PROWLER AUTOGRAPHS

Old Trunks did get a couple of old Prowler yearbooks from Lincoln High in Thief River Falls out to look at autographs. Not so much what they said:


Have fun this summer--See you this summer--don't do anything I wouldn't do, which gives you lots of room--Lots of luck--and other long messages written by the true friends of the era.

What old trunks was after was the style of handwriting, we were, after all, trained in the same way. I wanted to see the variation in style or, better said, the individualistic style for each unique person.

There are several entries of bubbly like script; rounded and perfectly shaped, there are no mixed 'long hand' and print mixed, although there are plenty of printed examples. Not all of the printed messages were from males.


The people that I knew to be left handed, like Frank M, write vertically. Others, who may or may not have been lefties, write a bit backwards. Mike, a leftie, must have been forced in Catholic school to write like a right handed person. His note is well spaced, although I did not intend to say anything about what is written, Mike's notes are truly an inspiration, even yet. He was a dear friend in some funky sort of way.


Patsy and Barbara S. have similar penmanship. It is well placed, almost deliberate. Both inspired, as I was/am by that funny looking 't' at the end of our cursive-written words by our mothers. Betty started an 'r' word with an old school 'r'. Perhaps it was another letter we both gleaned from parents.

I was looking at Jack's. The first letter of every work that goes up, like an 'l' or a 't' is a half an inch tall, whereas the letters that go down, like a 'p' or a 'y' are almost cropped. Chuck's strokes are just opposite. Did they attract?


What does it mean when all the letters we were taught to write with loops, are open? What about those people who closed their 'h', 'k', and others? Two members of one family both had open loops, does that mean they followed like careers? I would have to go back to the letters in elementary school to know which are open! I don't remember. Do you?

Any what about the people that made the tittle above the letter 'i' like a degree sign? Do you think they still do that? Many girls did. Why? Did you wonder?

What about those capital 'E' letters which look like Greek symbols mixed into the printing which is both upper case and lower case? What is that all about?

Old Trunks wrote a note with pen and paper to someone I spent hours with recently. When finished, it was a mix of rolls, hills and valleys. It was printing mixed with cursive. I had known for a long time that people that impressed me over the years had part of them in my penmanship. I have carried Daddy's lower case 'a', mother's lower case word ending 't', Betty's 'r' for beginning in 'r' words, and Mrs. Johnson, Rachel's teacher's 'j'. My grand parents are in there, mixed in the muddle of what is called penmanship. It is called beautiful to look at, impossible to read. But then, we can't all be Soozi's with penmanship that took maturity early and stayed that way. Admirable.

Loving thoughts for all who enter in.

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