A Letter in Winter
Art by Julius U. Engelhard
In the Mail
Japanese postcard, 1908
At Night
Art by Loretto Christine Löwenstein for Songs for the Night (1903) by Adene Williams. The two were friends in Washington, D.C.
Postcards Today
Bailey’s Photographers, Bournemouth, England.
On the Existence of Hell
“Nowhere does hate bring happiness; nowhere does self-seeking satisfy, wrong triumph, or falsehood bless. Hell, then, is potentially everywhere; that is, it will manifest itself wherever wrong, sin, discord, selfishness, exist; will begin to show itself precisely at the same moment that they show themselves.”
— The Rev. Samuel Calthrop, “Heaven and Hell” in Unitarian Affirmations (1882)
Terribly Important
“At about five o’clock in the afternoon, Truman and I would go into town to do the marketing. He would get the mail, which was terribly important to him, and we would sit in a bar on the piazza and read.”
— Pearl Kazin Bell, in Truman Capote (1998) by George Plimpton
Something to Ponder
“What is a better ticket to survival than being beautiful and rare?”
— Snake breeder Bob Clark, quoted in “Skin in the Game: Inside the frenzied business of designer ball pythons” by Rebecca Giggs, The New Yorker, February 26, 2024
Dues
“You know how the Klan is–they haven’t had any excitement for a long time. Unless they can stir something up, people won’t pay their dues and the Chief Dragon gets upset.”
— Sheriff Farish of Monroeville, Alabama, in Truman Capote by George Plimpton
Collect the Whole Set
Jaan Jaago (1887-1949), an Estonian, was a three-time winner of the World Wrestling Championship.