I first discovered Tasha Tudor when the MurphyBros were young and we would make weekly trips to the library. I loved her charming illustrations and stories...especially the corgis!
Tasha preferred the lifestyle of the 18th century to the 19th and lived a simple country life on her farm in Vermont. She was interested in many things and over the course of her lifetime, she mastered such timeless arts as gardening, spinning, weaving, sewing, knitting, quilting, baking and animal husbandry. She made dolls and marionettes and performed many a puppet show! She enjoyed celebrating holidays and birthdays and elevated everyday occasions by hosting celebrations for the people (especially children) in her life, including many memorable tea parties and dances!
I particularly fell in love with one of her creations, the Sparrow Post. The Sparrow Post was a beloved tradition started by Tasha for her children. Every year, especially for Christmas and Valentine’s Day, Tasha and her children would craft miniature letters, envelopes and post-boxes. The children would hang their mail boxes on their bedroom doors and every morning they would wake eagerly to check to see if any mail had arrived during the night. Sometimes they would use the Sparrow Post to send correspondence back and forth to each other, and sometimes the letters would be for (or from) their dolls.
Tasha Tudor wrote about the Sparrow Post in the book, All for Love,
“The Postmaster is Augustus Sparrow. He has served through three generations and is still none the worse for wear. Mr. Sparrow is a cut wool toy sparrow, made by hand, like many of our favorite characters. He sports a red vest and spectacles. He is very efficient and has coped successfully with many problems during his lifetime, such as lost mail, delayed deliveries, strikes, migration tangles and other trying situations.”
“The Postmaster is Augustus Sparrow. He has served through three generations and is still none the worse for wear. Mr. Sparrow is a cut wool toy sparrow, made by hand, like many of our favorite characters. He sports a red vest and spectacles. He is very efficient and has coped successfully with many problems during his lifetime, such as lost mail, delayed deliveries, strikes, migration tangles and other trying situations.”
The young MurphyBros and I made our own version of the Sparrow Post out of a shoebox. We hand crafted miniature letters and would mostly correspond with the teddy bears that lived in the MurphyBros room. There were a LOT of them! 🐻 I even remember making a catalog of items the bears could order! (I have a special appreciation of miniature things.) The boys loved sending and receiving mail via the Sparrow Post and so did I! 🥰
The MurphyBros have long since left the nest so I haven’t used the Sparrow Postal Service in a while, but I thought it would be fun to send a letter to some of my young pen pals and include a miniature letter for their dolls or teddy bears! 🥰
Snailmail is magical however it arrives, but even more so if it’s miniature and delivered by a sparrow! 😉🤩📬
Go postal, people!
XOXO,
Mrs. Murphy
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