Up the Gatineau! Article
This article was first published in Up the Gatineau! Volume 16.
Messages from Two Autograph Books
Carol Martin
My childhood autograph book, with its blue felt finish and the title “Autographs” emblazoned in silver on its cover, contains the following lines:
Strength for today is all that we need,
For there never will be a tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be but another today,
With its measure of joy and of sorrow.
They were written at Kirk's Ferry on July 28th, 1944 by my “loving Grand mother Ada".
When I recently saw a similar-sized book among some family papers, I was not surprised to see that it too, bore the inscription "Autographs". The cover of the little maroon-coloured book showed the head of a fashionable young women; beside her a dog held a quill pen in his mouth. It was my grandmother Ada Brown's, and among the short verses in her book were the now-familiar lines she wrote to me, here addressed to her by her “loving Mother” at Cantley, Quebec, dated August 4th, 1889.
| Ada‘s | Carol's | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of entries | 23 | 44 |
| Inspirational or religious | 12 | 12 |
| Boyfriends, marriage | 5 | 4 |
| Remembrance, humorous remembrance | 5 | 19 |
| Signatures | 1 | 9 |
The writing in both books ranges from childish script to the firm hand of adults, and each contains a collection of short verses or sayings, along with the writers’ signatures. The relatives and schoolmates writing in Ada's book lived in Cantley, North Wakefield, Sydenham (Ontario), Ottawa and Calgary. My schoolmates, teachers and relatives signed in Montreal and Kirk's Ferry. Ada’s book had 23 entries and mine 44; each contained some messages that were inspirational or religious, some about marriage or boyfriends, some with remembrance of friendship themes, and some just signatures.
Among the inspirational messages, another one was almost the same in both our books:
May you have clouds enough in your life
To make a beautiful sunset. (Ada’s)
May there be just enough clouds in your life
To make a beautiful sunset. (Carol's)
Some of the other inspirational verses read:
When the golden sun is setting
On the paths that you have trod
May your name in gold be written
In the autograph of God. (Carol's)
Howe'ver it be, it seems to me
"Tis only noble to be good.
Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood. (Ada’s)
Your future lies before you
Like a path of driven snow
Be careful how you tread it
For every mark will show. (Carol's)
May you through life most happy be
While here on earth you roam
May virtue ever be your guide
And heaven your final home. (Ada's)
May your happiness be as the ocean
Your heart as light as its foam
May happiness ever attend you
And heaven be your happy home. (Ada’s)
In a lighter vein, boyfriends and marriage were mentioned:
"Tis well to be bonny and wise
"Tis well to be honest and true
"Tis well to be off with the old love
Before you are on with the new. {Ada’s)
Remember the present
Remember the past
Remember the fellow
Who kissed you last. (Carol's)
The fox loves the valley
The hare loves the hill
The girls love the boys
And I know always will. {Ada’s)
Now that you're small
You play with toys
But when you grow older
You will walk with the boys. (Carol’s)
May you live happy
And live at your ease
And have a good husband
And do as you please. (Ada’s)
Remember when comes your wedding day
A broom to you I'll send
In sunshine use the brushy part
In storms the other end. (Ada’5)
When you get married
And live in France
Send me a piece
Of your old man's pants (Carol's)
Growing older also meant wearing glasses and drinking tea!
When you are old and drinking tea
Put on your specs and think of me. (Ada’s)
When you are old and cannot see
Put on your specs and think of me. (Carol's)
When you are old and drinking tea
Put down your cup and think of me. (Carol's)
...and we do remember them.
Think of me often
Think of me ever
Think of the good times
We once had together. (Ada’s)
When hills and vales divide us
And we are far apart
Think of the one who wrote these lines
And forget me not. (Ada's)
Flowers may wither
Leaves may die
Friends may forget you
But never will I. (Carol's)
Green is the meadow
Snowy is the Sky
Others may forget you
But never shall I. (Carol's)
Finally, one more message was shared:
[b sharp, b flat, b natural]
We know that the same rhymes and themes have been shared over distance and centuries in countries such as Britain1. I know now that what my grandmother wrote to me was a message of family continuity, an intentional link with her past. Beyond this, I found that, despite fifty years and two generations difference in time, my grandmother’ s book and mine shared three other messages that were almost the same, and many that were similar. And more than one hundred years after Elizabeth Caroline Pritchard Brown penned a little verse in her daughter’s autograph book, I see across the river from my home in Kirk's Ferry the hills which enfolded her homestead in Cantley, and recall the message.
- In their collection of British schoolchildren’s “lore and language", Iona and Peter Opie (The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, Iona and Peter Opie, Oxford University Press, 1959) found variants of the same verses, games, and their themes persisting over 200 years.