This 14-page letter from Dart is largely a love letter to the city of Charleston, SC. And it’s one that Dot will surely share with others because of his poetic descriptions of this old place. He is most certainly a one-woman man, but his heart is readily captured by a variety of cities.
Dart has just completed a four-hour walking tour of Charleston, the nation’s third oldest city, conducted by the director of the historical society. I’ll use his own words to adequately share the picture.
“They were four hours of living in the past. I had no idea of just how old and how interesting Charleston really was. Each corner we turned in the old section of town brought to view another ancient building, another delightful garden, another hidden alley unchanged for a hundred years. Churches were pointed out which have occupied the same plot of ground for two hundred and forty years! And one that has been in the same place for two hundred and sixty two years.
“…Peculiarities of architecture were pointed out as we rambled down the narrow cobblestone byways. A house that was occupied by a few weeks each by George Washington and General Lafayette was shown us. We were told the tales of the history of the city since its founding in the 1670’s. We traced the course of the old walls, built in 1704 as protection against the French and Spanish. We learned to know some of the city’s pioneer citizens and to recognize their deeds. We saw their houses, and their carriage-houses and their servant’s quarters.
“We gazed upon a corner on which stood four modern-looking buildings, one of which dated beyond the Revolution, and all of which were built before the ‘Confederate War,’ which the guide so often mentioned.
“We saw the only Hugenot Church in the world. We were entertained in a powder magazine built by the colonists before the start of the eighteenth century.
“What a city! I know now why it looks like it could have been lifted from a novel by Dickens. … By the tales of our able guide, we saw Charleston as it was in the beginning, and all the time from then until the end of the ‘Confederate War.’
“We saw homes of pirates and of patriots. We saw the graves of both, lying side by side in a crowded, ivy-covered, quiet churchyard with headstones and monuments dated as early as 1710. We saw quaint courtyards grown very beautiful as the vines covered the scars of four wars.
“Tile and slate roofs are originals, with patches to cover the holes left by the wars, the fires, and the storms. Some of the homes we saw have remained in the same family for two hundred years, and the ground they stand on has remained under the same family name since the town was first surveyed… in 1683.
“Churches, churchyards, tradition-packed homes and gardens, old shops, cobblestone streets, uneven sidewalks, little alleys that wind in among the tightly packed houses; all had their stories to be told.
“I have never been so enthralled by history or by the past. It was made alive today. One thing which makes it alive is the pride which the Charlestonians take in their beautiful past. …Those soft old buildings that have stood the tests of time, man and nature for so many years are still alive because happy people live in them. Little kids play in yards that have been played in by 12 generations of little kids before them. Young people have parties in street-level drawing rooms which saw their first parties when the happy people still owed their allegiance to the King of England. Fireplaces which burned wood cut in 1739 still burn wood (cut in 1945) to warm the same rooms…
“…A wall around a city makes it a very inflexible thing. Houses must grow up, instead of out. They grow to four stories high, one room wide and several rooms deep. They need each other for support. Their backyards, all now grown into beautiful gardens, form a square, entered by an arched gateway from each street… Even the back lots sometimes have a row of small houses and shops…
“We stopped in at one house which was built in 1739. The elderly lady who greeted us was the most sprightly, friendly and modern lady of seventy-five that I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. She was full of the devil, and the stories about her house and the anecdotes of the people who lived there since it was built by her family proved it. Her name was Miss Alice R. H. Smith and she paints and writes. Her sister, Miss Caroline Smith, as active as she, whom we also met, writes. They thoroughly enjoyed having 20 soldiers, sailors and marines coming through their house, and we, in turn, thoroughly enjoyed meeting Miss Alice and Miss Caroline. They spoke of each other in the same jocular way that the lady in “Having a Wonderful Crime” spoke of her sister: ‘My sister’s an old maid, and I never married.’
“Who says the past is dead? Maybe so, in places where people are ashamed of it. But here, they’ve kept it alive, and it’s a great heritage.
“These crooked cobblestone streets; these uneven, worn sidewalks; these buildings with their bricks worn soft, round and mellow and their wrought-iron ornaments still ornamental are part of America’s history. They’re the remaining bit of her early history that can still speak and sing. They are the spirit behind our literature and our folk songs. They are what Charleston lives to preserve as does nowhere else on earth.”
In other news, Dart likes the drawings of the silver pattern “Lyric,” and he hopes to see it in person at a silver store in town on his next liberty. Dot is not alone in wishing she could have the same companion for her upcoming train trip as she had on her last. He likes to dream of the day when they can make that trip together, continue up to Sunapee to collect the weenie roast debt, and share a Pullman car without creating a stir.
He takes exception to the description of her letters as “duller than dull.” He finds them to be quite lively. If she ever does write a dull one, he’ll only remember the bright ones.
His midnight watch never happened. Even though he was sleeping in his assigned bunk, no one could find him there when he was called to report, so he slept blithely on until 6:00. Maybe he’s lost so much weight off his skinny frame that he was absorbed into the “thick” Navy mattress.
He got two letters from Dot today and has answered one, but the other must wait for another time.
Dot’s weekend flew by! The only thing she accomplished was to help in the decorating of her room. She, Ellie and Joyce have turned their space into a cheerful, spirit-filled oasis of holiday delights. Only 2-1/2 weeks to enjoy it before leaving for the real holiday delights of home!
The whole house has been lazy today. Everyone just lounged around in their pj’s all day, listening to the radio. She feels a bit guilty, with all the studying she should have been doing, but she’s still not feeling “too brisk” and she’ll take any excuse she can find for getting out of work.
The girls have gotten silly, making it impossible to write. Besides, there’s nothing more to say except that she loves him and hopes to someday stop being his favorite fiance and become his favorite wife.
