story by Lin Ly

-photos by Matthew J. Palmiotto

The Goldfinch 23

LO ng

by Millie Frese

ogan Maguire studied his ruddy image in thedistorted mirror glass. A flickering lamp cast eerieshadows on the wall. He dipped his hands into thebasin on the washstand, splashing his face with icywater. It stung, but he barely noticed.

Today, Logan and his parents would leave forAmerica. They would leave behind their posses-sions (there wasn't much, Logan thought), theirhome (it wasn't really their home anymore sincethey'd been unable to pay the rent) and their familyand friends.

Saying goodbye to Liam, his best friend, washardest of all. They promised to write, but Loganknew this was unlikely. Paper, envelopes andpostage stamps cost money neither of them had.

Perhaps Logan and his family would leavebehind the hard times, too.

The Maguires hadn't seriously consideredleaving Ireland until the letter from Quinn arrived:

Dear Uncle Richard,You must leave Ireland at once and sail for

America. I have settled on rich farmland west of theMississippi River in Iowa territory. The work ishard, but the land is ours!

24 The Goldfinch

Father was accustomed to hard work. He'dalways been able to earn a living. Before thepotato crop failed and he couldn't find work.Before people in their village began to starve.

Could sunrise in Iowa be as beautiful as it ishere? he wondered as they waited to board theAmerican ship docked in the harbor. Logan pulledhis journal out of his knapsack. The pages wereso crisp, his new pen sleek. And there was awhole bottle of ink! He wanted to capture thismoment and take it with him. All of the beauty,anticipation, mystery and sadness spilled onto thepages as he wrote. Logan struggled to find wordsto say goodbye to the only home he'd ever known.

Mother taught Logan to read and write whenhe was very young. Father didn't think formal

/

-

schooling was necessary. "A strong back and thewillingness to work hardthat's all a man needsto survive," Father asserted. Logan wanted somuch to learn everything, to be a writer. A poet.Father scoffed at Logan's desire. "You can't eatwords," Father said whenever Logan spoke of hisdreams.

That's why these gifts stunned him so. Maybethe hard times had convinced Father that strengthalone was not enough.

"This is a time for dreaming," Father said as hehanded the journal, pen and ink to Logan. "Fornow, dreams are all we have."

Logan decided to write every day as though hewas talking to Liam. Then his friend wouldn'tseem so far away.

'

Septentber 17, 1846

Dear Liam,

We have been at sea for nearry two week:5,

though it seems like much longer.Storms over the

Atlantic toss our ship fikf driftwood. The sky is

gray and the water is gray... Sometimes it is

impossible to discern where one ends and the

other begins.

your Yriend,

4ogart

September25, 1846

Dear Liam,

Land is nowhere in sight. I hold onto mydreams, but cannot control my stomach.Everyone on this vessel- suffers fromseasickness. Occasionallywhen the weatherallows, passengers crowd the deck to breathedeeply of the salty sea air. Below deck it is sodark and stuffy. you shout- d see the rats! Eventhe rodents turn up their noses at the foodserved to steerage passengers on this ship.

Ever your Seasick Friend,

Z.*RIgn

f

uctonerl, 1846October 10, 184

year Liam,We are growing accustomed to fife at sea. Every day we speak to othersbound for territories west of the Mississippi River, which some people calf"The Father of Water." That seems a strange name for a river when we areacfrift on a merciless ocean! Everyone clutches fetters from family who arealready settled in America. Some say the best route to take is to disembarkinPhiladelphia thengo by train to Pittsburgh then over the Ohio River to themouth of the gtdississippi. Then to St. Louis. Then to Burlington in Iowa.Others say the best route is to go to New Orleans then up the Mississippi. Butthat means more time at sea, so I hope we will travel through Philadelphia.

9rour gt&u, WorldNavigator,

Dear Liam,

Yesterday was a disaster. While on dec,

writing to you, the ship suddenly lurched

tipping over my inkbottfe and spilling even

precious drop! I'm ashamed to say that Isobbed like an infant. Imagine a 12-year-ofc

boy sobbing over spilt ink But then a mirac

happened! A sailor showed me how to coffee

soot and mixit with honey, which hegave n

from his own rations. Se said he learned thi

on a voyage to China. To write with this pa.

one thins it with water to the right consister,

yours With Soot-blackened Han

40,4

Art by Mary Moye-Romiley

October 17, 1856

Dear Liam,

(We have landed in America! It is so

good to stard on solid ground.

Your Laid-loving Comrade,

.--

gOvembel 5' "56

Logan looked up from his now-tattered jour-nal just as Father burst through the cabin doorin a swirl of snow.

"A letter has arrivedfor Logan!" Father'svoice boomed.

Logan carefully opened the letter which wascleverly folded to form its own envelope.

94)e traveledthe Ortio and gvassissippi

Riversand

Dear Liam,

are now in Burlington.Quinn

is to meet us in

gyfuscatinenekt week; 'We will arrive before

him

if tbe mad weatherholds. 9-fer

Wishin.gYou Were

e

to Ole 'The Tatherof Water,

Loa-,t/

Dear Liam,

November 24, 1846

'We are comfortably settled in Quinn's

fog cabin in Cedar County. yesterday

Father and Qiiinn finished building a

lean-to on the side of the cabin to help

make space for us. This morning nearly a

foot of snow covered the ground. gvfother is

making stew over the crackfing fire. Quinn

laid up enough provisions to get us all

through the winter. Se says this is the

country for a poor man. If you are waling

to work, you will not starve. By next year

at this time, we will own our own (and, too.

Think of itt

01A\o

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Logan hugged his father and mother andcousin, then hugged them all again. This trulywas a land of miracles.

The Goldfinch 27

lara Hinton grew up in Hedrick, Iowa. When her mother died in 1902,Clara's family left their farm to live near her grandparents in town. Only

eight at the time, Clara helped her father keep house and care for her fouryounger siblings. Letters were a part of Clara's everyday life not justbecause she liked to write them but also because her father was a mailcarrier! Clara detailed letter writing and her father's job in her diary.

ly 29, 1906Ruth didn't know what papameant when. he said malequartette. She thought he meantmail ". She said 'BensonYoung 's?" Because he has amail route and. papa is hissubstitute.

August 20, 1906I wrote to Aunt Bell & to theBaptist Record. Pella Iowa.

August 2.9, 1906My letter ...wasn't printed inlast weeks Record. I sent it toolate I guess.

Feb. 23, 1907Wrote letter to Aunt glifaud &Yessie P.M. Papa anci Ruthwent to town. Ruth got a newBible. She went to Parrott's at3:50 and Edna telephoned overan d nothing would do but forher to stay an hour. We allwent to church. Bell absent,

The Goldfinch

g-fold ant. No one joined Ruthand I mailed the letter to Jessie.

March 4, 1907Papa went on the route forJacob Lindsey, Route 2.

March 29, 1907Papa on Oliver Wilcmc'es route.g-fe goes past Uncle Billy 's.

March 30, 1907Papa went to Grandpa Sints.We kids did too and then wenton to the train to Uncle Billy's.Papa went on route (Wilcoxs).Kinda chilly. Went to the pondetc. Helped- set out onions. Papagot there on the route about 3o 'clock, Ruth got in and camehome with him. We went to thetrain at 4 o'clock,and had towait at the station tiff 5 o'clock.P.M. We beat papa home.

April 29, 1907Gene & I are not at school. We

"P.alga.

Ai

Clara ca. 1905

are sick, I wrote to Sylviatoday. (Clara notes that she alsowrote to Aunt Bell and Auntgvfaud)

May 101 1907Got a fetter from Audrey erGladys Eastburn, and wroteone to Aunt Belt Gene got a'Birthday, Picture, postai card"

from Madge.

May 18, 1907Audrey & Helen Cecil were atBowlins. ghen Velna Deancame there. 'Then "eY HelenAudrey came to see me, and toldme 'Marie Baker saiti I hadn'tbetter write to you because youhad the chick,en pot."

June 5, 1907Uncle Billy had some fetterwriting tablet & envelopesprinted with "Lak,e 'View Farm.WC. Lotspeich, proprioter" onit.

/

Throughout her life, Clara saved over 2400 letters she wrote toand received from family members. Clara's family considered herthe family archivist and gave back letters she sent to them.Clara had 27 diaries and more than 1000 letters from friends inher collection. She thought writing was worth the expense ofpaper, ink and pencils. Why do you think Clara saved all thoseletters and diaries? What does that tell us about Clara? Youcan find answers to these questions and more in the diaryentries you just read!

Name the different mail routes Clara'sfather did. Which one do you think Clara'sfamily enjoyed the most? 3. Explain how Clara and her siblings beat

their father home on March 30, 1907.

®Why would Clara want to publish herletter to the Baptist Record? Why wasn't itpublished?

4'1

4

Diary perserved in SHSI archive, Iowa City

Why do you think Clara wrote letterswhen she was sick?

Why didn't Marie want to write a letterto Clara?

The Goldfinch %;2

Griffith B44tOt

by Diane Nelson

ffiriffith Buck solved ma04,16tduring his lifetime, but one/high school in the early I 3

t time I had no intention of getting

aliddtwati t;l'a ministrator. But I learned about/71/Ai-`:-/7fo$mjug_tq, ailswer his messages."r

Buck-tlid`nore than just learn about roses.Dup,i ,glii§-35-year career at Iowa State University

.dtve1opvd more than 85 varieties of roses. Inwas invited to take one of his roses to the1 Inventors' Week exposition at the patent

ashington, D.C.

n-y-,nd of plant breeding. I was going to be

his life. He was trying to complpen pal assignment. Althougletters, no one replied.

But Buck was persis-tent and curious. Whilebrowsing in the publiclibrary he picked up abook about roses and wasenjoying the color photo-graphs when he noticedfrequent references to"Pedro Dora Spanishname! After reading thatSeilor Dot lived inBarcelona, Spain, Buck wrotehim a letter asking if he knewsomeone who would like tocorrespond with an Americanstudent. Then he waited.

Finally, the long-awaiteddeveleP

ed.cls a rose tion," Buck said. "It

GriffithBuck ten

"I wanted todevelop a rosebushsmall enough for afamily garden, withroses that lookedand smelled likehybrid teas, andbloomed allsummer and intothe fall, but werehardy enough tolive many yearsin the Midwestand other coldclimateswithoutspecial protec-

envelope arrived. The letter inside wasfrom Pedro Dot's niece, Maria Antonia. Buckpassed the class, and he and Maria exchangedletters for several years. Maria's letters includednotes from her uncle.

"He got me interested in roses," Buck later3 0 The Goldfinch

was hard to think of myself as aninventor and my plants as inventions."Although Dr. Buck died in 1991, his roses live

on at Reiman Gardens in Ames, at the IowaArboretum near Madrid, and in gardens aroundthe U.S. They prove that you never know where aletter might lead you! OD

32PHOTO COURTESY OF MRS. GRIFFITH BUCK

GULDIE, MiPT PRE YOUDOING UP THERE?

HOW LONG HPVE YOU

l'EEN UP VERO

IT SEEMS Lli(E FOREVER.ITS NO USE. I NEVER

GET PNY MPIL!

&OLDIE, IF YOU

WRITE LEITERS,

YOU PRE MORELIICELY TO czi

LflE

osie knew just the game to get herfriend started. Rather than Goldie

writing a whole letter by himself, Rosie suggeststhe two of them take turns adding words to oneletter. By rolling a game die, they'll know howmany words to write during their turns. Forinstance, if Rosie rolls a five, she writes fivewords. Then it's Goldie's turn. Let's say Goldierolls a one. Goldie can add only one more word

Adapted from: Peggy Kaye's Games for Writing ,

to Rosie's sentence, or he can start a new sen-tence. Goldie and Rosie have fun playing thisgame-and soon their letter is finished.

You can try their game, too! Any number offriends and family members may play. Decidewho will receive the letter. It could be any friend,other relatives, or even The Goldfinch! You canstart your letter by telling about the game. WildRosie and Goldie predict it'll be a big hit!

Lin Ly3

The Goldfinch 31

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