Heart And Hand by Stephen Bly & Podcast

Old West Romance and Mail Order Brides

Countless stories have been told about bachelors in the Old West. We hear of mail order brides. It did happen fairly often. And with good reason. After the Civil War, few eligible men existed in the East for the surplus of women and widows. And the wild West had a shortage of ladies. This led to such means as the Heart and Hand Magazine, published by a matrimonial bureau.

Many a cowboy spent a cold winter day or night flipping through the Heart and Hand pages. And his simple, straightforward way of looking at life, he believed all those lovely descriptions. After all, anything in print had to be true.

East Meets West

A series of letters began, perhaps started as a lark, written out of loneliness and a desire to hear from the states. At some point the cowboy found himself driving a buckboard fifty miles to meet a lady love. She often turned out to be unlike her photograph. Of course, the cowboys could disappoint too. Not many turned out to be such a wonderful treasure of handsome.

The women who traveled west came to be known as heart and hand brides. Most of us marvel anyone would resort to such a system. Yet, I wonder, was it all that bad? If the couple entered into honest and open correspondence, a potential solid foundation for a relationship transpired. Don’t we agree a person’s inward mind, soul, and spirit is the most important fact about them?

Inward Beauty

1 Peter 3:3,4 says, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

How do you learn about that inner self? Through very long conversations. This can be done by letter or phone. I’ve got a feeling that twelve thoughtful letters equal two years of dates at the pizza parlor.

I’m not advocating we re-introduce Heart And Hand Magazine. However, any system that helps folks get to know what’s really inside another person would advance any relationships.

Stephen Bly

Circa 1989

Ink Pen Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
Letter & Lady Image by Anna Veronika from Pixabay

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“Heart And Hand” audio podcast by award-winning western author Stephen Bly. Sponsored by BlyBooks.com Legacy Series.

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