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Monday, September 29, 2008

Remembering When

There was a time when writing was more than a hobby or a "job", it was both an art and a custom. Look back to the Victorian days when ladies spent time being schooled in the finer arts of etiquette, fashion, fine cooking, needlearts and keeping a regular and proper diary.

Envision refined ladies dressed in fine silks and satins with large dangling curls in their hair, sitting with their full skirts at a desk or bedside table scribing the days events. The ink well smells of oils that emanate the room, give the task an air of archival significance. The words written in most delicate hand writing style were composed in proper handwriting with upper and lower case rules observed, syntax to perfection, sentences in proper order, "i"s dotted and "t" 's crossed.

Poetry and superb prose described the days events along with the hopes and dreams of a young woman's life, the memories of a grand ole dame, and the secrets of both...contained on exquisite papers hidden under lock and key...only for the eyes of "Dear Diary".