PostalPast
← Back to browse

Legend of the Spanish Moss poem card, circa 1935

Subjects
Boating & CanoeingComics & HumorForests & Trees
Card type
Linen
Date
c. 1930 (White Border)
Front of Legend of the Spanish Moss poem card, circa 1935, E.W. Skjellet, NC, USA, c. 1930 linen postcard
Front
Back of Legend of the Spanish Moss poem card, circa 1935, E.W. Skjellet, NC, USA, c. 1930 linen postcard
Back

About this postcard

A moss-draped Southern water scene — bearded trees hung with long gray Spanish moss over a still pond dotted with lily pads, a single figure poling a small boat at lower right — serves as the backdrop for a scroll bearing the comic verse "Legend of the Spanish Moss." The poem invents a mock-etymology in which the moss is the beard of a Spanish pursuer, Don Goror Goz, snagged in a tree while chasing an Indian maid. Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is in fact a flowering bromeliad native to the southeastern United States and tropical America, and such whimsical "legend" verses were a popular staple of early twentieth-century souvenir cards.

Postcard Details

Message · English, in pen

Dear Lou, [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible]

PublisherCurt Teich & Co.
Legend of the Spanish Moss Rough, old meanie that he was, From Spain came Don Goror Goz. As he cast a wary eye about A pretty lass espied this lout. He bought her—this Indian maid— For a cake of soap, a yard of braid The grieving beauty fled with cause For tarnished braid indeed it was. Gorez pursued both hard and fast Until she climbed a tree at last. As Gorez followed her he leered How those branches caught his beard The beard remains, but Gorez has gone And still the tale goes on and on. What an ominous warning it should be To see Spanish Moss hang from a tree. A cake of soap and a yard of braid May be enough to win some maid Look, though, swain, and make thou sure The braid is clean, untarnished—pure! —P. M. L. © CURT TEICH & CO., INC. OB-H756 --- POST CARD C.T. ART-COLORTONE" REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. CHICAGO
PostmarkedOctober 19, 1944
Stamp
Addressed to
E.W. Skjellet

Camp Lejeune, NC

Postcard record

Postmarked
PublisherCurt Teich & Co.
SeriesOB-H756
ConditionGood
Place addressedE.W. Skjellet, Marine Barracks, Camp Lejeune, NC
PublisherCurt Teich & Co., Chicago, IL
Stamp1c George Washington, green, perforated on all sides
NotesLinen-textured stock with visible canvas grain; image runs to the edges with no white border; light edge and corner wear. Postmark: OCT 19 P.M. 1944. Divided-back linen-textured card (C.T. Art-Colortone, Chicago); 1¢ green Washington stamp; message written sideways in blue ink, largely illegible; blue ink smudges along bottom edge.

Cite this card

Legend of the Spanish Moss poem card, circa 1935, postcard, c. 1930. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/legend-of-the-spanish-moss-poem-card-circa-1935. Accessed October 25, 2026.