2 Letters

My post from yesterday was a verse penned by my Grandfather. Now it's today, and I have found two letters written by him. The first letter is the one from which came yesterday's post. I can't imagine anyone being interested, unless you're like me and enjoy looking intently into the lives of those who have lived before us, when our culture and society were a bit different. Let me just say that when I understood the gospel, at age 16, and said "yes" to all the truth of the gospel of Christ, Granddaddy and Grandmother had already died. I wondered about their salvation. I knew that they had lived with the highest integrity, were moral in character and were loving parents, leaving my Daddy with a safety and security that he passed on to me. I knew that they had been active members of their church, but I didn't know about their redemption. In my early twenties when I was living in Troy, AL for a brief time, I went to vote. I was with my Daddy, and a very old man who was a volunteer at the polls began to talk with us. It came to his understanding who daddy was, John Wilkerson's son. His face lit up, and we all began smiling. He had been in Granddaddy's Sunday School Class. He said, "If ever a man knew Jesus, Mr. John did".

The following letters are just a cameo of their daily lives in Troy, AL.


June 22, 1951
Dear Edith & Frank:
I thought of writing you a letter, but I am afraid I will not have much to say of interest to you. You know how we live & what we do - and our everyday life is not very exciting. I have a very comfortable office where I occupy my time about every day. I haven't used my fan there this year. I have a South East window thru which comes the prevailing wind. Later, however, I will need the fan. Nettie & Halbert left at 7 this morning for Montgomery. Nettie goes to her dentist(Foster) and to find a good chiropodist, if there is such a thing, in Montgomery.
We think & talk of you & your family all the time and hope to see you at not too distant a time. Frank, I am really writing this to send you a check which may come in handy. I have no doubt you can find some way to use it. We all always enjoy hearing from you and especially Mary Ann's comments on current events; We are getting anxious to see her again. We would like to see Mr. & Mrs. Northcutt again, and all the rest of the family also.
I am feeling pretty good right now. Am taking care of myself, and don't often run up & down the Court House steps two at a time. - Get enough sleep - Cook breakfast about every morning - (Halbert toasts the bread - but can do the whole thing)
Think how bad it would be if day was everlasting, & there were no night. - No rising sun, no morning dew, no morning glories, no smell of bacon & coffee - no new day with its chance & opportunity of starting all over again -
Much love & good wishes for both of you -
Father.
I told Nettie I was sending the check out of her money.

(Mary Ann is my older sister. She was 2 1/2 at the time. Halbert was my Daddy's oldest brother, a bachelor and lived with Grandmother and Granddaddy. Nettie was my Grandmother. It was short for Antoinette. Mr. and Mrs. Northcutt were my Mother's parents and lived in the same small town where we lived. Granddaddy was an attorney, hence, the Court House steps. He was in his very late 70's if not early 80's when he wrote this. In the following letter he'll mention his telescope. His hobby was astronomy. He and Halbert built an observatory. It was in their back yard and quite unique. Perhaps in another blog I'll post pictures of pictures of the observatory which they built...If I can put my hands on them. He also built one for Troy State University which, at the time, was a college. I find it interesting that in that letter he mentioned nothing about Mother about to give birth. She was 23 days from delivering me. Again, a different time and society rules were different. )

Next Letter - I was 4 days old.

July 18, 1951
Dear Frank:
I feel like writing you and Edith to join Nettie, who has already written you in expressing our congratulations and our joy over the coming of the dear Elizabeth. Isn't it wonderful that we can feel so free of apprehension and so confident of the outcome, these modern days of good hospitals and trained doctors and nurses. My mother & father lost 5 of their first babies. As a child I was almost raised on coffee with biscuit crumbled in it.
Well, of course I know there are a lot of happy Northcutts over there now. Nettie & I brag every day about Mary Ann & Elizabeth to our unfortunate friends. We can't wait to see & hear Mary Ann's comments on the new baby. I hope this hot spell will relax before you bring Edith & the baby home. I told Mr. Moll about the happy event & he nearly had hysterics. After Edith comes back, and we have a cooler spell of weather perhaps we 3 can run over & spend the day. Nettie & I wake nearly every day any time from 4 to 6 am. We could nearly get there before breakfast. For the past several years the heat of the summer has been pretty bad on me, - butI am learning to take it now, I believe, without any doctor's advice. We have a cool house. - especially a new electric fan for the front hall. I sit down, turn on the fan at night, put my heels on the cushion and read - & Nettie goes to see the neightbors. I am trying to be more considerate than that. - and we sit on the porch at night - at least until a mysterious form of small mosquitos begin to bite me. & nobody else & I have to go in.
If the money gets low again, let me know.
I had 20 women from the T.S.T. summer school around to look thru my telescope recently, & with Halbert's help managed to let them all look thru the telescope at the moon. One fat lady, standing up on the stand, stepped off into the air & hit the floor. She seemed to have no bones broken. & did not complain afterwards. I could bring my six inch over some time & let Mr. Northcutt look thru it.
With love to Edith & all the family.
Father.

(Mr. Moll mentioned in this letter was Daddy's musical mentor. He greatly influenced Daddy and was quite a figure in Troy, AL. He was Herman Moll.

That's Friday's Post. I have quite a connection to Troy, AL. That small town shaped my Dad, and many of his ancestors.

Again, Favorite things and what I like to remember. I knew my Granddaddy for a very brief time. He was a large figure to me, and seemed serious to me, as a small child. Still, knowing him through my Dad's stories, I feel a strong connection to him.

The End, for today.