yeoldenews:

I’ve begun to read and transcribe a (smaller than I’d like it to be) collection of letters I have that were written by Lilla; cultured, cosmopolitan Victorian spinster and ultimate 1890s “cool aunt”.

Here’s a basic introduction to all things Lilla…

• For most of the year Lilla lives in a small town in New York taking care of her elderly mother (henceforth known as “Grandma”), but as often as she can she heads off to “lark it” on ridiculously event filled visits to society friends in New York City, Boston, Washington DC, etc.
• Most of the letters are written to Lilla’s nephews Will and Jack, who are in prep school, and later at Yale and Harvard.
• The three of them are extremely close and very open with their thoughts, feelings and opinions.
• They are also hilariously rude, sarcastic and occasionally just plain goofy with one another.
• She and Jack appear to have two running jokes (one about ear trumpets and the other about cats) that I’ve yet to figure out.
• Lilla is educated, well-informed, cultured, political and highly opinionated.
• She regularly attends lectures on art, history and literature.
• She reads multiple newspapers.
• When in major cities she attends the opera or theater almost every night.
• She buys so many books from Houghton Mifflin that she gets VIP treatment at their offices in New York City.
• She expresses significant interest in national politics (despite the fact that she wouldn’t be able to vote for president for over 20 years).
• A few comments in letters (and some other circumstantial evidence) lead me to think that Grandma may have been an old-school abolitionist in the 1840s and 50s, so Lilla’s political interests may well be inherited.
• When Lilla is in a major city I just keep Wikipedia open to look up her all her friends and acquaintances (at least half of them have pages).
• The half that don’t have pages really should. She knew some truly fascinating people.
• Both Lilla and Grandma are members of/participate in more extra-curricular activities/charitable organizations/clubs/hobbies/committees/etc. than human people should realistically have time for.
• They are also both huge college football fans.
• Lilla inherited a good deal of money from her father, but she also plays the stock market.
• Lilla and Grandma’s home is always full of family and visitors.
• They live just a block or so from Will and Jack’s parents.
• Lilla seems to be very fond of Will and Jack’s younger siblings (Tiger and Biff) who seem to split their time between the two houses.
• Lilla is an absolutely delightful storyteller. She turns what should be bland updates about daily small town life (i.e. It rained today., So-and-so died last week., etc.) into vivid and detailed snippets of history. Even if they’re only a sentence or two long.
• She talks about people’s personalities, feelings and quirks in such wonderful detail that you truly feel like you know them.
• Lilla is so amazingly blunt and open with her opinions that I’m considering doing a separate post entitled “Gee Lilla, tell us what you really think.”