Oh, You Kid!

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.” 

So said Socrates. And adults before and since. The truth is, the "yutes"* of today are really no different than at any other time in history.

As I was rooting around looking for something else, I found a packet of postcards that had been sent to my grandmother. They are dated from 1907 to 1911. I have no idea why she chose to keep these particular postcards. They are from different people, none of whom was my grandfather.

What the postcards do contain is youthful chatter that would not be out of place in a Twitter posting.

Although they lose something in the translation (the cursive writing in fountain pen is very cool), you'll get the idea:

"The other side"

"Hello you kid. How you was? Say could you come to Cridersville Sat eve? Drop me a postcard with the word yes Ha Ha. and I will be there. This is my best for you. Look on the other side. Well I will haft to close. S.W.A.K. as ever."

"Hello Ethel or I mean Jack. Ha! Ha! I haven't any dates in my book yet have you? I was sick when I got your postal with the sore throat. Are you coming down to the fair this week? I hope I will see you there. Well I'm glad your sorry for it. I'm not. Gill."

Back in the day, there were pithy sayings called "Ginger Snaps." They appeared, among other places, on postcards. There's one in the packet that says, "Usually when a man gets down to business he soon gets up in the world. -- Ginger Snaps." On the back, someone wrote, "Good to eat snaps." 

I wonder who these people were and what their lives were like. My grandmother would have been 15-19 years old when she received these postcards. She was 20 when she married. And 37 when she died of tuberculosis. I'm happy to have these small glimpses into her life, but sad to know so little else about her, especially her youth. Have any of the postcards she wrote to her friends survived? I don't suppose I'll ever know.

So what happens to our children's grandchildren when they go to learn about their grandparents? Will they be able to access old Twitter accounts? Will they laugh over the way the posts were written? Or, because there is so much electronic information, will the task of sorting through all of it be too tiresome?

Well, time will tell, and it won't be my story to share. For now, I'll go back and reread these treasures and enjoy a glimpse into days that have passed with youthful musings that will remain youthful for always.

*If you've seen My Cousin Vinny, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen it, you should.