Letter, 1776
Jean-Honore Fragonard
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The Power of Letters

Letter Frederick Dadd Buy This Art Print At AllPosters.com

If women knew the power of letters, they would certainly spend more time writing them. The love expressed in letters is a commodity money simply cannot buy. The recipient will read and re-read these letters. Letters are a gift that never ends. Letters can win the heart of someone you love. In courtship, letters are extremely important. They give people an opportunity to learn about each other's values. This is a time to discuss things such as interests and pastimes, childhood memories, and spiritual values. You can see from the paintings featured on this page how important letters were in the past to ladies.While time spent watching television is wasted, time spent writing letters is never a loss. The artists certainly thought letters were significant, as they were used for themes in many paintings.

The Letter
Daniel Ridgway Knight
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A young man named George Gissing (1857-1903) wrote the following letter to the woman he loved: My dearest, I have no words to utter the sense of worship with which I think of your pure and noble nature---legible in your face, audible in your voice, and expressed so plainly in your letter. Dearest, you are very far above me, and it is strange, strange, that you should care to be loved by me. I will have no more doubts and fears. You, you shall save me out of my dark cheerless life. I will live for you, work for you, think only of you, make you the whole end and purpose of my being... You are the incredible woman...I hear your voice as I read your letters..."

The Letter Marguerite Pearson Buy This Art Print At AllPosters.com

And now here is a letter I have received from a man who was born in 1935: "When I was growing up as a little boy, my father taught me to how treat others walking on the sidewalks, and the courtesy necessary as you utilize the sidewalk when others are passing. My mother and father taught me about girls, and how special they were, and to treat them with respect. I was taught that my oldest sister was a queen, and should be assisted in and out of carriages, etc., and to always hold the door for others even when you were first to go through the door, and to tip my hat to the ladies, and to say good morning, or good evening as you pass them on the street in the town where you live; to be neighborly at all times, and to respect people's property, and not to hurt animals. Today, there are no rules of the sidewalk, or esplanade as is its proper name. Those lessons were drummed into you, for your family name was at stake, and proper upbringing was necessary to not be shunned by those who were considered the upper-crust of society. We were also taught not to offer your hand to a lady until she offers hers first."

Summer Shower Frederic Leighton You Can You Can You Can You Can Order This Art Print from AllPosters.com