• About

morselsandscraps

~ my Potato Point life

morselsandscraps

Category Archives: Spencer Albert Small

The purple ribbon

14 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by morselsandscraps in Spencer Albert Small

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

family legends, World War 1

“Of course Spencer never married. He left his heart with a girl in Belgium.” That was the family story about my great uncle.

So when I found a piece of purple ribbon in a pocket of his war-time wallet, it immediately confirmed the romance: he carried her hair ribbon through the war and preserved it all his life.  I imagined the fair-haired woman and the serious older soldier (Spencer was thirty when he enlisted) falling in love and then being separated by the intractability of war, the only legacy of their love a length of purple ribbon. Ninety years later, the creases are immutable, and the taffeta torn along the folds.

This version of the purple ribbon was unchallenged until last week. I’d been thinking about Spencer deeply on and off for a number of years and it seemed to be time to round off my research and move on to another project. I was looking through his wallet again, gently separating the newspaper clippings and dance cards, and poems and hymn sheets folded into small squares. They too were splitting along the folds.

I found this.

Suddenly the romantic story was eradicated, as family stories often are when they encounter reality. The purple ribbon was no longer a relic from a love affair, but a lucky charm against passions and evil influences.

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • January 2015
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • July 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011

Categories

  • about blogging
  • archaeology
  • art
  • Australian native orchids
  • Australian wildflowers
  • autobiography
  • beach
  • Black and White Sunday
  • boating
  • books
  • botany
  • Canberra
  • city
  • confession
  • confessions
  • country towns
  • Eurobodalla bush
  • Eurobodalla National Park
  • farewells
  • fire
  • Four Winds Festival, Bermagui
  • fungi
  • illustration
  • journeys
  • last post
  • learning Polish
  • Matisse
  • memoir
  • memories
  • memory
  • movies
  • museums
  • music
  • musings
  • National Parks
  • nature
  • novels
  • occasional pieces
  • on the beach
  • orchids
  • paperbark
  • photography
  • photos
  • phototheme
  • plants
  • Poland
  • Poland in Australia
  • Potato Point
  • Potato Point beach
  • return to Warsaw
  • ruminations
  • sculpture
  • seasonal celebration
  • short stories
  • small pleasures
  • somethng new
  • South Jemison's beach
  • Spencer Albert Small
  • street art
  • Swamp fire trail
  • Thursday's special
  • travel
  • travel theme
  • Tuross River
  • twins
  • Uncategorized
  • video
  • walking
  • words
  • wrong again!

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blogroll

  • A photographer explores suburbs of Sydney and beyond
  • An Australian living in Poland
  • Discuss
  • Get Inspired
  • Get Polling
  • Get Support
  • Learn WordPress.com
  • Theme Showcase
  • WordPress Planet
  • WordPress.com News

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • morselsandscraps
    • Join 98 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • morselsandscraps
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...