Look at those fine, accurate lines. One letter, one word almost perfectly matching the other! Endlessly practicing. Do you see writing like this often? I think, we can agree on, that this is a skill, mastery of handwriting, calligraphy, art? Nope, no art. Those are pictures I took from 8th grade school books of my grandmother from 1922. My mother found them stored away in an old box which had not been opened for a long, long time. Surviving centuries of family history, moving around the country from place to place, collecting dust in dark basements.
So, it is 'just' school. And I hope, I am not alone here! I could not believe, and I cried out turning page after page, the precision and how beautiful the words are written. And she was not even gifted in the arts and drawing. Six or seven small books were stacked in an old, beautiful red binder. Mostly handwriting or calligraphy classes, which seemed to be an integral part throughout the years of school, a math book and a book from the art class. One day, then 15 years of age, my granny probably came home from her last day of school and threw her schoolbag in some corner. This might just be the state, in which that bag was in, when my mother found it in the box two months ago.
The back front of the red binder reveals part of the timetable. Also, two postcards slipped out. The darker one saying a 'Happy Birthday' and the other hinting at a lost 'Ladys Fan Talk' (Fächer-Sprache) with a quote 'What the Fan denies, fair Love yet desires'.
Of course, I took a look into the school bag. Could have been, that there are pens or other writing instruments to be found. Sadly, after opening the hardened leather lid, it was empty. But most likely, there is much more to discover going through those old school books. Whispers from a time gone by. For now, I and my family will saviour the lost and found and dwell in newly restored memory.
