This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Charlton, Chase, Griffith, Conrad, Wilkinson, Pilley, Bliss, Andrews, Delano Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/zMB.2ACI/856 Message Board Post: IRON COUNTY REGISTER, Ironton, Iron Co. MO, Thurs. June 27, 1935. FROM MRS. CHARLTON Fir Lodge, Cashmere, Wash. Dear Editor and Readers -- Just succumbing to an urge of the spirit which says: "Time you made some explanation for a long gap between communications." The truth is that out of consideration for the majority of your subscribers I have refrained from any more reminiscencings, which are kindly accepted when I do send them. For no matter how much the few of us enjoy delving into the past it must be true that many many more do not comprehend what it is all about. I thank those who have written to me expressing pleasure and interest in what I have contributed up to now. There were some surprises among them, for instance the letter from Mrs. Conrad, nee Emma Griffith. I had not been reminded of her existence for so many years I would not have thought of her as among the living. That is one strange quirk in us, we always think of those old contemporaries as dead and gone, or so aged, while we ourselves are fairly frisking about. I am reminded of an amusing instance of getting off a train in Knoxville expecting to be met by an old friend I had not seen in years. Evidently she was not there. Later we mutually discovered that we passed each other up not dreaming that the other would look so young! I want to say that the only instance coming to my ears of questionings of my memory in those articles, came from my own sister. Once in a great while we disagree as to the facts about some of those old happenings. For instance, she says she knew the Wilkinson family as well as I did and she has no recollection of the boys being disciplined by having to stand at meals. I am equally sure they did. Arthur, of course, is the only one who could settle this decisively. On the other hand I am positive my sister has pipe dreams about some old Ironton happenings. For instance, she vows that a literary society once existed there and now and then met at our home, which I do not recall in the least. She says she can remember as if yesterday hearing our old neighbor Mrs. Pilley read an original paper in which one remark, namely, that "man is a mere poliwog" stands out clearly in her memory. I leave it to any one if that sounds plausible. I cannot think of Mrs. Pilley as a delver into the! theories of man's descent or ascent from protoplasms, although Darwin did flourish about then. One reason my mind has turned Irontonward is because "the Valley" has been a leading theme of conversation in this retreat the past week. We had the pleasure of entertaining Mr. and Mrs. Charles K. Bliss, the latter one of the inveterate reminiscencers of Arcadia Valley. In the days when I first met Mr. Bliss he was a frequent visitor to his aunt's home, the late Mrs. Sam Andrews. Perhaps the impression he gave in those days was of being light-heeled, light-hearted, and possibly light-headed. He has certainly traveled a long way from those days, as he is Head-Master Emeritus of a prosperous school for boys, called the Lakeside School, the three hundred thousand dollar plant beautifully located in the suburbs of Seattle. The administration hall is named "Bliss Hall" in his honor. I think I neglected to mention at any time that we had as guests for dinner one evening last fall in Seattle, Frank Delano, and wife, and son and new wife. They have a charming home near Tacoma. I could go on writing of old days indefinitely, but -- . Hoping this finds the Register force in renewed health, Sincerely, Cora Chase Charlton June 15th.