My dear Josephine,

I think you are just champion in keeping up correspondence with your people on this side, indeed on every side; you are not at all to blame if there is any neglect in that respect, and I am sure there is, but I am the culprit.

We are very interesting indeed in all the news contained in your letter of 25^th April. But first, let me say how sorry we are to learn of the passing our sister Anne. In her long life she had many trials, but we believe that in her later life she had happiness and comfort in the home of her son Bert.

We hope you like your new surroundings and are glad that Adelaide and you have found a house so conveniently situated for her new station; it is gratifying to know that Adelaide likes the change and her work, and it is grand that you are able to get about so much with her.

It is pleasant for you to have come among friendly people. We would be very interest to know if your “little town” is located near to the coast;[1] is it an interesting country, what is its produce in the way of fruit and vegetables, what is its climate? I have always fancied a Southern State, it is hardly possible, at my age, that I am likely to see one, but that you do is something to me.

Wm.[2] has been here to see us several times, the last about a month ago. I am afraid her married life is not quite a hundred percent a success, she is so full of complaint and we don’t know which is most to blame, to one or the other. I haven’t seen the Grove since 1942, when we were in Inch at Strahack.[3] Isa has seen it since all the improvements were made, and she says it’s beautiful.

We like Bangor immensely, we should have been here ten years ago, ours is an old house with some large rooms and much to be done to tit to make it convenient, comfortable and pleasant, for instance the abolition of steps and the introduction of more natural day light. For the first time in any of the houses in which we have lived we have no garden, and we don’t want one because neither of us are inclined to take on the work and to pay for the labour is a serious consideration, but we are near the shore, two minutes, and Bangor Bay is a very interesting piece of water, at present we are looking forward to some of your big ships, they will be so close inshore at our favourite seat there that we will hear the human voice on board if the weather is still.

We haven’t heard from Daisy [4] for years and we don’t know a thing about her but have written now for her Golden Wedding which will be Friday the 20^th of this month.

Well my dear Josephine I am happy to say that Isa’s health and my own is excellent, there is not much that we have to complain of and a great deal we have to rejoice in and be thankful for; and apropos your reference to Romans VIII, V.38 & 39,[5] I enclose a cutting from my morning paper, Belfast News Letter of 14/4/52.[6]

Our warmest love to you and all the family.

Your affectionate brother
Sam

NOTES:

1. This letter was addressed to Mrs. C. G. Brandon, Apt 15C Stewart Drive, De Ridder, Louisiana, USA, and the context here indicates that Josephine Brandon and Adelaide Cross had only recently moved to De Ridder from Shreveport. I remember their apartment in De Ridder as I stayed there with Great-Grandmother Brandon and Grandmother Cross in the week or so surrounding the birth of my brother, Charles Brandon Kelly. It was a rather small apartment, cramped, and not terribly comfortable, as I recall, but that might be just the subjective view of a nine year old girl who was used to running around like a wild Indian in a detached home and yard. Josephine Elder Brandon, in her letter to her brother reported the new domicile in glowing terms if his response is at all indicative of the original letter. It is frustrating to have only one side of the correspondence. [Return to Letter]
   
   
2. Wilhelmina Elder Simpson, the youngest sister, married a man young enough to be her grandson and the marriage does not appear to have been a happy one. This match is still a scandal among the older residents of Inch. [Return to Letter]
   
   
3. Strahack is located on Inch, northeast of The Grove, which is in Carnaghan Upper. There was once a flax mill at Strahack and there is an interdenominational graveyard there. [Return to Letter]
   
   
4. Alexandria (Daisy) Elder Elliott was disowned by her father for marrying Will Elliott. I was never clear on exactly why this was but got the impression that it was because Will Elliott was career army. The name Elliott is associated with several army rolls in N. Ireland and after they were wed Daisy and Will lived in England. Their father’s disapproval of Daisy’s spouse does not seem to have prevented the siblings from staying in touch with their sister, although, at the time this letter was written it is obvious that frequent communication was not the rule of the day. [Return to Letter]
   
   
5. "For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord." [Return to Letter]
   
   
6. NEWS VALUE – Dean and reporter’s request: The Dean of Chichester (the Very Rev. A. S. Duncan-Jones) ,preaching in Chichester Cathedral yesterday, advocated “the news value” of Christianity. “Yesterday morning,” he said, “I had a revealing experience when I was rung up by an unknown journalist. This journalist explained that it would save him a great deal of trouble if I would let him know what my sermon was to be about. If it was ‘just this theological stuff,’ he said, it would have no news value.”
   
   “Perhaps he was right,” the Bishop said. “This ‘theological stuff” has for many people no news value. The wiser and weightier papers think otherwise.
   
   “On the other hand, it is true that more and more are beginning to understand that it is just because they have not got any ‘theological stuff’ that they are so bewildered and so tempted to despair.
   
   “What Easter Day says to us is ‘Christ is risen.’ He has conquered death and sin. He has opened up the vista of an endless and victorious life.
   
   “That is why Easter Day has ‘news value – the best news in the world.’” [Return to Letter]