[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The original report on this in the Washington Post included a quote from a handwriting expert who said the entire inscription was written by the same person.

This can only mean that Nelson wrote the whole thing. LOL.

There is another possibility. It has been speculated that the original was written by someone named “Ray.” Originally I discounted that, figuring it was either Moore or Nelson who wrote it. But TigerClaws made what I consider an incisive point.

The text of the inscription (at least of the color of ink which matched “Merry Christmas”) is said to go,

"To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say Merry Christmas. Love, Roy

You gotta admit, that is clunky. But if you read it “Ray” rather than “Roy” it is different.

"To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say Merry Christmas. Love, Ray

I’m not saying it reminds me of Walt Whitman or anyone, but it is a rhyme.

And I confess that, to my eye, the script “ay” in “say” does not look all that different from the putative “oy” in “Roy.”

If indeed both parts of the inscription were written by the same person, I wonder if it was not indeed Nelson’s classmate Ray (and there is one, still living).

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I said:

If indeed both parts of the inscription were written by the same person, I wonder if it was not indeed Nelson’s classmate Ray Brooks