BRENDA writes:

Your grandfather’s letter was truly beautiful. For some reason it makes me think of a scene in National Treasure, where Abigail Chase is talking to Ben Gates about the language of the Declaration of Independence. She says to him, “People don’t talk that way anymore.” Ben replies, “No, but they think that way.” 

I have to believe that more people have the desire to express themselves such as your grandfather did in his Mother’s Day letter, but lack the language. So much of our communication has been reduced to sound bytes, snarky comments, and inappropriately drippy phrases. And I can’t imagine anyone cherishing an e-mail enough to print it out & save it!

Laura writes:

People still feel the way my grandfather did. But I don’t think they think that way.

A faithful reader writes:

Your grandfather referred to his home as “…the gay little place…”

Gay–what a beautiful word it was in 1917. With all the accompanying images of cheerfulness, laughter, love, devotion, togetherness. A beautiful word. In 1918.

Art F. writes:

A few months ago, I found a box of my grandfather’s letters from the front in WWI to my grandmother, circa 1918, along with amazing period postcards, including unused packages of postcards from Lourdes, Nice and Paris, as I recall.

Of course, the penmanship was immaculate, and the letters are remarkable.

I also have my father’s letters home from WWII, as well as my uncle’s yearbook from Army Air Corps flight school. Over one door at the school, a sign reads, “Through these portals pass the most dangerous men in the world.”

Yes, there was a day when American men considered themselves dangerous.

Stuart writes:

Thanks for posting the letter from your maternal grandfather – I really enjoyed reading it.

Kimberly writes:

Is it wrong to say that your grandfather’s letter to his mother is romantic? I read it about thirty minutes ago and I still have that “swept off my feet” flutter going on. I hope that my sons love me that much one day, and write to tell about it! Little bells jingling over his heart… oh! Adorable! But it’s a thing unheard of these days. I can hardly even imagine. Is this what we can look forward to as housewives that devote ourselves to our children? I already signed up, but put a star by my name! I want what your great-grandmother was having!

Laura writes:

Yes, it is romantic. But that was typical of Victorian letter writing. (My grandfather was born in 1889.) The Victorians are considered prudes, but when it comes to the verbal expression of affection and tenderness, we are the real prudes.

A reader writes:

Your grandfather’s letter is quite a contrast to the one in the women’s magazine. What a coarsening of expression shows up as women ape the worst behavior in men. 

A title for the younger generation, along the lines of “Baby Boomers,” could well be, to borrow an expression from the woman in Redbook, the WTF Generation.

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