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The Lace Handkerchief

I don’t know how Mr. Hudson Lamb would have known that Mother would so love a dainty lace handkerchief. But then again I suppose it was Mr. Lamb’s mamma that picked it out.

When Mother opened the package she was beside herself with glee.

“Imagine this Grace! This beautiful lace handkerchief came for me. Oh how would darling Mrs. Lamb have known how much this would mean to me? We really don’t know each other well. Grace, did you have something to do with this?”

I smiled coyly, remembering the day I shared with Hudson my mother’s fondness for dainty things, like lace and embroidery, tatting and finely sewn things. He surely shared with his mamma that bit of information, for the handkerchief Mother now held in her hands was precisely the type of thing she would never buy for herself, but something she would have admired in shop windows.

I recall reading something about a Handkerchief Bazaar, held in Kansas I believe. I don’t remember much of what was written about it, except the lines that stuck in my head, imploring people to send in handkerchiefs to be sold in a church bazaar. I remember it said “To be without a handkerchief you know is quite distressing, from every state let one be sent ‘twill surely be a blessing.”

I wonder if the church received those handkerchiefs. I’m sure it would have been a lovely sight, seeing them all displayed, each a little treasure of its own.

But now Mother has her own little treasure. I must write Hudson to thank him for remembering our little conversation.

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