Our Changing Language - Through Autographs

There was a time – before iPods, cell phones and text messages --when people actually wrote to each other by putting pen to paper.
And there was a time – on a birthday or the end of a school year or upon a graduation – when relatives and friends would congratulate each other on their achievements through an autograph book. Or they would just wish to offer words of encouragement and friendship.

These simple little books of blank pages would often become filled with kind and generous sayings. But where did the little poems and bits of doggerel originate? Were they bits of poetry learned in school or church? Or were they adages dreamt up by their authors? Or were they sayings handed down from adult to child?

No matter. They are recollections of a time when people were willing to express their affection on the written page. Here are some plucked from a collection of autograph books from the late 19th and mid 20th centuries. Some are clever, generous, insightful, mysterious, puzzling – even a bit sexual -- and some humorous. And a few encourage the book owner to get married. Another few seem to find solace in meeting in the afterlife. Still, most of them beat the crap out of “Have a nice day.”

Here we go:

Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene,
First in your album,
First in your thoughts.
Last to remember
And last to be forgot.
Your school chum, Blanche K.
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene:
I love you that’s my business;
You love me that’s your business
We love each other that’s our business
Let’s be more business-like.
Your friend, Katherine
***
Mason City, Iowa, 1883
Dear Sister
May all your years
In joy be passed
And each prove happier
Than the last.
Your brother William
***
Sacramento, 1921
Dear Irene (Courtright):
Irene now
Irene forever
Courtright now,
But not for-ever.
Your school friend, Mary G.
***
Reardan, Wash, 1908
Dear friend
When you get old
and cannot see
Put on your specks
And think of me.
Your friend, Lucia
***
Spokane, Wash., 1910
Dearest Amanda
There’s a place for me in your album
There’s a place for me in your heart
There’s a place for us both in Heaven
Where good friends never part.
Your most sincere friend, Laura
***
Waukon, Wash., 1905
Dear Amanda
I like the sun,
I like the stars.
I like the rolling sea
and best of all, I like you.
Your schoolmate, Laura
***
Reardan, Wash., 1908
Amanda:
May your life by like an arithmetic.
Your sorrows divided
Your fevers subtracted,
Your friends multiplied
Your joys added
Is the wish of your friend, Horace

(Here’s another version)
Waukon, Wash., 1904
Dear Amanda:
May your life by like an arithmetic:
Your joys added,
Your sorrows subtracted,
Your friends multiplied
and your enemies divided.
Your school mate, Lulu
***
Waukon, Wash., 1905
Dear Amanda:
The bravest are the tenderest;
The loving are the daring.
Your playmate, Henrietta
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene:
Little hugs and kisses
Has changed many a miss to Mrs.
Mary E.
***
Forest City, Iowa, 1909
Dear Mama
May there be just clouds enough in your life to cause a glorious sunset.
Your daughter, Lilly

(Here’s a different version)
Neora Springs, Iowa, 1884
Jessie:
May your life have just enough shadow to hide the glare of sun.
Yours, Lollie
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene
Irene is your name,
Single is your station.
Happy be the man
that makes the alteration.
Your school friend, Thelma
***
Sacramento, 1930
Dear Irene
When you get married and live upstairs,
don’t come down and borrow the chairs.
Yours truly, Myrtle.

***
Clear Lake, Iowa, 1884
Jessie:
This world is but a bubble.
There’s nothing here but woe,
Hardships, trials and troubles
No matter where we go.
Ever your friend, Cora
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene,
In the storm of life
You need an umbrella.
I hope you have to uphold it
For a handsome you fella.
Your botany friend, Minnie

***
Mason City, Iowa, 1883
Friend Jsesie:
Some friends may wish thee free from care.
Others (may wish thee) joy and wealth
Some may wish you blessings, rare long life and perfect health.
My wish for thee is better by far than all others,
When you from this world depart, your soul may rest in heaven.
Charles
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene
It would be vain in life’s wild sea
To ask you to remember me
It will undoubtedly by be my lot
Just to be known now and then.
Amy S.
***
Sacramento, 1926
Irene
Two in a hammock
Ready to kiss
But in a jiffy
They went like sith.
Your botany friend, Rena
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene
Rena had a little lamb;
Her brother killed it dead.
Now she takes the lamb to school
between two hunks of bread.
Ross
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene:
Here’s to the flames of Heaven
Here’s to the flames of Hell
But darn the boy that will kiss a girl,
Then go around and tell.
Your friend, Helen
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene
When Cupid shoots his arrow,
I hope he “Mrs.” You.
Your friend, Hattie
***
Luton, Iowa, 1930
Dear Sis:
If you could look into my heart
and see the love that’s there
Then turn it into money
You would be a millionaire.
Your sis, Jen
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene:
I wish you luck.
I wish you joy.
I wish you first a baby boy.
When his hair begins to curl,
I wish you then a baby girl.
Your friend, Louise
***
Mason City, 1883
Friend Jessie
As gold more brilliant from the fire appears thus,
Friendship brightens by the length of years.
Charles
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene:
Life is like a deck of cards.
When you’re in love, it’s hearts.
When you’re engaged, it’s diamonds.
When you’re married, it’s clubs
And when your dead, it’s spades.
Your friend, Helen
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene
Yours till the “Dead Sea” comes to life.
Your botany chum, Maryellen
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene,
In the golden chain of memory,
Save one little link for me.
Edith
***
Sacramento High School, 1926
Dear Miss Irene:
One sunny morning in May
I sincerely sign my name.
Don’t forget the little Japanese girl
who doesn’t know anything.
Daisy Fujita
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene:
Some write for joy,
Some write for fame.
I write only to sign my name.
Evelyn
***
Reardan, Wash., 1900
Dear Friend
Remember me and bear in mind
A good true friend is hard to find
And when you find one good and true
Change not the old one for the new.
Your friend, Lula
***
Sacramento, 1926
Dear Irene,
As sure as grass grows around the stump
You are my darling sugar lump.
Your friend, Ada
***
Reardan, Wash., 1899
Dear Friend
When on this page you chance to look,
Just think of me and close the book.
Your friend, Omar
***
October 20, 1930
She’s big but cold and wears a sweater
Nevertheless boys,
You’ll have to go some to get her.
Amy
***