Letter written in Maine 83 years ago delivered

SKOWHEGAN, Maine (AP) — A letter written by a Maine school teacher in 1931 to her mother 150 miles away has finally been delivered — 83 years later.

Twenty-three-year-old Miriam McMichael sent the nine-page letter from Houlton to Dollena McMichael in Pittsfield. Both women have since died.

The letter was lost and only recently found at the Pittsfield post office. Postal worker Michelle Rowell found it and tells the Morning Sentinel she knew it was old because of the 2-cent stamp.

The postmaster and town officials tracked down the family, and the letter is now in the hands of 69-year-old Ann MacMichael, of Cornville, Miriam's niece and Dollena's granddaughter. The spelling of the family name has changed.

MacMichael says the irony is that the writer apologizes for not writing sooner.

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Information from: Morning Sentinel, http://www.onlinesentinel.com/

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World War I-era love letter from U.S. soldier to his girl goes up for auction

Photo courtesy Hansons Auctioneers and Valuers LTD

Let's hear it for old-fashioned amour.

The most romantic tweet in the world couldn't hold a candle to this 100-year-old letter written by an American World War I soldier named Charles.

The letter, which included a pressed French poppy, is going up for auction at Hansons Auctioneers and Valuers in Derbyshire, U.K. Written on American YMCA paper, headlined "On Active Service with the American Expeditionary Force," the letter is as tender as it is mysterious. 

Text as follows:

Dearest Girl, I love you so, for your prayers and your love. If prayers will aide and they will God will take care of everything. Of course it is hard to understand this war in regards to the Lords will and means of protecting his people – but I guess it was not intended that we should understand.

In the meantime I must stop – sweet girl, I will be so careful and you must be good and write very often. Tell me everything as you do and let the French poppy which I am enclosing represent my kisses for you – dearest girl, all my love. Remember me to mother – yours Chas (more kisses).

On the auction's description page, auctioneer Charles Hanson said little is known about the author and even less is known about the woman it was sent to.

"We can be fairly sure — that the French poppy picked up by an American serviceman represents a latter battle of WWI, perhaps when victory was in sight," he wrote.

Historians believe that more than 8.5 million people were killed during World War I, including 116,000 Americans. There is no way to know if Charles was one of the many who lost their lives or if he made it home to his "dearest girl."

Follow Mike Krumboltz on Twitter (@mikekrumboltz).

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