Pen Trivia

Pen Trivia

Question: Many U.S. Presidents were prolific letter writers, especially our third president Thomas Jefferson. How many letters is it estimated that he wrote during his lifetime?

Answer: Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) wrote nearly 20,000 letters in his lifetime. Writing was so important to him his need for quills caused him to breed geese solely for that reason.

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Writer Quotes

“I saw that bad handwriting should be regarded as a sign of an imperfect education.” Mahatma Gandhi

“Writing letters… is such a swell way to keep from working and yet feel you've done something.” - Ernest Hemingway

 “A man’s penmanship is an unfailing index of his character, moral and mental, and a criterion by which to judge his peculiarities of taste and sentiment.” Lord Chesterfield

“The post office has a great charm at one point of our lives.  When you have lived to my age, you will begin to think letters are never worth going through the rain for.” - Jane Austen

 “Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company. “-  Lord Byron

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Writing Corner - Wild Bill Hickok Last Letter to his Wife

Wild Bill Hickok

Last Letter to his Wife

One of the beauties of a hand written letter is that they can live on long after the writer is gone. Be the reason sentimental or historical, reading a hand written letter from long ago packs an emotional response like nothing else.

James Butler Hickok, also known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a skilled gunfighter and lawman from the American old west. He was also a professional gambler between his law-enforcement duties. On August 2, 1876, Hickok was playing poker at Deadwood, in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory. He had a premonition Deadwood would be his last camp, and expressed this belief to his friends who were traveling with him at the time. Shortly before his death, he wrote a letter to his new wife, which read: “Agnes Darling, if such should be we never meet again, while firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name of my wife — Agnes — and with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore.” J.B. Hickok Wild Bill

Interesting Fact: Legend has it that before Hickok was shot he had lost all his money and had to borrow $50 from the house to continue playing. When shot, he was holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights, all black. The fifth card had been discarded and its replacement had not yet been dealt. In poker, a two-pair of aces and eights is known as the dead man’s hand. 

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