An Unusual Letter from Cuba
James Lovegrove Marlin's
"Banana
Leaf" Letter
Contributed by Joan Eddy
Please Visit our Home Page
to learn more about the Spanish
American War
General:
This letter is interesting, not so much for the news it contains,
but
for the way it was done. James Lovegrove Marlin wrote a letter home on
a banana leaf! See the enlarged image below! The letter was written
October
25, 1898 to his mother, Mary Minerva Marlin.
In Cuba, paper began to be difficult for the troops to obtain.
Letters
were written on all sorts of scraps of available paper. James Marlin
was
a bit more innovative.
Text of the letter:
"Havana, Cuba
Dear Mother:
I take great pleasure in writing ------ (these? this from Cuba????)
I don't know how it will be when it gets up there I guess it will
be frozen but it will be a nice letter if it keeps you can press
it till it dries out.
There is not much news here everything is keeping quiet here.
We take a bath everyday in the fountain which is in the center of
the park.
I am going down to go through the marine barracks I may get
some relicks from there well I will come to a close did you get
the
pictures I sent up? Well this is all for the present"
Support this
Site
by Visiting the Website Store!! (help us
defray
costs!)
We are providing the
following
service for our readers. If you are interested in books, videos, CD's
etc.
related to the Spanish American War, simply type in "Spanish American
War"
(or whatever you are interested in) as the keyword and click on "go" to
get a list of titles available through Amazon.com.
Visit Main Page
for copyright data
