The Lost Letter

I suppose this was an important job, many of the minors would leave their families for months and literally live in the mines. My attention was grabbed by a letter that was framed on the wall by the door. I wondered why this letter was never delivered. It was addressed to Miss. Joanne Jamison, 2134 S 3rd St. Philadelphia, PA. It read:

March 26,1931

My Dearest Joanne

These mines are so lonely without you, Only one more month and you will be my bride. Meet me here in Myattburg on the 29th of April. I live for that now, and have the need to see your shining smile every day. It won’t be long my love until we are one. Until then my life has no meaning.

Until we are together Your Love

Jonathan

The letter was from Jonathan Barber. One of the Barber’s who lived in the house that I was now occupying the third floor of. Just then Banny rattled the plate where I was sitting. My order was up and I strolled over to the bar and sat down again. As I sat there eating, I couldn’t help to wonder why this letter was never delivered. Maybe it didn’t have postage, maybe the address was wrong and it was returned. Who knows, but it was kind of sad that Miss Jamison never saw it. Banny was the owner of the Grill now so I called him over and thought he may know the answer to my question. He said that letter was found when the building was purchased thirty years ago. He believed it fell in a crack between the wooden floor boards which were now covered with a single sheet of linoleum. I ask if anyone ever tried to contact Miss Jamison? He told me he didn’t know, It was on the wall when he bought the place. After thoroughly enjoying my snack, I proceeded to leave the Grill, taking one last look at the letter on the wall. Slowly I walked toward my home. I couldn’t get the thought of this letter off on my mind. I remembered it word for word and even the name and address of who it was meant to be with. That evening I had much trouble sleeping, I don’t know why this letter upset me so much, there was nothing that could be done about it, but I still had this unsettled and driving urge to find out more about it. The morning finally came after a long unsettled night of deciding my plan of attack to solve this mystery I uncovered last night. It was Saturday, I didn’t have to work, so I set off to the library to do some research about Jonathan Barber. This time I drove into town, it was about 10:00 A.M. when the library opened and I had about an hour to kill. So I went to the local graveyard where all the Barbers were buried. There I saw a large gravestone with about six Barber names on it, one of which was Jonathan. It said "Jonathan Amos Barber born April 10, 1910 - died March 27th 1931’ One day after he wrote the letter to Joanne. Twenty one years old, what a pity I thought. After writing down the information I just read, I drove to the library and started my research into his death. I went through several old newspapers of the time, most of which were filled with adds and editorials about the world coming to an end. Until I fumbled across the newspaper from the date of Jonathan’s death.