I met M. as an inquiring tour guide who helped me with the adaptation of one of my books about Budapest. When we met by chance, it turned out that he abandoned this, as the family rope factory has take up all his time. The family has been dealing with this since the 1860s, and until 1971 everything was done manually. M. belongs to the fifth generation of rope manufacturers. I didn't see the factory, but a few weeks ago, he showed me the company's shop in Óbuda. I marveled of how many strings, cords, ropes were on display.

Everything you can imagine, from the national coloured cord used by lawyers/solicitors for authentification, to the arm-thick boat ropes. (In this market, you also have to deal with the snobbishness of the hungarian shipmens, who are only interested in the foreign brand, they don’t care about the best price-quality ratio.

As an eager reader of Vademecum, he knows how interested I am in the past (as well), he brought with him some old pictures and documents about the history of his family and the factory. Of these, a letter and a photograph caught me the most.

The letter was written on the 21^st of February  1930 by M.'s great-grandfather, rope manufacturer Ferenc Gaál, on his own business letterhead.

The letter, written with the appearance that shames the most sophisticated school teachers, reads:

“Dear godmom and goodie!

The esteem, deep respect, and the friendly affection  I have always had for your person and husband, your precious family, now that you have reached the 25th anniversary of your happy marriage by the great Grace of God, I greet you with love and ask god's blessing for your further happiness.

Musing on the adversity, and often thorny, tribulations of human life, how much disappointment there is in one's life, the unfulfilled hopes of what a peaceful-happy nest is in the midst of the thunderstorms of life, which is a lovely oasis, this peaceful-happy nest called home! When the tender Married One, the smiles of innocent children, disband from our bellies the care-insatiated grooves ploughed into his "life"!

I ask the Lord of heaven to give you many bright, joyful happy years. Protect me from all harm, from danger. To raise the greatest beauty of your hearts, your dear children, into useful members of human society, which is the greatest desire and happiness of any good Parent.

Keep my little person to him (thus!) in your friendly good will.

Ferenc Gaál and his wife welcome you and think of you with love."

As I copied the letter, I couldn't help but think that 89 years ago, there were many types of leaf books. It is out of the question that Ferenc Gaál had one at his fingertips. If there weren't three corrections to the text, it would have occurred to me that he asked someone to copy the text. So I'm just staring at his handwriting, the regular lines, the text that's filling out the page. The circa signature.

It reminds me: where could this country have been in literacy, economic success, if it had not been for all that and could have developed organically?

All this is underlined by the photograph: the father and son who wrote the attached letter stand opposite the camera.

The child is learning from his father the self-respecting look. It looks good on a pro rata temp.

Published in issue 705 of the Vademecum Newsletter. 14/05/2019 Author: András Török Newsletter Writer

The sample shop of Galco Rope Manufacturing and Distribution Ltd. in Óbuda: 3. district, 107 Lajos utca.