William Horberg

Who But God

I find something moving or witty or original or nostalgic in almost ALL of the letters that I have opened and transcribed from The Box so far - but this letter from Springfield, Illinois in 1883 by the letter writer Nellie to her far away brother Doug on the occasion of the death of their Aunt Jane is one of the most poignant ones so far.

"Who But God can tell which one of us will be the next to go."

Amen, sister!

1883

Springfield, Jan. 10^th

My Dear Douglas 

            A cold wind & snowstorm is raging that would do credit to Kansas. I am sitting close to the stove trying in vain to keep warm. Kate is at school. I hope she will lunch at cousin Connie’s and come home in the storm. She is pretty well now has just retured from Chicago where she passed two pleasant weeks with George’s family. They all spoke of Uncle Doug. 

            Douglas I think I wrote you before Christmas that Aunt Jane was very ill & for some weeks she has been growing weaker and after lying in a semi-conscious state for four days she passed away to a better world. Where there is neither suffering nor sorrow. She died last Thursday & on Saturday she was buried. Her funeral was largely attended & everything was well arranged. George sent some beautiful flowers. Eleven carriages were required to accommodate the relatives alone. Aunt Jane will be so much missed. Her children are heartbroken & feel that they can never be reconciled to losing their tender loving Mother. I feel so sorry for them & for Mr. Ridgely. He has his eldest daughter Mrs. Dodge with him & we hope she will stay all winter. Mrs. Bea has gone home as her husband is quite sick. Poor Aunt Nancy feels as though her last prop is removed. She will miss her kind and thoughtful sister. She & Aunt Harriet are tolerably well though they are very very sad. Aunt Nancy was much pleased with your picture, which we all like. I sent the others to you, did you get them safely? Please let me know at once.

            Nonie Mimms is still here but will return to St. Albans in a few weeks. Howard Ridgely (Kate’s youngest brother) has been home from Detroit for some time. George, their eldest brother, has been very sick & has gone South for his health. Kate Webster says you owed her a letter & she won’t write again ‘till you answer it. She saw all her friends in Chicago & was well treated by every one – Ellie included. George took her to see the celebrated Mrs. Langtry. Little Em W. is still troubled with her eyes & is unable to go to school. Doug & I have several books for you that Erin sent us, also “Green’s History of the English People” that Cousin Bernie Ridgely gave me for you. When do you wish me to send them? If you have plenty of reading matter in hand I will wait awhile.

            Aunt Jane said to me several weeks before she died that she was glad to have seen & talked with you for she might never see you again. She talked so much about Mother and of their early life together. Let us hope and pray that we may all meet in that “better land”. Who but God can tell which one of us will be the next to go. We must try to be prepared to meet death at any hour. For “in the midst of life, we are in death.” 

            Dear Doug, I wish you did not live so far off in that wild country. Do take care of your health. Are you comfortable this winter?

            Write soon to your boring sister – 10005 S. 6^th Street            

            Nellie

            Have you had a cold Winter? We have.

Is this "Kate" who Nellie mentions here as having visited New York in 1883 and was taken to see "Mrs. Langtry" (the English actress Lillie Langtry who would move to America 14 years after this letter was written and become the famous 'Jersey Lil'), the same "Kate" whose belongings were being shipped out of the Dakota by Hallie J. Hall after her passing in 1910 in the letter I posted last week?

It seems likely.

Only twenty-seven years had passed, so Kate seems to have sadly died young. Like a puzzle of a thousand pieces, the portrait of this family's life and death at the turn of the last century as revealed in these letters starts to come gradually into focus.

Enjoy!

william

 

 

 

 

 

Chano Pozo Died For Our Sins

We are living in a golden age of animation.

Every year more and more animated films are made and the best of them are among the best movies being made each year. It is an interesting phenomenon and a sign of the times that the craft of storytelling, the ability to explore deep human emotions, to play with structure, tone, and in general be inventive and creative filmmakers is so much more available to those working with ink and pen and computer than most of what gets made today with real people in the real world.

Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon, and Despicable Me were the prime examples of this reality in the commercial world this year.

One of my favorite films of the year, The Illusionist, based on a screenplay by the legendary Jacques Tati, was a beautiful animated work that has also been nominated for an Oscar but is playing to a much smaller art house audience as a foreign film.

Now we can add to those titles another piece of animated magic: Chico and Rita by Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba is a Spanish production of an old fashioned love story that spans decades and features two wonderful characters, a jazz piano player and a singer who meet and fall in love in 1940's old Havana and, in the manner of the bolero, live a lifetime of heartache and separation and regret until their reunion in Las Vegas many years later.

The drawings are spectacular and the original music by 87 year old Bebo Valdes is to die for as Chico travels from Cuba to New York to meet the zoot-suited bad boy percussionist Chano Pozo and play with him and Dizzy Gillespie and other be-bop luminaries.

I can't wait to see it again and to get the soundtrack.

Watch for it!

Enjoy!

william 

 

Wild Kingdom

It was a cool, crisp day full of golden sunshine that dappled the alpine heights as our family set out on our recent nature walk and wild animal adventure!

It didn't take long for us to spot a Fisher, perched on his log, seemingly unperturbed by our presence.

Hard to believe we could get so close to this family of Elk. I don't know who was more startled by their sudden appearance from the bush, they or us. Nice set of antlers!

Natalie thought this Bobcat was a real cutie, but I reminded her not to get too close to this big and wild kitty cat.

It was a long walk to the coast but it was worth it as we got to visit this family of California seals basking on their rocky perch and enjoying the spray of the sea.

Elsa was a bit tired to push all the way north to the Arctic Circle, but Diego insisted and we were all rewarded by this amazing view of a family of Walruses perched on their icy flow. 

I've always loved the old dioramas at the Natural History Museum.

Even without animation or visual effects or video or all of the paraphernalia and gadgets that museums need these days to spice up their exhibits for the viewing habits of a younger, digital generation, the kids seemed to appreciate the care and artistry that went into creating these natural handmade tableaus.

Enjoy!

william

Perspective

We all need it. Yet struggle to maintain it sometimes. This image which I saw on a recent visit to the Planetarium with the kids seems like one of the all-time great reminders of how things that can feel huge and important and overwhelming to us can also be seen as insignificant when viewed from a different perspective.

This being perhaps the ultimate perspective.

While we enjoy this time off for the President's Day holiday, let's use it to put things in perspective!

Enjoy!

william

Hattie J. Hall

The correspondence in the box so far has ranged from as far back as the 1870's all the way up to the 1960's.

Here is a letter from 1910, apparently from New York City. Although I couldn't find an envelope or postmark, the writer makes reference to the Dakota apartment building, where Rosemary's Baby was set many decades later, and where John Lennon would meet his tragic end later still.

                                                                                254 W. 78^th St.

                                                                                April 3, 1910

My dear Mr. Webster,

No doubt, Mr. Benedict has written you that we have looked over all of dear Kate’s belongings that were at the Dakota and the trunk will have reached you ere this does. I went over there last Monday evening at Mr. Benedict’s request and again the next evening and as far as I was able sorted the things that had belonged to Kate there were a good many boxes filled with lining & pieces etc that I knew you would not wish sent and those things were sent here and I will sort them here as there is no hurry about them, but the trunk I packed with such things as we thought you would care to have, in fact there were some things I should not have put in but Mr. Benedict thought best to send. I’m sure there is nothing left here that you would care to have. I hope the pictures were not broken. I had some doubts about packing them as I did but there seemed no other way. Everything that Kate had put away was done so carefully and beautifully, it seemed wicked almost to disturb them. It was the first time I had been in the Dakota since last Spring and I missed those that had gone more then I can tell you. How the weeks and months fly by though. It will soon be time for us all to go away for the summer and no doubt you will be glad to get to Green Lake – it is a great rest to one’s mind to know just where they are going instead of finding a different place each year. We have no place as yet and it is quite a difficult question, more so each year. Hoping you are quite well and with love to you and yours,

                                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                                                    Hattie J. Hall

I hard a bit of a hard time deciphering the handwriting on this one, and also deciphering the relationship between the writer and the recipient and the nature of the event she describes. In the end, I came to read it as a very sad letter in which the writer has had the job or taken the personal responsibility of going to this abandoned lifeless apartment in the Dakota to pack up the belongings of a close relative of the recipient, a Mr. Webster.

Was "Kate" his wife? His daughter? Has she died or only "moved on"? There is something mournful about "I missed those that had gone more than I can tell you", but because it is a plural reference perhaps it is just a family that has moved away and left behind their possessions to be shipped to them later?

What is your interpretation of Hattie J. Hall's slightly enigmatic letter? 

Enjoy!

william

 

Smilla's Sense of Snow

I love Natalie's sense of humor. It is an innate gift, like "Smilla's Sense of Snow".

She has a talent for creating cute characters and for simple gags and non-verbal storytelling and inventing surreal situations. We got her this book "Adventures in Cartooning" by my friend James Sturm who started and runs the College of Cartoon Studies in Vermont and she seems to have taken to the concepts like a fish to water.

This one might be called: 'Hey, did you hear the one about the hamburger, the ice cream cone and the little peas?"

But she calls it "Little Sandwich".

I love the befuddled expressions on the food when they are confronted with this stranger Carrot, and that his fellow vegetables, the little peas, are the ones who initiate the other's acceptance of him. And who is that mysterious hand who delivers the bag that puts the carrot in with these buddies in the first place?

Of course where Natalie treads, Diego, not always, but often, follows. Out of the blue the little man handed me his own drawing yesterday, and I was surprised to see him imitating the panel format and gag structure of a classic cartoon!

I have a feeling this one, which I think can be translated to - "Fred Lost In Soup" illustrated by Elizabeth Hocks - is inspired by one of the funny web videos he often googles and watches on YouTube. But the "2 Days Later" transition panel he created to the boy sitting at his desk and then standing up and yelling really cracks him up, and is a wonderful piece of sequential storytelling for a young boy on the autistic spectrum who is just figuring out time sequencing and cause and effect.

I love how Natalie and Diego's journeys can be so different but somehow they arrive at the same smiling place!

Enjoy!

william

Love In 3-D

This photograph by Weegee is actually titled "lovers-with-3-D-glasses-at-the-Palace-Theater-infra-red-1943.

Those 3-D lips must have been irresistible to our polarized young man! I wonder what movie they were (NOT) watching? I didn't know that they had 3D back in 1943, I thought it was a phenomenon of the fifties. Hmmm, any excuse for romance!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Enjoy!

william

Affectionate Sister Nell

Continuing our correspondence from the 19th century, today's post features a vernacular letter from sister Nell dated July 17th, 1878, writing to "my dear Douglas" (proving reader Maiz's guess about the identity of "Uncle Doug" in a previous post from his Parisian nephew to be correct) and continuing to round out the many branches of this diverse family tree!

New York July 17^th, 1878

My Dear Douglas

                        I ought to have written you before this, for your letters are so rare that I like to reply to them immediately. Will not neglect you again. Trust you are well & happy & that you will write me as often as you can for our thoughts are with you very often. I believe in my last letter I wrote you that Ned Lincoln’s father was very ill. He died on the 6^th of June, was buried from Boston a week later. I went with the children to South Egremont, Mass. where they usually spend the summer – a charming place among the Berkshire Hills. I enjoyed myself there very much. The children behaved very well & we had some pleasant walks & drives. I remained three weeks, when their Aunt Josie Lathrop joined them I returned to No. 55 W. 37^th Street a week since and shall remain here until the 6^th or 8^th of August when we look for the Lincoln’s return from Europe.

                        Kate has been with father on 14^th St. for once a week so I haven’t seen her often. She & Em started today for (Dighton?) to be absent two weeks. She – (Kate) – will return to Ills. about the first of September. She looks well & seems cheerful.  Had a delightful visit in Detroit where she received a great deal of attention. Kate passed a few days with George at Plainfield & will visit them again when she returns from D. We have had a fortnight of very hot weather, but it is now cool & comfortable. I read that the heat has been intense in St. Louis & other western cities may be dying of sunstroke. You must be very careful not to expose your self, aren’t you most ready to quit your Robinson Crusoe life and return to civilization? You are getting to be a regular hermit. Our relatives here are as well. Father as usual has Kate and I spent Monday in Elizabeth with Mr. & Mrs. Smith all well & apparently happy. They inquired for you. Aunt Nancy you know has been to (Gayette?) & made a pleasant visit. She seems to be recovering her youth. Did I tell you that our friend George (Hinton?) was traveling in Europe. He is such a fine young man.

                        I am quite alone in the house with the two girls but amuse myself with sewing reading visiting and do not feel at all afraid. In three weeks we expect Mr. L will be here after that I may take a little trip to Norwich, Conn. Whre Mrs. Earl & Fanny are keeping house. Perhaps until you hear from me again you had better direct to father’s address 239 W. 14^th St. I will however keep you informed as to my whereabouts. Hoping that you are well & prosperous and that you will write very soon.

                                                                        Always your

                                                                                    Affectionate sister

                                                                                                Nell 

To put things in perspective, 1878 is the year that Thomas Edison first patented the phonograph, Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion, was born and Gilbert and Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore" had its premiere in London. It is interesting to consider Nell's somewhat prosaic letter to her brother in this context, an almost pre-mass-entertainment age of quieter pleasures.

Enjoy!

william

Cousin Marion, 1878

Today's letter from a Cousin Marion writing from Washington, D.C. in 1878 almost reads like an American version of a Jane Austen novel, or perhaps something from Booth Tarkington, as Marion relates her concerns about a budding romance between a "Burt" and her house guest "Mary".

Washington, D.C.

August 5^th, 1878

My Dear Cousin:

                        I will begin a letter to you, writing between remarks for I am in midst of a social group and can not resist an occasional word. Papa is perched on piano stool, “glancing over” one of Chas. Reids novels ^ (Love me little, etc) Burt brought this evening to a young lady who has been with me since Saturday and with whom he is in “converse sweet” over the card table. Lil is bent double girl-like over her book and your humble servant is ditto over this sheet of paper which is held in the lap, laziness of same precluding use of desk which is upstairs.

                        Thanks, many and more for that vivid description & that charming pen portrait of that most charming individual – the grass widow! Her heroism (manifested in that stern resolve to resist the multifold attractions of “cow men”- of which I may believe you are not least? -) wins my admiration. Further description - though he left us and went outside, we quickly joined him and sisterly lecture has been delivered to deaf ears. Ears, I should say, for one on Mary’s side, was open to every sound – proceeding from her lips.

                         I can gratefully say that mosquitos are few and far between down here. You poor boy! Why don’t you leave that wretched camp for at least the warm season. Don’t examine your food then. “Where ignorance is bliss”, etc. I like very well to read letters from you so write often even if pencil must be used. I like pen writing best, however, because it keeps longer.

                         We have had two grand storms recently, the last was today. The water fell in torrents – in sheets, so thick we could not clearly distinguish objects across our narrow street – and then hail came – seems as if every window pane must be shattered, meanwhile peal after peal of thunder, and lightening flashes. I enjoyed it! We were just about baked, and the earth needed water. Don’t you admire this penmanship? What is that pretty little rhyme? “My pen is poor my ink’s not pale – this string of words will never fail”? if I don not break it soon. I will only mention in brief a delightful trip to Great Falls by canal.  Climbed highest peaks, tumbled around involuntarily, wrote on sand at water’s edge and had gay times generally. Have been to two picnics and on one other excursion since writing. Expect to go to Arsenal Friday. Will notice things and tell you about every thing I see, in next. This is more a talk than a letter.

                        Burt and Mary on front porch. I must join them. I read your letter to papa. He was pleased to hear from you. Hopes, as we all do, that you will succeed in life. Burt and all send love. My love to all your home folks.

                        Good night. God guard and bless you. Be a good boy.

                                                                         Cousin Marion

I could not find any information on a 19th century novelist named Chas. or Charles Reid. But I did locate a Charles Reade, who seems to be the author that Marion is referring to:

This Reade is the English author of Love Me Little, Love Me Long (1859) and is described as - "a man of what one might call penny-encyclopaedic learning. He possessed vast stocks of disconnected information which a lively narrative gift allowed him to cram into books which would at any rate pass as novels. If you have the sort of mind that takes a pleasure in dates, lists, catalogues, concrete details, descriptions of processes, junk-shop windows and back numbers of the Exchange and Mart, the sort of mind that likes knowing exactly how a medieval catapult worked or just what objects a prison cell of the eighteen-forties contained, then you can hardly help enjoying Reade."

I just love Marion saying: "this is more a talk than a letter".

What a way with words this writer had, you can feel her personality in every cursive stroke of her sweeping pen!

Enjoy!

william

A Most Unusual Concert

Last weekend our family had a chance to attend a unique and wonderful event - the west coast premiere of the Music for Autism concert series, which was sponsored by and took place at The Help Group in Sherman Oaks.

Diego had never been to a concert, so he wasn't too excited when we proposed the idea to him. Typically, we like to help him transition by explaining things in great detail beforehand to him, and getting him used to the idea. So we got there early and as one of the first families to arrive he had a chance to check out the place and get comfortable with this new environment.

Big sister Natalie is the most important person in Diego's life and his best friend and teacher, so having her along for the experience already got him in the mood to have a good time.

It was billed as an "interactive" concert, so we weren't exactly sure what to expect, but I've been to a few Harlem Globetrotter games in my day, so I had visions of flying trombones and tambourines on a yo-yo string!

Two amazing musicians, violinists Searmi Parks and Sarah Thornblade of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, volunteered their time and talent and hearts to come and play for this most unusual and most spirited audience. 

The rules laid down for the assembled families were the opposite of any classical concert I've ever attended.

1) When the song ends, NO CLAPPING! Sudden outbreaks of applause tend to startle autistic children. Instead, we were taught to show our appreciation by raising our hands and bringing our fingers down to our palms like we were squeezing a small ball, in a form of SILENT CLAPPING that was somehow even more demonstrative than the real thing.

2) When the musicians are playing, ANYTHING GOES! The kids were encouraged to participate and express themselves in any form they chose, from singing to dancing to marching or any other idea they could imagine!

It only took a downbeat and the first few bars of Mozart for these two gents to leap to their feet and get this party started!

Diego didn't get it at first, but once he saw those kids jump up and dance, he was like a born-again in a revival tent, and he immediately got out on the dance floor and convinced our host and emcee to help lift him up for a series of high leaps into the air. Amadeus must have been smiling up there to see his music so physically celebrated!

Our unflappable violinists took it all in stride and rather than being distracted by the whirlwind of activity flowing around them, they seemed to feed off it and take that Baroque bounce to a whole other level!

Part two of the concert had the kids learning to conduct, and it was a thing of beauty to see their attempts to keep time to the music - a 3/4 Waltz no less!

This young Toscanini was determined to make sure they stayed on beat so he got right up in front and held his little stick up to conduct his own symphony of sound.

There was not a dry eye in the house as the joy and spirit of the music lifted even the most low-functioning or behaviorally-challenged kids into a place of liberation and transcendence.

The third part of the show was "Percussion Time" and the fact that I have no photos to share of that wild jungle explosion of ear-splitting rhythm gives you some indication of just how off-the-hook this concert, and these cool kids, got!

Thanks to the promoters of Music For Autism and to The Help Group and Searmi and Sarah for making such beautiful music together!

Enjoy!

william