The Mail Box - October, 1988

Issue: October, 1988

Dear Folks,
Will you please send us a copy of your 32 page collection of BACKROADS TOURS as described in the ad in the April issue of The Mountain Laurel.

We enjoy your paper so very much and always say a prayer of thanks to each writer and contributor (read every word of the ads).

This paper is passed on to us each time by a friend who subscribes and goes down your way to play in the Bluegrass Festivals.

I'm disabled and "armchair travel" is my No. 1 hobby - especially in the Blue Ridge Area!

Many thanks for all,

Mrs. B.J. Leslie
Deckerville, Michigan

Dear Mountain Laurel,
My husband received a one years subscription to your great little paper. It is the best birthday gift he has ever gotten. It holds him spell bound until he reads every word, then he allows me to read it. I must say we both have lived a part of almost every story. We know what it means to dig out a living on a hill side farm.

I have been collecting Appalachian folk Lore of Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia for 60 years and your wonderful stories will be placed with my precious collection. I, being a relative of the late Appalachian novelist Jesse Stuart, have been blessed with a great access to Appalachian folk stories. I am in the processes of writing down my childhood days living on a farm in the foothills of Lee County, Virginia.

Thank you very much for the stroll down memory lane through the pages of The Mountain Laurel.

Sincerely,
Mrs. D. Mays
Bluefield, Virginia

Dear Susan,
About five years ago we bought our first Mountain Laurel from a restaurant in Meadows of Dan, Virginia and have been subscribing to it since. We enjoy it so much we don't want to miss a single issue.

We have sent it to several other friends and now are renewing it for our beautician and friend. She dearly loves reading all of it. A real time for her to relax.

We have a little mountain home on 611 near Meadows of Dan which we have been building ourselves. We come up every Friday night and stay until Sunday night year round. On Friday and Saturday nights we square dance with the mountain people and love each one of them. They come from so many different places far and near to get to be together.

Thanks again for The Mountain Laurel.

Sincerely,
O. & E. Ellington
Reidsville, North Carolina

Dear Mountain Laurel,
Last week my cousin brought me his copy of The Mountain Laurel for April. I don't know when I enjoyed a paper so much.

It brought back so many memories of days I spent as a nine year old child with my grandparents, Barney and Martha Thompson, and the good times Little Joe and I had riding the horses and playing around Grandpa's mill.

Also in The Mountain Laurel I found a picture of John Lynch, my uncle, also of my mother's family.

I turned 81 on April 17, so you all can see why I remember so much of the past.

My husband and I live in a retirement cottage at the United Methodist Home, Glenwood Park in Princeton. We are very happy here.

Sincerely,
E. L. Ramsey
Princeton, West Virginia

Dear Editor,
I am in the dairy supply business and call on farms in a wide area of Western North Carolina and Southwestern Virginia. I first read your paper while staying in Sparta, North Carolina and immediately fell in love with it! The stories are the most interesting and a part of our heritage that I am afraid will be lost forever if more efforts like yours are not made.

The "BACKROADS" commentary hits the nail on the head, and I am lucky that I travel those roads with my job. I spent too many years in another business that had me traveling too many miles on interstate highways and jet airplanes. Many a day I would be sailing down an interstate or flying at 30,000 feet, and see an interesting "Backroad" that I wondered what was on it and where it went, but unfortunately, I did not have the time to find out. I look forward to the longer days of summer so that I can explore the country more and still get to all the farms on schedule. Keep up the good work!

Sincerely,
Mr. B. Yow
Cleveland, North Carolina

Dear Ms. Thigpen,
It's renewal time again and I want to tell you how much we enjoy The Mountain Laurel.

Each issue is a personal trip down Memory Lane to the golden summer of my youth. In my mind's eye, I am once again visiting at Grandma's house, with all the sights and sounds of long ago. Where the wild plums and strawberries seemed always to be ripe, waiting to be picked for jelly, jam, pies or just eating; where the rooster's crowing was the alarm clock, Grandma's cooking was the very best, the paths to the outhouse the longest walk, and the whippoorwill's song, the sweetest lullaby.

I am always in anticipation of the next issue.

Sincerely,
P. Mize
Stuart, Virginia

Dear Friends at The Mountain Laurel,
There has never been a magazine or journal written that would measure up to the "Good Old" Mountain Laurel. I love it! That is why I am taking advantage of a bargain and renewing my subscription for three years.

Sincerely yours,
Mrs. B. L. Johnson
Randleman, North Carolina

Dear Mountain Folks,
Just a sincere note of encouragement from two distant cousins twice removed. We Love You! We were born in Greene County, Pennsylvania near Chestnut Ridge, the western ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. Our area was originally a part of Virginia. Our first removal was just after the Revolutionary War when the Mason-Dixon Line was established. Then our ancestors could still see the mountains of Virginia and hunt there. Later when the state of West Virginia was formed we were removed further! But even today the old-timers in Greene County are accused of having a southern accent.

May The Lord Bless You,

H. & A. Hathaway
Telford, Pennsylvania