The only question about handwriting styles used to be “Palmer” or “Spincerian”. Today, the question is whether children should be taught cursive writing at all – and that is a sad commentary on our culture.

During the trial of George Zimmerman, one witness took the stand and famously testified that she could not read the letter that she said was sent by her but written by a friend. The reason she gave when cross-examined? “I can’t read cursive.” Have we descended that low? Has the cold, sterile printed word replaced the smooth flowing character of cursive? Will the next generation be incapable of reading anything that doesn’t appear on the screen of the latest digital gadget? If Common Core Curriculum is allowed to take root, then the answer will be “yes”. Cursive writing is nowhere to be found in that indoctrination system masked as education.

It wasn’t until just a few years ago that I “rediscovered” cursive writing. Coming from a technical background, printed characters were the standard. One of my early jobs out of college was designing material handling equipment for the textile industry. At that time, drawings were done on paper, using a T-square, pencil, and drafting instruments. In college, we were taught exactly how to print in the Drafting classes, and that’s how it was done on the job.

The text on technical drawings was always printed in a very standardized style. Now, however, I try to use cursive writing whenever possible, and almost always with a fountain pen. I started by paying close attention to my signature, and then using that same care in notes and letters. Since I now make my living writing software, there is little room for cursive other than making notes to myself, but I still use it whenever I can.

Among the collection of home schooling books that we have for our grandchildren is the Spencerian Penmanship book.

A very dear friend of mine has a granddaughter who will be seven years old in a couple of weeks. I carefully selected her gift to be something age appropriate and that encourages girlhood from a Biblical perspective. I’ve written her a letter to include with her gift but I felt the need to share this letter with other young girls and their mothers.

Dear Sweet Hannah Grace,

Happy Birthday! Seven is such a wonderful time in a little girl’s life. You have already learned so many things but it’s just the beginning. There is a whole world full of wonders out there waiting for you to discover them.

For your birthday, this is my special prayer for you:
That you will always love God – He always loves you.
That you will love and respect your parents.
That you will love and protect your baby brother.

I know you may not understand all of this right now but one day you will. Do not be in a hurry to grow up. Ride horses, swim, sing silly songs at the top of your lungs, swing as high as you can on a swing, run, play, catch lightening bugs in jars on a summer night, spin around until you get dizzy, make daisy chains, share secrets with your friends and laugh until you get the hiccups. Hang onto the sweetness that every day of this precious time in your life holds.

I also want you to know that you are surrounded by family and friends who want only the best things in life for you and will always love you.

These activities might seem immature to some but they are the activities that filled my own summer days in the South when I was a little girl. I long to see my grandchildren experience these things for themselves.

Let’s stop encouraging our daughters (sons too, for that matter) to grow up too fast. Encourage them instead to do the things I wrote above to this sweet little girl. Help them to maintain their childlike innocence just as long as possible. For once innocence is lost, it can never be recovered.

Today, of all days, is when the Confederate flag should be proudly on display. We fly a large 4′ x 6′ Confederate flag (the “standard” flag is 3′ x 5′) year-round at our home. Today is when we will replace the now-faded flag with a new one, and respectfully dispose of the old flag that has served so well. It will be neatly folded, placed on concrete paver, and burned. Cremation or burial are honorable ways of disposing of a flag that is no longer in presentable condition. If burning or burial cannot be done for some reason, another way of disposing of a tattered flag is neatly folding it, wrapping it in something, and then placing it in a trash container. It should never just be tossed in the trash as though it were just a scrap of cloth.

For the past several years, we have hosted a Confederate Independence Day dinner for friends. Unfortunately, we had to call it off for this year due to my wife having surgery on her hand. Next year though, we will resume our annual Confederate Independence Day dinner.

When I was in high school, math was still taught using a slide rule. As I started college, the portable calculator was just starting to make its presence known. Only the wealthiest families could equip their students with the most basic of calculators (the rich kids always sat near the power outlets so they could plug their calculators in). The school had a “calculator room” where there were about a dozen keypads wired to a large unit (made by the Wang Corporation). Students had to wait their turn to use these calculators – or use the “old fashioned” slide rule (a.k.a. “slip stick”). The speed of change was incredible. By the time I graduated, battery-powered calculators were cheap enough to be owned by just about every student, and slide rules were quickly forgotten. In the span of just a couple of years, the knowledge of how to use a slide rule had disappeared from the public education system. Crude though it may seem, this is the technology that designed the Apollo program and landed men on the moon. It is what produced all the calculations used in the design of the Boeing 747. It is what was used to design every skyscraper and every piece of machinery up until the early 1970’s.

Without computers, the only way to design something to scale is to use paper and pencil and drafting instruments. In high school and college, drafting was strictly a paper design effort. Even several years out of college, my job of designing material handling equipment for a textile mill in North Carolina was done using conventional paper drafting. Later employment called for facilities design using AutoCAD software.

The skills that built our technological society are rapidly disappearing. I am among the last of the generation that used the pre-computer technology that has become little more than a curiosity in a museum. What would happen if something like the Carrington Event that happened on September 1, 1859 were to destroy the electronics that keep our world running? It has happened before, and at some point, it WILL happen again.

What can be done?

I have been collecting a few slide rules over the past few years, as well as instruction books to teach others how to use them. I recently purchased a fairly complete set of home schooling books, teacher’s guides, and workbooks from Keepers of The Faith. Included in the package is the complete set of McGuffey Readers, spelling, phonics, writing and grammar, a set of math books, and various other school books.

On a recent trip to the ECHO library, I made a list of various books that I thought one would need to rebuild at least some level of technology. When I got home, I searched through used book stores and added those books to my library. In some cases, they were only available in PDF format on-line, so they were printed out and bound.

Most of the books I have were purchased used or were being discarded and just waiting to be picked up. That small investment in time and resources is our insurance policy. It is there to make sure that, no matter what may happen to our complex and fragile system, our grandchildren will receive a good education. The next time you hear of someone discarding an old set of encyclopedias because they “need the room and it’s easier to look it up on Google”, take advantage of the opportunity to provide for the education of a future generation. When the Roman Empire collapsed, it led to the Dark Ages. Imagine what would happen should the current global empire collapse.

The Confederate Colonel Project is one of the few forums where one can still oppose the presently dominating egalitarianism, and defend our principles, without immediate condemnation.

That is one of the highest compliments we could receive. So often, I see “disclaimers” on blogs and websites proclaiming that “this is not a racist site”, or “no hate allowed”, or “no hate speech permitted”, or any of a number of variations on the theme. Why do so many people feel obligated to bow down at the altar of political correctness to preface everything with such remarks? Why does virtually every single Tea Party event bend over backwards to “prove” that race has absolutely nothing to do with their objectives? Why are Blacks put “front and center” in such organizations when their numbers are statistically insignificant? And the more important question – Why are Blacks able to talk about important issues that a White could not without being physically thrown off the podium?

You will note that none of these so-called “disclaimers” can be found here at the Confederate Colonel project – nor are they needed. You will also find that all discussions of egalitarianism and racial matters are done in a fair and impartial and honorable manner. There is one reason for that: we strictly adhere to the words of Robert E. Lee to his students at Washington College (later renamed to Washington and Lee) :

We have but one rule here, and it is that every student be a gentleman.

That was Lee’s Golden Rule – that every man be a gentleman. That means that we speak the truth, but always do so in a fair and considerate way that does not needlessly hurt another. Robert E. Lee’s classic Definition of a Gentleman goes into further detail:

“The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone, but the manner in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over others is a test of a true gentleman. The power which the strong have over the weak, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly — the forbearing or inoffensive use of all this power or authority, or a total abstinence from it when the case admits it, will show the gentleman in a plain light. The gentleman does not needlessly and unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He cannot only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and mildness of character which impart sufficient strength to let the past be but the past. A true man of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others.”

We will, at all times, do our best to follow the example and the words of Mr. Lee in everything that appears on Confederate Colonel – both in the posts and in the reply comments. If everyone followed that advice, there would be no need for any “disclaimers” and places like this would no longer be an island in a sea of crude and thoughtless words.

I am using racial matters to illustrate the point, but it applies to any topic that we might cover here. In all we do – no matter what the topic may be – our adherence to both the example of Robert E. Lee, and the wisdom found in The Holy Bible will be our guide. Much of what we discuss here is rejected and hated by the vast majority of the world. That’s OK. Our purpose is not to be popular, but to be right. Throughout history, the one consistent theme in every society is that the majority never stands for what is right and just and good. It is our intent to not stand with that majority, but to always do what is right and just and good. We may fail at times, but that is our goal.

Let me also take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to all who comment here and do so in the manner of Robert E. Lee. It is a privilege and an honor to be associated with you.

In times past, this would not have been seen as unusual, and even today it is still fairly standard for some people. What is unusual is that this was from a 16-year old; a young man who races motorcycles, lifts weights, and is on his school wrestling team. Sending hand-written thank you notes is a social skill that is not normally associated with someone in his age group. He did not learn it from his peers. He learned it because his parents taught him. He learned the importance of a social skill that I did not learn until much later in life. I am proud to have a nephew like that, and proud to have a brother and sister-in-law who taught him the importance of making that extra effort to hand-write a “thank you” note.

Shortly after my wife and I were married, we bought a set of stationary that we could use for just about any occasion. High quality stationary is not cheap, but it indicates the importance that is placed on its use. There are places to cut corners, but your personal stationary is not one of them.

My own preference for writing personal notes – and everything else, for that matter – is a fine point fountain pen. There is just something about words written with a fountain pen that give it a character that stands apart from that written with any other writing instrument. Unlike a ballpoint pen, a fountain pen requires no pressure on the paper, making it significantly more comfortable to use than other types of pens. A good quality fountain pen will last for many years if it is given reasonable care. I have my father’s fountain pen that I remember seeing him use when I was a child. When I inherited it, I sent it off to be completely refurbished, and it is now in beautiful shape.

My own fountain pen is a Pelikan Souveran 600. Pelikan makes very high quality pens, but doesn’t have an exorbitant advertising budget, so they are a very good buy. Not inexpensive, but quite reasonable for something that will last a lifetime, and you are likely to pass down to your children.

The type of pen you use isn’t what is important, though; just make sure you use it. In this day of email and texting and instant messaging, the hand-written note is becoming a lost art. It makes a real impression – in part because it is so rarely done. Buy some nice printed stationary and use it every chance you get.

The Accolade, by Edmund Leighton

I suspect that, if asked for the number one source of social awkwardness, many of us would say it is remembering names. I have a terrible time of it, and suspect that you do also. The very core of being a Southern Gentleman lies in making others feel comfortable and important. Nothing makes a bigger impression in that regard than the simple act of remembering and using another person’s name.

As I have mentioned previously, I used to be heavily involved in politics. I remember talking with a young man who worked as a volunteer with our local congressman. He and his family had been big supporters for several years, and were at many of his local campaign events. This young man was clearly a face he should have recognized, yet the congressman never remembered or called him by his name. In frustration, he told me that the next time the congressman didn’t remember his name, he will have to find another volunteer. Politicians are famous for paying attention to names (especially big donors), and this congressman’s failure to give that same respect to this teenaged volunteer may have cost him a very hard worker. Trust me on this – dedicated campaign workers are extremely rare, and the politician who neglects them will pay a steep price for that oversight.

Here are some key points from the post. Be sure to read the full article.

The key to being a charismatic gentleman is making others feel important. And what better way to make someone feel important than by remembering their name? Remembering someone’s name tells them that they were special enough to have made a real impression on you. And everybody wants to feel special.

• Commit to listening and remembering
• Repeat early, repeat often
• Have them spell it out
• Use a mnemonic device
• Visualize the person’s name on their forehead
• Associate the person’s name with an easy to remember picture
• Associate the image that represents the person’s name to an outstanding facial feature on the person
• Takes notes
• Practice, practice, practice

These are just the key points – the original post includes the details.

Grand Old Days
by Nancy B. Brewer

The ruffled dresses, petticoats and fancifully ways,
Ice tea, fried chicken and all our Southern ways,
Are slowly fading down the river,
Like ships upon the bay

Poise and manners have gone astray,
Replaced by the rude awakening of modern way,
Our Southern independence fought and lost,
Souls pass and bodies decay.

Yet, who will shed a tear or shout hooray?
If only I could beg or plea you to stay,
Would you smile and kiss my hand,
Just once more.. for the grand old days?

Mrs. Brewer is an author of historical fiction, reenactor, and story-teller from North Carolina. She is the author of Carolina Rain and Beyond Sandy Ridge. Her web site is http://www.nancybbrewer.com/