Snailmail...The Next Best Thing To Being There

 

February may have been letter month but March is full of all kinds of days and reasons to send some snailmail!! It may be a little ironic, but I thought I would send some snailmail in honor of Alexander Graham Bell, the father of the telephone.

Alexander was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 3, 1847. He, of course, is best known as the inventor of the telephone but he first became interested in the science of sound because he wanted to help deaf people. Both his mother and his wife were deaf. His experiments in sound eventually led to the ability to send the sound of a voice through a wire! 

It was a competitive time in the invention world and loads of other people were all working on the idea of the telephone. Alexander had to race to the patent office to be the first. On March 7, 1876 Alexander applied for and received the patent for the telephone. Three days later, March 10, 1876, Bell transmitted the first recognizable words over a telephone line. What the exact phrase was is hotly debated by historians. According to one popular story, while his assistant was working in another room, Mr. Bell spilled battery acid on his clothes and said, “Mr. Watson, come here. I need you.” Much to their surprise, the words carried over the telephone wire into the next room! 

Another important March day for Alexander was March 27, 1884, on that day the final coil of copper wire was stretched into place and the first phone call was made between New York and Boston.  The success of that first phone call opened the eyes of many to the idea that the telephone was more than a form of local communication – it could connect people across the country. I doubt even Alexander could have imagined what his telephone would be like in the year 2021!! 🤯 

Mr. Bell invented many other things but I was fascinated by an interesting bit of history that Mr. Murphy learned from Candice Millard’s biography of President James Garfield’s life and assassination, Destiny of the Republic. President Garfield was shot by crazed gunman, Charles Guiteau on July 2, 1881, but he did not die until September 19, 1881. The president’s doctors could not locate the bullet so Mr. Bell went on a frantic dash to invent something to help them. He ended up developing an early version of the metal detector! 

Alexander has been honored on a US postage stamp, as has his amazing invention. 

Phones definitely have connected us in amazing ways (thanks, Alec!), but I still really love a good letter. 🥰📬🐌 💌

So make a call and write a letter!!

XOXO,

Mrs. Murphy

 “A letter is always better than a phone call. People write things in letters they would never say in person. They permit themselves to write down feelings and observations using emotional syntax far more intimate and powerful than speech will allow.” Alice Steinbach