A True Man

The Greasy Skillet hit the road this past weekend and visited the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. I learned much about Mr. Truman, and I'm learning more. For now all, you need to know about Mr. Truman are the following details I read in David McCullough's Truman:

First:

"At threshing time, when neighboring farmers came to help the Trumans, as part of the season's usual exchange of labor, Harry would work through the morning, but then, just before the big midday meal, while the other men were relaxing, he would clean up quickly and go to kitchen to help his mother and sister."

Second, when courting his wife Bess, Mr. Truman relied on the written word:

"But it was in letter after letter -- hundreds of letters as time passed -- that he poured himself out to her, saying what he found he never could in her presence, writing more than he ever had in his life and discovering how much satisfaction there was in writing. He also longed desperately for her to writing him, which, as he told her, was the main reason he wrote so often and at such length. Phone calls on a party line were out of the question, with the neighbors listening. He didn't like the telephone under any circumstances. 'I'm always rattled and can never say what I want to,' he explained to her. "

Now I'm contemplating what it means to be a true man, and I'm considering developing a set of courtship rituals for my daughter. I will require her suitors to write letters to her for a year before they embark on dating.

the buck stops here,

muddywaters