Hankies

Sorting through my mother's things, I have come across a few "hankies." Though I remember using them as a child, paper tissues took over the market sometime during my growing-up years, and handkies were left behind.

But I do have childhood memories of being reminded - as I headed out the door: Don't forget your hankie!














Souvenirs of another era...

I wonder: Were these fancy lace handkerchiefs, meant to be used...? Perhaps only to dab one's eyes!














This one has delicate hand-made lace.














My mother's "hankie collection" also has two synthetic ones - one blue and one white - definitely too rough to wipe one's nose with!

What were they used for?!














The white one, a souvenir of Victoria, British Columbia, in particular fascinates me.














Did my mother buy it when - as a young woman during World War II - she took the train from Alberta to visit a young man she had met while teaching up north? Was her soldier-boyfriend being sent overseas? Had she gone to Victoria to say "Good-bye"?

I'll probably never know. But I do remember my father occasionally teasing her about this part of her past!...

Had she purchased this handkerchief as a souvenir? Perhaps to wave at the dock when he sailed away? Or to wave "Good-bye" out the window, as her train pulled out of the station... just like in old movies?!

I wonder... But of course, I'll never know!