Album of the Heart ~ June 17, 1880

This poem from Miss Emma J. Prescott in Great Grandmother Flora's Album of the Heart has stymied my research efforts to find an author. Many of the Album entries have been attributable to authors other than the writer. I've been through every reference I could find from Poetical Selections from Celebrated Authors to the Album Writer's Friend. I've explored openlibrary.org and various anthologies, but there's no love at the Inn of Poetry.

May you be blessed with sweet content
In happiness your life be spent

May love and peace with you abide

And heaven ever be your guide

May you have always many friends
And reach the home that never ends

And with your treasure you'll find me

A friend that will forever be

Emma J. Prescott

San Juan South

Though Flora was born in San Francisco, she spent a good deal of time in San Juan, many of the entries cite San Juan along with the date. Perhaps Flora and Emma were friends from school or the Royal Honor Guards Dancing School.

Epiphany Isle

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TrueloveStudios

Doing a little research yesterday I found Emma's grave marker: Jan 1858-Dec 1922, a native of San Juan, daughter of William and Catherine Hobson Prescott. Then the middle of the night epiphany (who needs sleep anyway?). Great Grandmother Flora married a Hobson. Were Flora and Emma somehow related? Yet another mystery to unravel. This just keeps getting better and better. Stay tuned for further developments and needless to say if you can attribute the poem to an author please let me know. 

Album of the Heart ~ May 29, 1880

For a Friend 
from Leanna Johnson

Gilroy

In the good olden times, on the bark of a tree,

Friends would carve out their names, where smoothest it would be

On the rind of the bark, they would carve them so plain

The friends would depart, but their trace would remain,

When Spring, after Spring, would make green it's bed,

The names they had left, would continue to spread.

"If you can't find it here, you can't"

Yet better by far is the album I ween, 

where we scribble on white, to keep memory green,

The leaf is so large, we can write a whole song

And the book is so small, we can take it along.

We need not be roaming, our friends to recall,

But turn over the leaves, and we meet with them all.

I've been researching this entry in Great Grandmother Flora's Album on and off for months. Most of the poetic entries written in her Album are excerpts from published poets, but I can find no reference, no famous poet, no vaunted author associated with these wonderful words and clear imagery. Flora was 21 in 1880 so her friend Leanna was probably about the same age. Are these lines too world wise for a young woman? Who's to say, but regardless of who penned it, it was meant to be shared. If you know who the author is please let me know and I'll correct the attribution. 

The tree photo was taken on a walk at Maroon Bells in Aspen, CO in 1970's. I hope it's still standing tall in the forest. It would be interesting to see how the carvings changed with the growth of the tree. The pup in the background was my dog Charis, a black lab/golden retriever mix who never found a puddle he didn't like.  

Album of the Heart ~ March 13, 1874

From friend Fanny Johnson

 

I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

Researching the origins and authorship of this quote proved quite interesting. It is generally credited to Stephen Grellet, born Ettiene De Grellet du Mabillier (1773 -1855). He was the son of a counselor to King Louis XVI. 

During the French Revolution of 1792 he was sentenced to be executed, but in 1795 he escaped and fled to the United States. Impressed by the writings of William Penn and Quaker beliefs, he joined the Society of Friends in 1796 and became involved in missionary work across North America and Europe.

 

The quote, with a slight variation in wording, is also attributed to William Penn 1644-1718. He was born in London, the son of an admiral and landowner. He was educated in theology and law and was jailed several times for his resistance to the Church of England. In his twenties he converted to the Quaker religion. In 1681 he received a royal charter to form a new colony in America, to be named Pennsylvania. His vision for this territory was a peaceful refuge for members of all religious beliefs.  
 

In Cassell's Book of Quotations, published in 1914 by W. Gurney Benham, the author states that every effort to identify the author of this much quoted saying had failed. There seems to be some authority in favor of Stephen Grellet being the author, but the passage does not appear in any of his printed works.

There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something.

You certainly usually find something, if you look,

but it is not always quite the something you were after.

 

JRR Tolkien



Album of the Heart ~ February 27, 1871

To Sister Flora

 

We may write our names in albums,
We may trace them in the sand,

Or may chisel them in marble,
With a firm and skillful hand;
But the pages soon are sullied,
Soon each name will fade away,

Every monument will crumble,
And like earthly hopes decay.

 

But my friend there is an album,

Full of leaves of snowy white,

Where no name is ever tarnished,

But forever pure and light.

In that Book of Life ~ God's album

May your name be penned with care;

And may all who here have written,

Write their names forever there.
 

Sister _______

Research on the poem itself proved to be quite perplexing. I found it referenced in a number of (published on line) autograph books: Alice Rebecca Williamson from Bedias, TX 1890, Lizzie deBevoise from Jamaica, LI 1874, and Ida Jane Briggs Seely from Briggsville, PA 1885 to name a few.

Next I came upon a publication entitled "Poetical Selections for Autograph Albums" compiled by Marie Tomisetta for Sharps Publishing, Copyright 1881. The inside cover page states "Poetical Selections from Celebrated Authors, suitable for inscription in Autograph Albums". However, none of the poems were credited to their celebrated author.

Andrew Boyd

 

A new day dawns. Digging a little deeper I found "A Complete Military History and Record of 108th Regiment N.Y. Volunteers". The regiment fought many battles in the Civil War: including Antietam, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. The untitled poem is attributed to Captain Andrew H. Boyd, from Company H, and was written in his Civil War Diary on March 15, 1863.

I can't explain the signature "Sister ______". I recently found out that Great Grandmother Flora had two sisters, but Sarah (Sadie) and Lillian, were too young at the time, so the writer of this entry remains a mystery for now.

Album of the Heart ~ March 25, 1881

To Flora,

 

Remember me how few, how strong

These touching words, that little spell

What thoughts up rise, what visions swell
It wakened fancy's holiest cell

They tell of many a change to come

May every change bring joy to thee

In pleasures light or sorrows gloom
In bliss or woe, Remember me

 

Johnnie R. Sitchen

San Jose, CA

The words above were extracted from a longer poem entitled "Remember Me" by Prosper M. Wetmore (1798-1876). It was published in the Atlantic Souvenir, Philadelphia, October 1, 1831.

 

General Wetmore was a distinguished author and public servant, who worked in the New York legislature, the governor’s office, and the state militia. He was the first colonel of New York's crack Seventh Regiment.

 

Photo by Matthew Brady, 1857

 

I bring no chain of rarest worth,

No coral from the deep sea-cave,

Nor gem, long hid, within the earth,

To shine where now those tresses wave;

A gift more precious far is mine,

Than sparkling gem from earth or sea,

This treasury of thought ~ 'tis thine

The boon it asks ~ Remember me!

 

I may not here usurp the page,

To court the breath of fleeting fame;

Enough for me in after age,

If in thy memory dwells my name:

In after years, in distant climes,

Whate'er our future fate may be

A spell to call back by-gone times

Still dwelleth here ~ Remember me!

 

Remember me! How few ~ how strong

Those touching words, that little spell;

What thoughts uprise, what visions throng

In waken'd fancy's holiest cell!

They tell of many a change to come

May every change bring joy to thee!

In pleasure's light, or sorrow's gloom,

In bliss or woe ~ Remember me!



Album of the Heart ~ Undated Entry

Dear Flora,

 

May you live in joy forever,

Naught from thee true pleasure sever;

Joys be many, cares be few,

Smooth the path thou shalt pursue.

 

From your loving friend,

Katie Rogers
 

 
Live Joy 365
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShawnPetite
 

The lines are from the poem "To the Unknown Donor of a Bouquet" by John S. Adams 1704-1740.

 

Richest flowers of every hue,
Lightly fringed with evening dew;
Sparkling as from Eden's bowers,
Brightly tinted-beauteous flowers!
Thee I've found, and thee I'll own,
Though from one to me unknown;
Knowing this, that one who'll send
Such a treasure is my friend.
Who hath sent thee? Flora knows,
For with care she reared the rose.
Lo! here's a name!-it is the key
That will unlock the mystery;
This will tell from whom and why
Thou didst to my presence hie.
Wait-the hand's disguised!-it will
Remain to me a mystery still.
But I'm a "Yankee," and can "guess"
Who wove this flowery, fairy tress.
Yea, more than this, I almost know
Who tied this pretty silken bow,
Whose hand arranged them, and whose taste
Each in such graceful order placed.
Yet, if unknown thou 'dst rather be,
Let me wish this wish for thee:
May'st thou live in joy forever,
Naught from thee true pleasure sever;
From thy heart arise no sigh;
May no tear bedew thine eye.
Joys be many, cares be few,
Smooth the path thou shalt pursue;
And heaven's richest blessings shine
Ever on both thee and thine.
Round thy path may fairest flowers,
As in amaranthine bowers,
Bloom and blossom bright and fair,
Load with sweets the ambient air!
Be thy path with roses strewn,
All thy hours to care unknown;
Sorrow cloud thy pathway never,
Happiness be thine forever.

 

He was born in Nova Scotia and graduated from Harvard in 1721 at the age of 17. He was published in two volumes of poetry: A Collection of Poems by Several Hands (1744), and Poems on Several Occasions (1745).

 

In "The Other John Adams 1705-1740" published in 1969, author Benjamin Franklin V, takes an in depth look at this significant American figure of the 1720s, a decade when culture was changing from primarily religious to secular. 



Album of the Heart ~ October 1, 1880

"As gold more brilliant from the fire appears,

Thus friendship brightens by the length of years."

 

Yours Constantly,

Adelaide Breen
San Juan, CA

 

Gold Fire

https://www.etsy.com/shop/FineArtPrintsUK



This short poem written in Great Grandmother Flora's album is attributed to Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881). He was a Scottish philosopher, satirist, historian, teacher and controversial social commentator. He had a lifelong friendship with Ralph Waldo Emerson.

 

His first major work, written in 1831, was Sartor Resartus. It was intended to be both fact and fiction, serious and satirical, speculative and historical. Ironically it forced the reader to confront the problem of where the truth was to be found. Sounds a bit like today's media machine.

 

His most well known work was Frederick the Great. Emerson considered it the wittiest book that was ever written. James Russell Lowell wrote "The figures of most historians seem like dolls stuffed with bran, whose substance runs out through any hole that criticism may tear in them; but Carlyle's are so real in comparison, that, if you prick them, they bleed."  Might be time to revisit history with a more experienced perspective.

This portrait of Thomas Carlyle was done by James McNeill Whistler in 1872-73. I'm also doing research on Adelaide Breen and may have found a connection to her family tree, the quest continues.
 

 

Album of the Heart ~ January 7, 1882

To Flora

 

"Tis education that forms the common mind,

Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined."

"Do good by stealth

and blush to find it fame."

 

Yours truly, L.G White

San Francisco

 

Tree Spirit

https://www.etsy.com/shop/seanandrewmurray

 

The quotes above are from Alexander Pope (1688-1744). He was an 18th-century English poet and satirist best known for his poem The Rape of the Lock and his translation of Homer's Iliad. His epigrams are some of the most frequently quoted passages in the English language.

 

I don't know if L.G. White was part of Flora's family or a friend. I've found nothing so far, but will be digging further into the family tree this winter so perhaps another mystery will be solved. Half the fun of this project is the research involved: the love of the chase, a chance to learn something new, and finding insight into my Great Grandmother's 19th century world.

Album of the Heart ~ May 27, 1880

From me you want something original

I'd write it if I could with vim

But there's nothing original in me

Excepting "original sin"

 

Unsigned

Royal Honor Guards Dancing School

San Juan, CA

Artist Lover

This unsigned entry leaves much to the imagination. I can find no connection to a published poem. Perhaps these are the words of a young man, who may have been a dance partner or a friend from school, too shy to sign his name. Flora was 21 at the time. Sometimes the magic is in the mystery.

 

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

Albert Einstein

The lithograph "Artist Lover" is from the Album of the Heart. There are two names: De la Roche and J. A. Rolph inscribed on the bottom of the page.

 

J.A. Rolph or John A. Rolph was the engraver of the lithographed artwork. He was born in Essex, England in 1799 and emigrated to NY in 1833. His varied subject matter spanned the globe. Many canvases of American artists were preserved in black and white lithographs done by Rolph and his brother engravers. He died in Brooklyn in 1862. De la Roche may have been French painter Paul Delaroche (1797-1856) but I can find no direct connection between the two.

Album of the Heart ~ June 18, 1880

To a Friend

When years have passed away

And change is brought to thee,

I'd have this slight memorial claim

A single thought for me,

And as you glance this album o'er

Where fond thoughts are enshrined,

Let memory's voice in whisper low,

Speak to thee of friends and time.

Your Friend

Ella E. Burnett

San Juan, Cal.

 

The lithograph is from the Album of the Heart. The actual title is "Bridal Wreath" but I saw two friends, old and young, sharing some moments in time. The beauty of art is that it is always open to interpretation. I researched the poem and could find no reference to an author other than Ella. 

Album of the Heart ~ May 21, 1880

 

On the broad highway of action

Friends of worth are far and few

So when one has proved his friendship

Cling to him who clings to you

Lines to a Friend, Eva Wheaton, Soquel, California

Many of the entries in Great Grandmother Flora's Album of the Heart are not original writings, but rather excerpts from poems and songs. Here is the original poem:

Cling to Those Who Cling to You  

There are many friends of summer

Who are kind while flowers bloom

But when winter chills the blossoms

They depart with the perfume

On the broad highway of action

Friends of worth are far and few

So when one has proved his friendship

Cling to him who clings to you

 

Do not harshly judge your brother

Do not deem his life untrue

If he makes no great pretensions

Deeds are great though words are few

Those who stand amid the tempest

Firm as when the skies are blue

Will be friends while life endureth

Cling to those who cling to you

 

When you see a worthy brother

Buffeting the stormy main

Lend a helping hand fraternal

Till he reach the shore again

Don't desert the old and tried friend

When misfortune comes in view

For he then needs friendship's comforts

Cling to those who cling to you

 

Spring Dresses and Hats

https://www.etsy.com/shop/FabianArts
 

What I find interesting is that ownership of the poem is attributed to a number of authors. And, it's been printed in an interesting array of books and journals. Eva's entry was dated May of 1880 so the earlier citation seems the most reasonable.

• Utah Magazine, The Home Journal of the People, Volume 3, Oct 1869 ~ poem attributed to Dexter Smith
• Standard Book of Song for Temperance Meetings and Home Use, National Temperance Publication Depot, London, Editor T. Bowick, 1878 ~ poem attributed to D. Smith
• Poems for Odd Fellows and Rebekahs, editor W.J. Slater, 1898 ~ Poem attributed to D.M.G.
• Historical Sketches of the Royal Highlanders, author Reverend J.B. Sharp, Volume 1, 1901 ~ poem attributed to or "clipped by" Della Rohrer
• The Railroad Telegrapher, Volume 31, Part 2, published by the Order of Railroad Telegraphers, Jul 1914 ~ poem attributed to Harold C. Keyes
• Boilermaker's Journal, Volume 27, Jan 1915 ~ Poem attributed to Harold C. Keyes

Though the poem was written in the 19th Century, the message is as timeless today as it was then. Flora and Eva were in their early twenties at the time and may have known each other since childhood.

Album of the heart ~ October of 1873

Power and wealth and fame

Are but as weeds upon Life's troubled tide;

Give me but these, a spirit's tempest-tried

A brow unshrinking, and a soul of flame,

The joy of conscious worth, 

It's courage and it's pride!

This entry in Flora's Album of the Heart was by one of her school teachers, Mrs. Ida Sutherland. With some research I found the lines were excerpted from a poem by Robert T. Conrad called the Pride of Worth, cited in an article in Graham's Monthly Magazine, Volume 25, Philadelphia, June 1844, No. 6.

Robert T. Conrad

 

He was a man of many facets: attorney, judge, editor, poet, and playwright. He was elected the first mayor of Philadelphia in 1844. In 1852 he published a volume entitled Aylmere, or the Bondman of Kent, and other Poems, the principal poems being “The Sons of the Wilderness,” a meditative poem on the wrongs and misfortunes of the North American Indians. 

Doors are to be opened, lands are to be explored; destinations are but second fiddle to the journey. Talk to your elders and celebrate your history, you never know what you'll find along the way. 



Album of the Heart ~ Dec 26, 1873

 

An Epic

Pleasant Recollections

 

Oh! Flora,

Do you remember the evening,

When we departed for Mirasole's Academy?

Be when it may, it has found a place

Where precious things can ne'r erase

Mine that deep fathomless spot I claim

Flora in that ever thine abode you may maintain.

 

Tell the world that night can ne'r be recalled!

Me in heart does awaken such a truth

Shall we enjoy many eve in happy calm.

I can not doubt that the stars proclaim all in sooth.

Wait and we will more good things disclose

For all you will believe, being of such reality,

Thee no other shall find there, much enclosed;

Do say yes! when you hear of so a faithful immortality!

 

I believe you can not doubt in your heart;

Will all be mine if you so pleasant words still define;

Be what they will they came to pass and not to part

Thine such real thoughts truly have great incline.

 

And when we at tea did depart home ward bound,

That moment filled us with many sweet recollections of the past;

Forever shall in our future life such pleasant thoughts still resound

Too great is our life after experience of such a cast!

 

Good Flora:
Yours forever:

Charles W. Lieb
Friday Evening, December 26, 1873

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

According to the Online Archives of California (OAC) Mirasole's Academy was in San Francisco, circa 1870's. My friend Margo Metegrano found a reference under California Business Ephemera that it may have been a dance school.

The lithograph is from the Album of the Heart. The accompanying quote "Catch the white-handed nymph in shady places. To woo sweet kisses from averted faces" is from the poem "Sleep and Poetry" by John Keats, where he talks of the gods Flora and Pan. What I find truly interesting is that Flora was but 14 years old in 1873.


Album of the Heart ~ Undated Entry

To Miss Flora

Is there one pleasant word or passing thought,

The joy of which you fain would cherish

Then why not here without alloy,

Preserve them where they will not parish

Within the Album.

 



Fond recollections of the past,

Our present troubles oft dispel.

Where e'er in life, our lot be cast,

Kind memory throws her magic spell,

Around the Album.

Would you then from memory's store,

Retain one golden drop of pleasure.

The names, the works, of Friends of Yours

Preserve and ever fondly treasure,

Within the Album.

Gideon

 

The lithograph "Dreaming" is from a painting by Brussels native Joseph Coomans (1816-1889). It's from an book I was given entitled "Famous Pictures" published in 1902. 

 

"The dream of Joseph Coomans' Pompeian maiden is evidently one of those which come by day to young ladies not insensible to the sentiment of love."

 

I just opened the book to a random page and there she was, the perfect vision for the poem to my great grandmother from the mysterious Gideon. 

Album of the Heart Series ~ Dated 1872

This lithograph is the first page of Great Grandmother Flora's commonplace book. The poem below was simply signed by "W". My guess is that it was written by someone in her family. Flora was only 13 at the time and these are definitely words of advice.

The Miniature

 

Two pages back, Dear Flora, 

A miniature. Behold!

 

The morn of life, the Aurora

Where two hearts are now unrolled.

The man has seized with pleasure,

The lockets from the maid,

While the casket, where the treasure

In safety once was laid

Is still in her own keeping

As hopeful now she waits,

While in each bosom sleeping

The thoughts that seal both fates.

 

So Flora is your young life,

Your heart a treasure shrined,

Will guard you mid the dangers rife

In you the true path find.

 

Go seek this path, this treasure,

To learn where you may rove,

Make life a Holy pleasure

And win a mother's love,

No richer Boon to child e'er given

than Mother's love

A Gift from Heaven
 

The world without will spread it's snare

Wherever you may roam.

Trust not the world, tis false. Beware!

Your Safety ~ Mother ~ Home

 

Then if in future years you bear

The name of Wife and Mother,

Your mother's Counsels you will wear,

No need to seek another.
 

For round you like a radiant Crown

It's shield and guard will be

A source of Joy that you will own

Through life and in Eternity

Album of the Heart ~ March of 1874

 

Here is one leaf reserved for me

Among all the sweet memorials free;

And here my simple song might tell

The feelings thou must guess so well.

 

But could I thus, within thy mind,

One little vacant corner find,

Where no impression yet is seen,

Where no memorial yet has been,

Oh! It should be my sweetest care

To write my name forever there!

The entry is signed with a simple elegant "E"
 

~~~~~

 

The poem is from Irish poet Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852).  He was a man of many talents: a singer, songwriter, novelist and entertainer.  He led an interesting and well traveled life, though not without controversy.

Research reveals that this poem was written in the blank leaf of a "lady's commonplace book". The tradition of keeping a commonplace book is one that goes back for a number of centuries. Essentially it is a book that is used to organize and keep memorabilia that is devoted to a particular subject, a commonplace book often served as a means of family members passing on valuable information from one generation to another. Great grandmother Flora's Album of the Heart is by this definition a commonplace book, a term new to me.