Legend of the Spanish Moss poem card, Florida, 1944

Subjects: Boating & Canoeing Comics & Humor Forests & Trees
Card type: Linen
Date: c. 1944 (Linen)

Back of Legend of the Spanish Moss poem card, Florida, 1944, E.W. Skjellet, NC, USA, c. 1944 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, with a single figure poling a small boat at lower right. A scroll carries the comic verse "Legend of the Spanish Moss." The poem invents a mock-etymology for the plant: Don Gorez Goz, a Spanish pursuer, buys an Indian maid for a cake of soap and a yard of braid, chases her up a tree, and leaves his beard caught in the branches. The final stanzas turn the tale into a warning to suitors about clean, untarnished braid. Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is actually a flowering bromeliad native to the southeastern United States and tropical America, and whimsical legend verses like this were a common souvenir-card staple in the early twentieth century.

Postcard Details

Message · English, in pen

Dear Lou, Rec'd your card of Oct. 15 to day thanks. Well it looks like we are going to get it to morrow. The Hurricane is going to hit Florida to morrow between Fort Myers and Tarpon Springs. It supposed to have full hurricane force in the [illegible] 120-140 miles p. hour. Lets hope it changes his way, did not [illegible] Love from Ethel

PublisherCURT TEICH & CO., INC.

Legend of the Spanish Moss Rough, old meanie that he was, From Spain came Don Gorez 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.

PostmarkedOctober 19, 1944

Addressed to

E.W. Skjellet

Marine Barracks Camp Lejeune, NC

Postcard record

Postmarked	October 19, 1944
Publisher	CURT TEICH & CO., INC.
Series	0B-H756 88 F—TROPICAL FLORIDA SERIES
Condition	Good
Place addressed	E.W. Skjellet, Marine Barracks, Camp Lejeune, NC
Publisher	CURT TEICH & CO., INC., Chicago, IL
Stamp	1c George Washington, green, issued 1938, perforated on all sides
Stamp	1c George Washington, green, perforated on all sides
Notes	Linen-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 (Curt Teich & Co., Inc., "C.T. Art-Colortone," Chicago); 1¢ green Washington stamp; message written sideways in blue ink, partly illegible, signed "Love from Ethel" and describing a hurricane approaching Florida; blue ink smudges along bottom edge; pencil notation "OCT 23/44" at top of back, likely a received date.

Cite this card

Legend of the Spanish Moss poem card, Florida, 1944, postcard, c. 1944. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/legend-of-the-spanish-moss-poem-card-florida-1944. Accessed November 2, 2026.