And Still More 19th Century Autographs

March 3, 2009 –
Here are some more autographs. These are from a little autograph book owned by David P. Flory of Hygiene and Boulder, Colo., dated 1884, and in which he writes this introduction:
To My Friends
My album is a garden spot
Where all my friends may sow
Where thorns and nettles flourish not
But flowers alone may grow
With smiles for sunshine, tears for showers
I’ll water, watch and guard these flowers.
Your friend, D. P. Flory
Hygiene, Colo.

Here are the entries, many of them with a scolding theme and that he better get his act together as his three sisters pen words of encouragement. It would seem David might have been a troubled lad. After his move to California, however, things seem to improve. I personally favor the final entry, written by his daughter. Read on:

Dave:
Be satisfied with your self and surroundings, for the present;
but at the same time, try to understand and gain a high standard.
Your friend and school-mate, Bertha Goss
Longmont., Colo. Oct. 28, 1884
* * *
To D. P. Flory
Day by day we are ??(shaping)??? the influences which will presently be our rules. We are choosing our habits, our associates, our homes. Weigh carefully all your undertakings and choose the best.
Your well wisher, Miss Nellie Goss
Pella, Colo, Oct. 28, 1884
* * *
When you get old and cannot see, put on your specks and think of me.
S. F. Fesler
* * *
Remember me as a friend.
Yours truly, W. D. Goss
Pella, Colo, Oct. 27, 1884
* * *

David
I dip my pen into the ink
And grasp your album tight;
But for my life I cannot think
One single word to write.
Your sister,
Lottie Flory,
Tujunga, Calif. August. 19, 1886
* * *
Of all the earthly goods, the best is a good life.
Your friend, Norton
* * *
Friend David
Remember thy Creator
In the days of thy youth.
Mrs. S. S. Farnocht, Longmont, Colo.
* * *
Always have courage to say "No" where tempted to do wrong.
Yours truly, Jennie Montgomery,
Longmont, Colo. Oct. 18, 1884
* * *
May your path be strewn with roses fair
and flowery to the end;
And when your body in death repose,
May your Maker be your friend.
Your cousin, H. M. Flory,
Brock Neb., Oct. 5, 1884
* * *
Dear Brother
If you wish success in life,
make perseverance your bosom friend,
experience your wise counsel,
caution your older brother
and hope your guardian genius.
Your affectionate sister, Lizzie Flory
San Fernando, Cal. Jan 12, 1885
* * *
Dear Brother
When you get far out in California,
Do not forget that you have friends and relations in Colo. who will remember you though far away.
Remember me as your loving sister, Hollie
* * *
To Dave
Ah! Lips with the curl impatient
Ah! How with the shade of scorn,
"Twere cruel fate
Were the night too late
To undo the work of the morn
Your friend, Mollie Montgomery
Longmont, Oct. 17, 1884
* * *
Dear friend
Your virtues ever shine like peaches on a punkin vine
Your friend, W. D. Perkins
Oct. 26th, 1884
* * *
Friend David
Do with heart and mind thy work and sweet will be the rest
Value time and do not shrink but do thy best
Doing this thou shall be blest.
Your schoolmate, Lizzie Wreese
Springtown, Colo., Oct. 25th, 1884
* * *
Friend Dave
May you live long and happy
May your enemies be few
May your friends be as many as the sparkling drops of dew.
Yours truly
Freta Trobaugh, Tujunga, Cal, June 10th 1888

Then she adds this ditty – a very early version of texting abbreviations:
Y y u r
Y y u b
I c u r y y 4 me
Can you read it?
* * *
Friend Dave
We may write our names in albums
We may trace them in the sand
We may chisel them in marble
With a firm and skillful hand.

But these pages soon are sullied,
Soon each page will fade away.
Every monument will crumble
Like all earthly hopes decay

But my friend there is an album
Full of leaves of sunny white
Where no names are tarnished
But forever pure and bright

In the book of life, "Gold’s Album,"
May your name be penned with care
And may all who here have penciled
Have their names recorded there
Your friend, Freta
San Fernando, Cal., August 31, 1890
* * *
Dear Friend
To blossom in the grove,

To bloom around the cot (cottage)
Please cultivate that little plant

they call Forget-me-not.
Your schoolmate, Addie Smith
Springtown, Colo., Oct. 27, 1884
* * *
Dear Daddy
To each is given a bag of coals
A shapeless mass, and a book of rules,
And each must make, ere life has flown,
A stumbling block or a stepping stone.
Your daughter, Betty

* * *

To my reader: Many more 19th and early 20th century autographs have appeared in this blog; you can read them in 11/20/07 and 03/03/08.