The war letter reminds me of another.  It was from a woman returning correspondence to her fiance who was releasing her of her responsibility to marry him since he had been injured in battle and had his legs amputated.  She responded, “As long as your body is sufficient to hold your soul, I will cling to it.”  Simply beautiful, no?

Thank you for your comments. We can’t do much about mediocrity as a universal problem.  However, as parents, teachers and citizens we can ask for the best from ourselves, and from those for whom we are responsible.

As sad as it is to see such simple eloquence gone, I suppose it is fitting in a way. We should mourn not only the loss of speech (which, as an aside, was the best feature of the wonderful True Grit remake) but letter-writing altogether. A hundred years from now who will open drawers and attic trucks to see the enduring personal records of our times, when all we have are emails and tweets?

I was reminded while reading your post of phrases such as “Fo shizzle my nizzle” - which while not comprehending completely I have the vague impression that it carries a sexual connotation.

It seems today, in this parking lot of mediocrity of prose, that when one really don’t have anything worth saying, all that matters is some kind of style that is accepted by the non-discerning as cutting edge. Rather than learn how to truly use this most marvelous invention, the written word, it is abased and trampled and applauded in its wreckage. As literacy has become more common, it has become more common. The torrent of inconsequential writing seems to be in inverse proportion to the ease of writing - no more quills, no parchment, no ink wells and ink blotters - just thumb away on your smart phone and “OMG” your way through the day in a constant blather.

I would imagine that the letters home from Iraq and Afghanistan have a simple eloquence and urgency as we see from the examples that you gave in your post. But truly, the words of Sullivan Ballou brought tears to my eyes as I am sure the words of Mr. Potter did to Mrs. Potter’s.

Is it mere coincidence that their writing was unabashedly God oriented? Did this help elevate their prose? How could it not.

FB

I tend to agree with GK Chesterton that when men no longer believe in God, they lose their common sense. It would follow then, that a number of other virtues would be diminished as well.

FWIW I am reliably informed that “fo shizzle my nizzle” means “for sure, my ni——” where the last word is not appropriate for a man of my ethnic background to repeat.

As for illiteracy and the dumbing down of things, I suspect that the real problem is technology. If people can communicate their thoughts quickly and briefly, without waiting long between sending anf receiving replies, then they will not wait long enough for their emotions to develop into the profound attachments that require more thoughtful prose. If they spend most of their time watching television and movies rather than reading books, and judge their politicians and commentators by sound bite and emotional appeal rather than rational argument and character, then they will not encounter the thoughts and vocabulary necessary to express them.

I remember hearing many years ago this letter being read with a lovely piece of music playing in the background.  I was able to find it on YouTube.  For some reason, hearing it being read made the experience more emotional for me than simply reading it myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z73gl2vz3PA

Thank you for sharing this, Pat. It’s one of the more beautiful things I’ve read in a while. To think that such prose was once commonplace! I’m just as guilty as the next person in sending emails over expensive letters, but I still lament the evident demise of those more eloquent and thoughtful forms of communication. Regardless of what forms our thoughts take, we can always continue to promote that which is good, true, and beautiful…and thus elevate those things worthy of reflection.

I enjoyed reading the comments on this post, too. Lots of good thoughts!

I usually feel I am more literate than my classmates, and I certainly try and write with more eloquent language. These letters put school kids to shame.

I think that people thought through what they were going to say first. Paper, envelopes, stamps and ink cost money.  Mistakes were messy too. As well as the fact that what they were writing had to inform as well as convey feeling, it was all they had to stay in touch with each other.  Not as many distractions either, no tv, radio, phones, internet, March Madness et al.

My 11 year old daughter was writing a poem (to make into a song I think) and it expressed the idea of the wind being the soul of a loved one. I showed her the Sullivan Ballou letter and she said, “MOM!  He’s saying just what I was trying to say but much better!”.

I remember reading that a newspaper in the American Revolution times printed the translation of the Odessey in its newspaper and asked the readers to corpare it to the original Latin & see if they made any mistakes.  Today many wouldn’t be able to figure out a spelling error yet we call those people dumb

When I was in high school, I had the pleasure of reading Kurt Vonnegut’s 2081, which has a similar plot to many of the old Twilight Zone episodes.

The film version can be found here: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CDgQtwIwBQ&url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvqsv1pPSbg&ei=oMiETf_aEMLngQe5xaHcCA&usg=AFQjCNHMhDv5j4HGzsfl_PEQ4ddm2-Pscg&sig2=tvwVaSG0QOD_TTypodXVGQ

Anyway, the fact is that, intentional or not, the government is often the cause of mediocrity today. We have an educational system designed from the schematics of the industrial revolution. Take a bunch of kids and group them together by age (because it would be “fair” that they should all develop at the same age, it’s assumed that age is the best way to group them, rather than skill, proficiency, learning style, or even IQ). Already, we have a system devoted to leveling the playing field. Not a good start. Then we take them and place them all in one classroom together, teach them all the same material at the same pace, and hand out grades that report their proficiency by subject. We move them along from one class to another and one topic to another as if they were cars on an assembly line, with the advanced algebra teacher having no concern for the fact that the student only passed basic algebra with a C. An unsteady foundation for math having been established, we send the student on down the line to build an edifice that will, slowly or quickly, crumble in upon him and leave him in a heap of rubble. Then he loses privileges at home to punish him for the faulty methods of his teacher (but we can’t blame her, either, as she has to follow rules established by bureaucrats who know nothing about how children tick).

If we want to build a system where all children may excel, we need to begin with a deep understanding of the dignity of every human person (a hard thing to do without God in our schools; even Catholic schools will have a hard time at this, but they’re far better at it on the whole; parents, however, love their children most and have the most reason to want them to excel and to be their own persons). Human dignity will show us that each individual has a different way of learning, different skills and gifts. Indeed, each one has a different and wholly unique calling by God. Students must, somehow, receive the individual attention they need. Students must be given the chance to grasp fully the concepts of one level of a class before being forced to move on and build upon a weak foundation. Students (and parents) must be given more options to choose which fields of study they will pursue at an earlier age (having well rounded young people is great and elementary students should take all subjects in order to find where they excel and what they love, but more core curriculum requirements at higher grade levels only forces students to take classes they don’t wish to take, which stifles learning and engages them in hours of homework whose fruit they will forget only a few years later, and gives them a hatred of learning). Students must have their learning styles appreciated, respected, and utilized.

In short, education is something that needs to remain on the most local possible level. All children are different. The more we lump them together and treat them all the same, the more we will reduce education to the least common denominator.

Perhaps the lowering of the standards of language has something to do with the elimination of the teaching of the classics. Students no longer read these types of historic documents, or even classic literature. And, many publishers have been taking the classic literature and “translating” it into modern terminology (in some cases eliminating verbiage deemed to be unacceptable in today’s hyper-politically correct environment). Even the Catholic Church has contributed to this, in the change of language in the ordinary of the Mass, as well as “updating” the Bible. Let’s get back to elevating the discourse through elevating the level of the written and spoken language.

You bring up a wonderful point here.  Sadly, it is not localized to the written word.  The vile stench of acceptable mediocrity has permeated the realms of music, art, film, and just about everything else too.  Have you ever listened to a Soulja Boy record?  It’s every bit as painful as watching a Michael Bay film, and yet, consumers are lined up, salivating, like Pavlov’s dog, to consume this bland, flaccid garbage.

...what beautiful letters! The solution to today’s mediocrity is reading old books and watching good movies. My breaking point was when we took our children to see “Barnyard”- I wasn’t expecting Citizen Kane- but when the bulls show up with huge udders, I decided to get a bit more picky over my media choices.
remnantofremnant.blogspot.com

I love reading contemporary accounts of the Civil War.
These include “Co. Aytch” by Private Sam Watkins, “All for the Union” by Elisha Hunt Rhodes, and the least known but very well-written and entertaining “Hard Marching Every Day” by Private Wilbur Fisk.

The common theme to these books is the faith and love for God that shines out amidst the horrors of war.

This is one of the saddest and most poignant columns I’ve read in a long time; however, let’s not lose hope by reading it or in the sharing of our personal observations of what we’ve lost or at this moment, risk losing moment by moment. Sometimes it only takes a mere remnant of sturdy souls who share enough of a common belief, or faith in something very worthwhile to keep that belief and faith alive. So it was with the first Christians; so it was with my Irish ancestors during the Famine; so it was with the rag-tag and half-naked American Army of George Washington just before they crossed the Delaware to attack Trenton; so it was with the millions of slaves prior to their liberation thanks to the Union Army; so it was with all of us who can look back at what people with that “mustard seed” of faith Jesus speaks of, be it for religious, civic or both purposes.
  I’ve always been interested in preserving and sharing as much of our national history as we can. For some people, it doesn’t seem that important. Indeed, that’s their loss in more ways than they can [presently] appreciate or contemplate. It’s great to be able to look into the future; it’s great to be able to appreciate and be content in one’s present surroundings and circumstances as St. Paul taught us, 2,000 yrs ago. But it’s imcomplete without having a greater understanding of where we have come from and why the things we value so dearly were so crucial to our ancestors that they were willing to die for the right to enjoy them in their time(s) and preserve them for future generations to enjoy.
  Didn’t Lincoln remind us of this in his Gettysburg Address and his other famous speeches? How is it that we’ve learned so fast how to unlearn all of what’s motivated past generations (and still many people) in this time to work hard, if not sacrifice years of toil, sweat, limb and life for the preservation of all those motivating ideals and dreams?
  By all means, support your local historical societies and preservation groups wherever and whenever you can. Unfortunately, unlike Europe, especially the Germans,who began rebuilding their older cities the moment the western Allies began occupying West Germany, we’d prefer to sit back and watch history on television and recall the “good old days” whilst letting the very historical and architectural symbols that represent these good old days fall to rubble. C’mon America, get off your duffs and start preserving what we say we hold dear. Because in this country, once it’s gone, it’s gone. It could well be paved under a big retail chain store box-store’s parking lot.

N. Postman writing in “Amusing Ourselves To Death” quotes from Huxley’s novel that there was no fear that books would be banned becuase we are so greedy for distraction that there would be no one who wanted to read (wrote in 1939)!what we love (comm. technology to-day) he said,  will come to ruin us. We along with our children need to be encouraged to read voraciously-limiting all forms of modern comm. tech. will not harm you- and I would recommend Postman’s book for starters.

& dont forget th smple fct tht most ppl txt now & dont evn know how 2 spell!  Chk out evn CNN or any news hdline & u will c typos all ovr the plce!

Karen is right.  Most people say the media is not the message, but really, when you take into consideration the ACT of writing out a letter, editing it, making a number of drafts before you issue the final result, is a lot different from hammering out a FaceBook reply on a cell phone while navigating the inside ramp of a cloverleaf exit off of the highway!  I wrote home when in the Army (the olden days, pre-internet, 1989-1991), and still prefer to write paper letters today.

Orthodox also makes a good point, with abbreviations all over the place whose meanings will all change by next year rendering today’s tweet illegible, and the number of mis-spellings and bad grammar even, and especially, with spell-check!

Your dear e-mails are on software that will be obsolete in 5 years, and your photos on the flash drive are on a media and in a format that will also be toast before you think of it.  The printed or written word needs no mechanical intermediary.

... and don’t get me started on how hand held calculators created a generation that can’t even make change from a drawer unless the LED display tells them what the change is!

Those men truly lived in an age of romance where they wrote from their hearts, literate or not. Today, in this high tech world, true romance is suppressed, and too many of us write from our literate brain.

Beautiful, thoughtful and heartrending.

It’s like y’know, facebook should be banned, or maybe not. I’m too ambivalent to care and too apathetic to do anything about it besides say, “Okay, whatever.”
  Nothing like the equal to the old squeaky chalk on a blackboard or needle scratching across a record, but not on purpose as the rappers like to do “for effects,” but what I parodied above isn’t too far off ... “for effects,” y’know.
  I’d be curious to know how much Americans really know about the founding years of this nation and how it came about slowly. Even our Revolutionary War was no quick fix and in fact, while most people are aware of how large the Siege of Yorktown looms, how many realize that the largest land battle of the war took place within the shadows of the Brooklyn Bridge? How many people realize that our real Declaration Day was July 2nd, not the 4th? How many people realize the extent to how much anti-Catholicism played a role in the shaping of not only the document, but the fervor behind the move towards independence, especially by the New England and Virginian delegates?
  I pity the next generations to come when they arrive at the point where they’ll have to read up, that’s right actually read up, (phew, what a physical act of duress for the eyes, focusing on letters, characters, sentences and paragraphs, featuring proper spelling, grammar) to learn about not only our War of Independence, but also the Civil War from such learned but private citizens Sullivan Ballou ... and they won’t be able to figure out what a man like Ballou was trying to convey not only to his family, but for all times in case anybody else should come across the letter and glance at the first paragraph in hopes of finding some identification so it could be sent home. No “dog tags” back then, but the letters were honored. Ballou wrote for thousands when he penned these (now) immortal words:
  “. . . I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt . . .”
  We all owe not only an enormous debt to all the Sullivan Ballous and Samuel Potters of their times, but also men like Ken Burns who has painstakingly taken some of the most potentially complicated and controversial subjects and rendered them in such fashion as to be informative, intellctually stimulating, entertaining in some cases ... but always with an eye for including the voice of the non-celebs in with the voice-overs and video “added commentaries” from well-known experts in the various fields he’s put in a video-classroom format. Just look at the quality of historical documentaries prior to his first success with the Civil War and most of them produced after 1990.
  While I’ll gladly admit my gratitude to the Disney company’s Johnny Tremain and Davy Crockett films which practically got me very interested in history, a love of which has never died and never will; I really wonder how many young people are going to be as excited to become motivated enough to go beyond accepting the more merely entertaining aspect of acquiring historical knowledge and get into the actual reading of what the chief players in our various key historical periods had to say? Yes, it’s a challenge to read 18th century English or even 19th century ante-bellum writers and speakers from Lincoln’s letters, speeches to the numerous Slave Narratives. It’s a challenge and it requires more than today’s minimalist “grasp” of our common language to understand what the writers had to say.
  This, I fear, is one the ways we not only allow “dumbing down” to flourish, but also to allow its enablers working within some circles of academia to continue doing so on the grounds that the old ways are finished and now it’s time for us to settle for the world of easy “aps” and other forms of computer-era driven lazy-bones iconography to replace good literature; or even in terms of drama used to catch the times as they were, conning our youth, and society in general, to acquiese in the acceptance of more slipshod and politically correct historical cinematography. Talk about an oxymoronic situation for the ages!

Hi, Orthodox! Blessed St. Gregory Sunday to you. For an Eastern Orthodox Christian, you make your point very succinctly (we are often accused of “vain repetition”), and seem very well acquainted with the ways of this present evil age. Good to know you’re out there!

Might I point out that mediocrity today consists of getting a bachelor’s degree.  Unfortunately a college degree isn’t what it used to be, it is much easier.  I know, I’m about to graduate with a degree in engineering and it was almost a joke getting (and my GPA is 3.4; not a credit to me a discredit to the education system).  There is certainly room for improvement (that is raise the average), but everything must start with the salvation of souls (that is eloquent speech is nothing if you loose your soul; For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?)

A big part of what makes these letters so beautiful is the reverence for the recipient of the letters.  It seems apparent that the writers were raised to truly cherish and honor their spouses.  There is no hint of being too familiar or taking anyone for granted.  More than the eloquence, it is that beautiful perspective of seeing the other in such a holy light that touched my heart.

The problem, of course, is that we adults would rather watch and talk than read and write, so our children learn that reading and writing isn’t important. The child who doesn’t read at home, whose parents and peers place no value on it, will fight reading and writing at school. (Writing obscenities on a wall or a desk doesn’t count.)

And now I must go off and blog a rant of mine own. :)

Thank you for this post. I have long felt the same. I think I finally decided that perhaps the reason for ineloquence of our present time may be due to a lack of heart, not of mind. I think we are awfully good at information, but poor when it comes to wisdom. I think when we abandon matters of the heart for matters of the head the result is a woodeness of expression and a paucity of eloquence and beauty.

I agree w/Lisa’s suggestion that the lack of good required reading in schools does impact the general mediocrity we see.  The classics do contain beautiful, descriptive writing by eloquent writers.  Even reading the letters from the civil war era can be read and can impact young minds as far as good writing goes.

I love reading descriptive writing that describes scenarios and feelings with flourish, not the immediate gutteral words of gutteral feelings as are the norm any more.  thank you for bringing this to our attention and thank you for the examples of good writing and language.

In ” 1984 “, Orwell wrote that it was the goal of the government to increasingly make speech the product of the larynx instead of the brain. The term he used to describe this kind of speech was ” duckspeak “.
It does seem that technology and culture are conspiring to create a generation of people without the faculty for deep or sincere thinking or even the means tp express those kind of thoughts if they could have them. Quack !

MissJean, Pam and Co., look at what you’ve done! You’ve got me all fired up for picking up David McCullough’s “1776” open and re-reading parts of it that I think I might’ve missed before, with no distractions but my dog’s occasional vying for attention. THANK YOU ALL. Now if we can only get more people to read his books as well as listen to his well-toned voice overs, what a renaissance of appreciation for our history we might get to see in our lifetimes. He does a great job of including letters from “ordinary” people of the times and subjects he writes about. Or, he shows how ordinary the “big shots” can be when they sat down to pen a letter home. George Washington and John Adams were terrific correspondents to their wives and few First Ladies can top Abigail Adams’ contribution to American historical literature. (Despite what many of the Adams’ political family had to say about them being “elitists,” in most respects they were economically not much higher than middle class, but they invested well, saved a lot and yet managed to see to it that all their children we properly educated.
  There’s nothing “elitist” about wanting to learn more; and there are fewer more damaging things we can do to a person than to discourage him or her from learning how to develop a full appreciation of literature and the craft of writing. God gave us minds to use; but He also expects us to use them along with our hearts to encourage everybody we come to know, especially children, how important it is to be able to appreciate good clean and uplifting literature (and I’m not referring to the health and wealth make you happy motivational stuff, though in its proper place can be very useful.)
  There’s no glitzy glass box full of “aps” that can excite me nearly as much as a good book in my hands. Computers are certainly useful; but not nearly as useful as they could be if we read what’s on the paper pages of a real hard-bound or paper-back book. My dad used to say over and over to his three sons, “Go read the reeds.” Tolle legge.

FWIW (again) the original Odyssey was written in Greek, not Latin.

Well. . .we will always have the combox prose to fall back upon.

I’ve noticed that people who read extensively are usually good writers as well.  However reading extensively is not really prevalent in schools now, and when reading is assigned it’s often the current best sellers.  Classics are often “dumbed down” for readers.  In the class I am teaching now, in my group of 20 college sophomores and juniors no one has read any Dickens, Austen, Bronte or Twain.

That’s sad.

Unfortunately, today’s PC codes have done a job on Twain and I’m not sure how much prepatory work teachers would have to put their students through when it comes to grasping enouogh of the differences between 19th Century British English and today’s sloppy Americanized vernacular. If somebody really wants to be creative and has a publisher lined up, it’d be interesting to see a stylistically correct re-write of Dickens’ Christmas Carol and apply it to Wall Street circa the era of Clintonian-Greenspan-Gramm-Rubin-Bush-CRASH-Bailout-Obama-Warren years. lol. Hmmm, maybe it might not be a bad idea to have somebody pull a re-write of the same era with the wit of Twain or Ambrose Bierce. Talk about piercing (some)consciences.

Here we are conversing online over thousands of miles on these crazy machines called computers.  We can communicate in an instant with handheld phones, travel at speeds hundreds of times faster than our ancestors.  We can fly; we all have personal vehicles and more luxury free time than any other generation.  People create amazing music and art using new digital media every day.  Then the rest of us can experience it on our TVs or online.

We can buy stocks, do our banking, and read news from around the world in an instant.  If you want to read a classic, download the ebook.

Take a look at architecture today and compare it to 150 years ago.  Is it nice having indoor plumbing, or a fridge?  When was the last time a relative died of dysentery or consumption?

So we don’t speak or write like William Shakespeare anymore, it doesn’t mean we’ve stopped progressing, or that we expect only mediocrity.  World records are constantly being broken, new sports are being invented (snowboarding, skateboarding, rollerblading, etc.)

It’s just today we have so much wealth; modern mediocrity is what many in the past ascribed to.

You said it best:

“Perhaps these are merely the curmudgeonly musings of natural born conservative”

Bingo.

What a wise and beautiful column. A great privilege indeed to read the heartbreakingly beautiful two pieces you included from Sullivan Ballou and Samuel Potter.

Chris raises an interesting point by using architecture and medicinal progress to point out how counterproductive it is to reach back to the past and become so enamored with our present day notions of how “great it must’ve been” to be back then. Things weren’t always that great; not by a long shot.
  What Irish Catholic living now in New England would trade his or her present-day life for what his great great ancestors faced during the ante-bellum years? What African American living in the South would want to trade his present-day circumstances (whatever they might be) for what his grandparents or parents faced with Jim Crow?
  Political conservatives seem so enamored with the Constitution to the degree that I can’t help wondering if in their zeal to yank us back to the day of the Framers, that we’d all be wearing tri-cornered hats, powdered wigs, and women would be wearing layer’d upon layere’d gowns, just to be presentable when going to their local markets. Oh, yes, let’s not forget that ugly reality of slavery which our ever-so esteemed Framers kicked down the cobblestoned roads of decades to come. Messrs. Potter and Ballou had to deal with that unresolved reality.
  When it comes to architecture, however, I digress somewhat with Chris, except for the modern niceties of running water, electricity and indoor privies. Honestly, how anybody could be longing for the gaudy pleasures of a Painted Lady over a simple, but elegant Georgian New England Saltbox featuring a Deerfield Door for the crowning touch! Well, see what the 19th Century hath wrought? Well, not as bad when it comes to the external touches as what the 20th had to offer in such stripped down “Colonial Capes” as presented to the nation through Levittown. Even the Puritans might’ve jumped back on their ships if they faced that sight! But then they would’ve missed out on the running water, juice and indoor privies! And of course, lots of early television shows showing the world what life was back in the “good old days.” Ah, but back in the “good old days” of television, there was no Ken Burns yet. He was still a kid in school wondering when it he’d get his chance to set the record straight.
  We should appreciate the old classics and continually go back to them, if for no other reason than to round out the mediocre fare we and our kids are being force-fed by a dumbed down society more interested in fattening its wallets than expanding the minds that are necessary to find hope and work off of that hope to create more of the same for our kids and grandchildren.