The CBB :: View topic - A precious letter

#1: A precious letter Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 12:37 pm

My dearest Grizel,

Thank you so much for your letters and postcard. I'm sorry I haven't written for a while, but I've been a little unwell. I will try to make up for it now and make this letter a nice long one.

I'm glad to hear you're getting on well at school and are working hard this term. No more mad escapades now I hope? I didn't say anything before, but my dear girl you really must think before you do things and not make those of us who love you worried like that. I know how difficult it is not to do mad things without thinking sometimes. As you know, you're very like me, and your father to some extent, in that way. But please always try to consider how other people in any situation will feel if you do or say what you're thinking of doing or saying. Always remember that what we do will affect other people, even if it seems something little to you. I know it's a difficult lesson to learn, and it won't happy all at once, but do keep trying and pray to God to help you and after a while it will get easier. Now I won't say anything more on the subject - as you know, I can't abide nagging, so now I've said it I won't mention it again.

It was lovely to hear about the plans you girls have for a school magazine. Will you be writing anything for it? Please do send me a copy when it's printed, I'm sure I should enjoy it very much.

#2: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 1:27 pm

Grizel's last letter from her grandmother, the letter that Deria burned in the exercise book? What a wonderful idea to fill in. Thakns a lot, I'm sure it was very much like this.

#3: Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 2:40 pm

This is lovely. So nice to see at last what Grizel's grandmother had to say. Love the bit where she says Grizel is like her father to an extent. I'd never thought about that before, but yes he was hot headed and impulsive too.

#4: Author: Nell, Location: London, England

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 2:41 pm

Lovely idea. Thank you.

#5: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 3:39 pm

Thank you, Liz, that was lovely.

#6: Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!!

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 3:59 pm

Thank you Liz that was really lovely to read. It always upset me that the letter got destroyed.

#7: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 4:47 pm

The Robin sounds like a dear little child, although hers is a sad story. I know you'll be able to sympathize with her and understand how much she must miss her mother. You had me to take care of you and bring you up until your father married again, but to have her father going so far away and to be left with strangers, although I'm sure Miss Bettany will take good care of her, must be even harder. I do hope you will be able to help her through this sad time - you will be able to understand what she has lost a lot more than some of the other girls. I expect she will soon settle in at the school, but there will be times when she'll want her mother.

What fun that your old friends Rosalie and Mary have come to the school. Are they in your form? The school certainly seems to be growing very quickly, which must be very encouraging for Miss Bettany and her partner.

I was interested to hear the school has started to give you girls singing lessons. Your description of your teacher made me smile. A friend of my father's when I was a young girl, used to speak in a similar way. Maybe you will prefer singing to playing the piano? Learning to enjoy and appreciate music is as important as learning to read and play it, and I'm sure if Mr Demy can teach you to feel the music it can only help to improve your playing. As you know, I have not been able to play the piano much for some years, and since this last little illness I haven't played at all. For my sake, will you keep practising - I am so looking forward to hearing you play for me again when you're next home.

#8: Author: Lesley, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 5:23 pm

Oh, how lovely - Poor Grizel,losing this letter.

Thanks Liz

#9: Author: Joey, Location: Cambridge

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 5:30 pm

This is wonderful, Liz - thank you. I've always wanted to read this letter.

#10: Author: Ellie, Location: Lincolnshire

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 5:42 pm

Yes, a great idea - I've always wondered what the letter said too.
It was really rotten for Grizel losing the letter, it's not something that can be replaced. The only consolation is that she had read it so often she must have more r less known it off by heart, but still, it's not the same has actually having it.

#11: Author: Helen P, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 7:03 pm

Liz this is lovely - and will make me feel even sadder for Grizel that it was destroyed, from now on.

#12: Author: JackieJ, Location: Kingston upon Hull

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 7:16 pm

This is lovely Liz, I always wondered what was in the letter that Deira burnt, and now I can see.

Thank you.

JackieJ

#13: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 7:21 pm

What a lovely idea!

Grizel kept that as a comfort and a link to her grandmother and I did wonder if she would have become as hard on the outside if she had not lost it. I never saw her as hard inside, just brittle and with a hard shell to avoid any further hurt.

#14: Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!!

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 9:05 pm

Thank you Liz!
That was so beautiful. Poor Grizel losing it like that!

#15: Author: Lisa, Location: South Coast of England

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 9:12 pm

This is great I love fill ins like this, it makes me feel as though I've discovered a secret!

Can anyone remind me what the circumstances were surrounding Grizel losing the letter? I don't really remember ... Embarassed

#16: Author: JackieJ, Location: Kingston upon Hull

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 9:20 pm

Grizel quarrelled with Deira over the pree's duties, and Deira burnt Grizel's harmony book out of spite to get back at her. The letter was in that.

HTH

JackieJ

#17: Author: Rachael,

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 8:12 am

Really enjoying this, LizB ...

Poor Grizel losing such a sweet letter Sad

#18: Author: pim, Location: St Andrews (right next to the beach)

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 11:27 am

*sniffles* Poor Grizel, this is great.

#19: Author: Lisa, Location: South Coast of England

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 5:48 pm

JackieJ wrote:

Grizel quarrelled with Deira over the pree's duties, and Deira burnt Grizel's harmony book out of spite to get back at her. The letter was in that.

HTH

JackieJ

Oh, of course! I remember now! Thanks Very Happy

#20: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 5:11 pm

What a wonderful idea of yours to start a Hobbies Club. Are you enjoying your leatherwork? I've ordered a book about it and will send it to you as soon as it arrives. What hobbies have the other girls taken up? I'm so glad the school encourages you to have so many interests. You must make the most of all these opportunities. When I was a girl it was all very different!

The travelling opportunities are very exciting as well. I've never been out of England, so it's lovely to hear of all the experiences you're having. Thank you for the photos of the school that you sent, it is so nice to be able to picture where you are and it looks such a beautiful place. If you are able to send any more, I'd like to see what it looks like in the winter as well. Those mountains look so magnificant, I'm sure they are even more so when covered in snow. You said the Austrian girls told you the lake freezes over in winter and there's skating - I'm sure that will be fun to learn, although I hope you don't fall over too much. I know how enthusiastic you are about your sports though, and I'm sure you'll enjoy learning something different.

The folk dancing sounds very different as well. In my younger days dance classes were all waltzes and minuets and that sort of thing, but that was a long time ago.

Well my dear, I must finish this off if I'm to catch the post today. Please give my respects to Miss Bettany. Make sure you work hard, so you can bring home a good report at the end of term, I know that will make your father very pleased. Do write again and let me know what else you are doing. Your father tells me you'll be coming home at Christmas, and maybe you can come and spend a few days with me if I'm well enough. You'll be able to tell me all about the Christmas play. I'm looking foward to seeing you again very much, and from your letters I'm sure I shall see many changes in you since I last saw you.

God bless,
With much love
Grannie

#21: Author: Lesley, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 5:35 pm

What a lovely letter - poor Grizel for losing it - though I expect the words were ingrained on her heart.

Thanks Liz

#22: Author: Miss Di, Location: Newcastle, NSW

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 4:11 am

That was lovely Liz. I too always wondered what Grizel's grandma had to say in that precious letter.

Poor Grizel, everyone always on about how "hard" she was. I think I'd have a jolly scratchy exterior too if I had to endure her early experiences. Her mum dies, she gets shipped off to granny, dad remarries (apparently without even remembering he had a daughter) and then she is shipped off to school far enough away that she can't come home for holidays. The CS may have been a loving environment, but hardly a substitute for a happy and loving home life.

#23: Author: Rachael,

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 8:24 am

Not to mention the fact that the stepmother is a bit of a witch ...

Wonderful, LizB - this really brings home how devastated Grizel must have been to lose it ...

#24: Author: pim, Location: St Andrews (right next to the beach)

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 8:32 am

*sniffs and looks around for the tissues*

Thank you Liz.

#25: Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 12:31 pm

This is so moving. She may well have had the words engrained on her heart but seeing her grandmother's writing may have brought her closer, bearing in mind her granny seemed to be the one person who showed her any love after her mum died until she went away with Madge.

#26: Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!!

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 12:46 pm

That was lovely Liz, thank you. I so wish Grizel had been able to keep the letter. Maybe things would have been easier for her.

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