It would be fair to say that over the years my mother did in fact utilize forms of coded messages (or other overtly odd notes, statements, instructions, letter-writing and documents) in a variety of her writings.
That said, what was contained in her young diaries/writings which I have in my possession, provide a basis of both intrigue, statements open to interpretation and clear evidences of both her high intelligence, wit, musical abilities and interest in forms of word-play. It doesn’t surprise me that other family members might have viewed her as particularly odd.
I might even speculate that my mother experienced some type of differing head-start of sorts by being the only one of the John Curry Linger siblings that was essentially raised her first three years by a (maternal) Aunt before being returned into that Linger homestead/parental/sibling environment. I have reason to believe that the high education, high intelligence and emotional IQ may have come more through Mary Effie Carter (Linger) rather than through the often-described traits of their school-teaching father, but, who knows.
This is simply my own subjective speculation based on my observations through the years and written family history/objective facts.
Like my father’s mother and the Grimm family in general, collectively–who were also known for their pursuits as teachers and Christian ministers–there seems to be a lot of written evidence that this may have been the case for my maternal ancestors through my grandmother, Mary Effie. The Carter Family and their ancestors seem to have documented traits, abilities and other things associated with Christian faith, high education, opportunities and wealth.
I do mention that there were also ministers in the Slifer family were equally known as gentle, kind and godly people, and ministers on that side as well. I suppose if I continued digging through the massive family history collection of relations/writings/photos/documents/family stories assembled in the 1970’s by Judge James Carter who lived in California and did extensive and amazing work in this realm, or other available resources, perhaps I might learn more of the family heritage/family culture of previous generations that produced a man like what I’m able to subjectively discern of my grandfather, John Curry Linger.
But for now, this is where I am in my journey.
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That was a somewhat long introduction into the main entree of this piece!
My mother, like many women of yesteryears and some even today, was quite skillful at shorthand. I don’t know whether her siblings or parents knew shorthand, but she surely did. I also can’t say if her intent to fill a diary given to her (according to the inscription) by a high school teacher that was started mid-way through her senior year and written entirely in shorthand reflected my mother’s desire to intentionally keep her young thoughts and observations private, or whether it was to build her short-hand skills, or likely, both.
Back in 2017 I had inquired on Facebook if anyone I knew could translate shorthand. A couple friends came forward–fellow high school alumni who had taken business classes–but I then learned that a good friend’s mother who was in her 80’s (and as I’ve chatted with her, learned of her own high intelligence, saavy and quick-wit) was very adept at short-hand, having used it career-wise for a number of years.
She seemed excited and delighted to tackle the translating of my mother’s high school diary, and included a very personal and sweet note to me when she sent it all back, neatly written in a bound notebook. She did tell me that with shorthand, it helps to understand names that might get repeated, since there are general strokes but like one’s hand-writing, unique adaptions and abbreviations one might adopt.
My mother continued into her college diaries (and sometimes even used shorthand in my growing-up years) to occasionally write in this mysterious visual codes of sorts. About 6-8 weeks ago I reached out to my friend’s mother again, sending her a photocopy of one particular page in the 1946 diary I was certain might contain some sort of interesting hidden message!
My friend’s mom gave me a surprise phone call days later on a Sunday morning, to tell me she had cracked the message, and, that once she figure it out, she laughed. Though she is younger than my mother, she also remembered the original reference. She and I had such a good talk by phone that morning about various things, and I do hope to soon get other shorthand things to her for translation.
When I learned what it was my mother had notated, it not only made me smile but gave me yet another glimpse into who she was prior to others deciding to assert power over her that may have permanently harmed not only who she was–but whom she might have become.
From transcripts obtained from WVU, it appears my mother was not interested in pursuing a degree in business, but in music. For a number of reasons, this was quite eye-opening and even endearing to me, thickening the plot of seemingly strange events she found herself in, the spring of 1946.
I have many indications that my mother loved/appreciated going to films, singing in choirs, band/piano instruction and much more. She must have listened to a lot of radio, and possibly had seen the creative commercials for cigarettes that would have been featured in a theatre. These commercials had musical jingles and unique artistic animation, and I suppose her mind found some reason to attempt capturing one in particular.
It is also possible since the first black-and-white TV’s were sold in 1936, that the home she rented a room from in Morgantown had a TV. Who knows. From the sound of things, I would be surprised if the Linger Family homestead had a TV at that point–but anything is possible I suppose.
The translator realized what LSMFT meant, and there are repeated parts in shorthand indicating the words “clap, clap.”
With that, enjoy!
Thank You For Reading
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