Ella Erdman.

Yesterday, I was cleaning out my garage.  After my grandfather passed away a few years ago, a lot of his stuff had to be moved to our place.  As I was mindlessly sifting through old filing cabinets, I came across old newspapers about JFK's assassination, old photos, etc.  

But then I found some letters. 

I looked at an envelope of one.  The stamp said 1898.  I just about peed my pants.  These were written just 33 years after the Civil War, I thought.  This is history in my hands.

Two of the them were addressed to "Miss Mabel Geiger," neither letters bearing return addresses.  I began to read them, hoping they were sad love letters or something.  (Don't hate.  I AM a girl, you know.)

However, they weren't.  The first was sent January 10, 1898.  It was written by a girl named Ella Erdman to her friend Mabel.  In the letter, she thanks Mabel for a Christmas gift and apologizes for not being able to give one back to her dear friend. Also apologizing for taking so long to send the letter, Ella explains that her father does not like her writing too much.

She expresses frustration towards having to rely on her family for everything and talks about how she wishes she could have gotten everyone gifts for Christmas.

It made me feel so bad when I could not give anything to anyone. I could not make anything much less go to purchase any.

In spite of Ella's apparently frustrating situation, she stays pretty positive throughout the rest of the letter.  After thanking her friend for the gift again, Ella tells Mabel to visit her some time and "to bring her happiness with her," and then ends the letter.

It was a sweet letter.  They seemed to be good friends and it made me happy.  However, since this wasn't a love letter, I couldn't figure out why it was so important that Mabel would keep it for so long.  It was primarily just a thank you note, after all.

Then I read the next letter.

It was dated May 2nd, 1898.  This time, though, it was not from Ella.  It was from her parents.  And this time, it was not such a detailed letter.  It was plain, simple, and heartbreaking.

Yourself and family are respectfully invited to attend the funeral of 

Ella Rebecca Erdman.

I don't know why, but it made me extremely sad.  Maybe it was because I could feel the friendship between the two girls in the first letter.  Then the second letter comes. I could just imagine Mabel's hands trembling as she opens that black-trimmed letter, knowing - but not wanting to believe - what was inside.

I dunno, it was just really sad to me.  But at the same time, it was extremely cool.  I had the chance to glimpse into the lives of two girls who lived 113 years ago.  

Yeah, you get to do that all the time when you read history..and that in itself is really cool.  But this is different.  It's personal. It's real. And it basically made my day.

Maybe I'm crazy, I just get really stoked about stuff like this.