Rose is red, Violet is blue
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Now I understand and honor you. Let us assist each other. Without letters I should break down. Accept help in the pure spirit it is offered to make you and the children more comfortable. Be ready to come when I can marry you. I will wait hopefully. Violet.Okay, Violet's not really blue, but the title worked so well after the entry about Red Rose that I couldn't resist.
No message: lost my handkerchief; feel well; off for Fannie's; love and trust you supremely. Violet.
I'm not really sure what to make of this correspondence, though. (I should add that these were written years before the more entertaining ad about Violet, so they are not the same people, alas.) Every line doesn't quite fit with the ones around them. Whose children is the first ad referring to? It sounds like this guy (the tone feels masculine to me, but who knows) has some illegitimate family on the side and now wants - or at least claims to want - to marry his mistress. But that seems kind of a stretch, especially because if there's some woman on the side with his own kids, why would he need to send her messages through the personals? Seems like he could just write her, like I speculated with handkerchief? It's a story that doesn't hold up. And honestly, I think it's probably something much simpler that I just can't figure out.
This may have something to do with my recent stress level and lack of sleep!
So, tomorrow - posting might be hard. If there's nothing in the morning, check back later...
Having trouble reading the ads? Click one to enlarge!
©2009 Pam Epstein
4 comments:
I think it sounds like perhaps he's a widower, unconvinced about remarriage. Or maybe he perceives something questionable about her character?
Either of those make as much sense as anything else!
Violet's girlfriend is married to a jailed, deserting, or abusive husband, and Violet is sending assistance until such time as she can ditch the lout and remarry. She may originally have been introduced to him as a widow, thus the need for him to understand and honor later. The love and trust is because he's trusting her to ditch the lout rather than to use his money to stick with a loser.
drwende, you know what, that is a very good explanation!
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