Rogers, Frances Leland

English

Iowa Research Online

Masthead Logo The Palimpsest
Volume 28 | Number 8 Article 4
8-1-1947
An Old Autograph Album
Frances Leland Rogers
Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/palimpsest
Part of the United States History Commons
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the State Historical Society of Iowa at Iowa Research Online. It has been accepted for
inclusion in The Palimpsest by an authorized administrator of Iowa Research Online. For more information, please contact lib-ir@uiowa.edu.
Recommended Citation
Rogers, Frances L. "An Old Autograph Album." The Palimpsest 28 (1947), 247-256.
Available at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/palimpsest/vol28/iss8/4
tAn Old Autograph Album
In the 1870 s the graceful two-story house of 
Peter Patrick Freeman, successful grocer in Iowa 
City, stood on Washington Street, where today 
rises the stream-lined building of the Iowa City 
Press-Citizen. The roof was sharply gabled and 
a pillared porch extended across the front and 
along one side. Within were high-ceilinged 
rooms with slender windows reaching to the floor. 
In the spacious parlors, floors were richly carpeted 
to the baseboard. Pieces of French-styled furni­
ture, supported on delicate legs, were, perhaps, 
more ornamental than trustworthy. Their backs 
and seats were frames of walnut upholstered in 
pastel-shaded materials with an elaborate flower 
design so thickly padded as to cause discomfort 
for a too patient sitter.
Gold-framed paintings were of the best type of 
a period which discarded dignified steel engrav­
ings for the closer intimacy of portrayal in color. 
A tall mirror, encased in a moulded gilt frame, 
rose above the mantel and seemed to increase the 
depth of the parlors. Dangling crystals from in­
tricate chandeliers tossed back twinkling lights 
and heightened the air of opulence which aided
24 7
248 THE PALIMPSEST
the social background of four popular and attrac­
tive daughters.
Helen, the eldest, became eighteen on July 4, 
1872; she was then entitled to enter “society” and 
“receive” young men callers. My imagination pic­
tures her from childhood memories as she was 
when she became my aunt by marrying my uncle, 
Edward E. Brainerd. Dressed in the flowing 
skirts and the frills and furbelows of the period, 
she belonged in the formal parlor. Light, wavy 
hair was caught back loosely with a curl or two 
lingering along her neck. Her blue eyes were set 
off by her creamy skin and her delicate coloring 
was unemphasized by rouge or lipstick.
It is not surprising that her home in this mid- 
western university town was well supplied with 
young men callers. Of this there are indications in 
her old autograph album, today the treasured pos­
session of her daughter, Mrs. Joseph F. Keirnan, 
of Kansas City, Missouri. The little book meas­
ures about six and one-half by four and one-half 
inches and is bound in leather, deep blue in color, 
tooled in gold around the edges, with the owner's 
name, Helen M. Freeman, in capitals on the front. 
To a considerable extent, the contents are not im­
personal signatures, but a collection of poetic con­
tributions, often original. The penmanship is fre­
quently Spencerian.
249
The source of the album itself is not indicated. 
It bears no date nor any name of the giver. The 
opening leaf has an inscription on each side. On 
the first page some one wrote in shaded Spen­
cerian :
My album’s open, come and see 
What! wont you waste a thought on me?
Write but a word, a word or two 
And make me love to think on you.
On the reverse side, admonitions being essen­
tial for genteel young ladies of those days, sweep­
ing strokes present Pope’s famous lines:
Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll;
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
Thus was Helen launched upon the next five 
years, bearing in her hands a tacit invitation to 
flattery and praise from the gallant sex, weaponed 
only with the warning on behalf of merit against 
the wiles of beauty.
Among earlier contributions are some stereo­
typed lines, evidently current for this popular pas­
time, but leaving much to be desired in the way 
of meter:
Storms may not retard us always,
Brighter days will soon be here.
Sorrow may oppress us often,
Yet the jubilee is near; and as
AN OLD AUTOGRAPH ALBUM
250 THE PALIMPSEST
You take your Western journey,
Let this reflection light your way 
Nature s darkest hour is always 
Just before the break of day.
O. J. Wolcott
A sincere evasion of the treacherous path of 
poetic fancy is dated May 21,1873:
The most extravagant expressions of regard would fail to 
express my esteem for and admiration of the lady at 
whose request the undersigned autograph is written.
N. G. Ishbell
More subtle was Edward Chase, a smart young 
man who wrote this testimony to Helen’s charm 
and beauty, addressing it to “Ah Sin”:
To tell your faults would be too thin,
So this I’ll leave to brother Finn.
To sing your praises would make me hoarse,
So this I’ll leave to Charlie Vorse.
Your Friend Edward C. Chase
“Brother Finn“ (C. L. Finn, a law student) re­
ciprocated with:
Ah Sin
Had I the power to trace 
The way in which you turn and pace 
From the deck’s bottom, in the face 
Of old “Experts” like Doctor Chase 
In law ’twould win me every case 
On Earth I’d lack no rank nor place
AN OLD AUTOGRAPH ALBUM 251
But be the foremost in “Life's race’’
To get to Heaven I’d not need “grace”.
Its golden streets I'd walk apace 
And crowd the Angels into space 
Entice St. Peter from his place 
Open the door and let in “Chase”.
Was it Charlie Vorse who wrote?:
Could I think that other faces 
Would of me blot out all traces 
From remembrance than endeavor 
Not to blot me out forever. Chas.
A single page dated January 1, 1874, seems to 
contain a list of New Year’s callers. Among the 
signers were Perry E. Clark, who became a banker 
and skilled horseman, and James E. Berryhill, a 
future prominent lawyer in Des Moines. Carroll 
Wright, a future Des Moines lawyer and attor­
ney for the Rock Island Railway, contributed, in 
a forthright masculine hand, a Scotch quotation. 
Charles Baker, then on the way to his place as a 
leading attorney in Iowa City, wrote his name in 
sturdy strokes. A rising clothier, Fred Sawyer, 
offered in delicate script a few lines suitable for a 
primary Sunday school class, from Harper s for 
August, 1873.
An interesting contribution is signed by W. J. 
Welch. Possibly Mr. Welch had already begun 
to develop “The Dresden”, a superior china shop.
252 THE PALIMPSEST
His Haviland sets were stamped on the bottom, 
“Made in Limoges, France, for Willard }. Welch, 
The Dresden, Iowa City, Iowa.” In these lines 
we see intimations of his artistic nature:
Of thoughts and sayings well expressed 
In this little book at thy request 
I find they all do imbibe the same 
Spirit of address, to thy good name.
La belle Helene doth oft appear 
The truth of which could I re-echo here!
But as it is, so let it be,
For of all the tributes payed to thee,
There’s none but what are justly due,
And these I heartily repeat anew.
For virtues rare and elegant grace,
Mirrored all, reflect thy face.
Now I close. This favor extend —
Be ever my true, sincere friend!
W. J. Welch
John P. Irish, the editor of the Democratic 
Press in Iowa City, and a Democratic leader in 
the State, had served a term in the State legisla­
ture and had exerted a determining influence in 
establishing the Law College of the State Univer­
sity. He must have been barely thirty, with these 
mature activities already in his record, when, on 
April 3, 1874, he responded to Helen’s request for 
“something” in her album. Library research un­
covers no trace in any collection of verse, humor-
AN OLD AUTOGRAPH ALBUM 253
ous, or otherwise, of this clever bit, and we con­
clude that this touch of genius was offered solely 
for Helen’s benefit.
Leda’s little daughter, Helen,
Whose papa was a swan,
Of all fair girls in Attica 
Was fairer than the dawn.
Ulysses loved her warmly,
And Ajax sued in vain,
For Menelaus was her favorite 
And beat the royal twain.
But — fair Helen, false Helen!
Helen, wooed and won!
Parisian fashions ruined her,
As they often since have done.
Shall we blame the Grecian maiden?
Shall Troy’s blood be on her head?
Is there not a maiden s reason 
For the prankly life she led?
Her three good Grecian lovers 
Weighed her worth in coarser scale,
As cold lovers weigh a sweetheart,
Like a fleece, or cotton bale.
But the Helens are all jewels —
Diamonds, at their best estate,
And like her should all be valued 
By their lovers at Troy weight.
John P. Irish
W. W. Baldwin, of Burlington, a future attor­
ney for the Burlington and Quincy Railway, made 
his contribution on May 9, 1875.
254 THE PALIMPSEST
Amidst these intellectual flowers 
Reared and culled in Cupid s balmy bowers 
I have placed an Ivy, which when you see 
Think of its emblem and of Will W. B.
In the back of the book, under the date Febru­
ary 9, 1876, Edward M. Doe, a willing admirer 
but a reluctant poet, wrote:
Helen
To give you praise in words is but your due 
In rhyme — since you request — ’tis proper too. 
With hair of gold and cheeks of rosy hue 
To give your charms of which you’ve not a few 
Each separate one its special meed and due 
In short to show to ev’ry one that you 
Are just the sweetest girl that ever grew 
But then the measure (d-nt) wont come true 
And what the D—1 can a fellow do 
So for the deed pray take the will in lieu 
And ever let us be good friends and true.
An interesting feature is the number of foreign 
language quotations, a forgiveable display in the 
period when advanced education was highly 
prized. We have referred to the Scotch of Car- 
roll Wright. George W. Lewis, a future grocer 
in Iowa City, used his inherited Welsh: Eich 
Dyn. Two young ladies wrote in French, prob­
ably learned in a convent. C. J. Dodge, from 
Burlington, son of Augustus Caesar Dodge, gal­
lantly wrote, “Amicos meos amo.” A message in
AN OLD AUTOGRAPH ALBUM 255
Greek script is conveniently translated— “My 
life I love you.” Another contributor wrote in 
German script, “Ohne Gast und ohne Riihe”.
On a few pages in the latter half of the album 
are pasted slips of paper bearing autographs of 
well-known public writers and speakers, possibly 
some of those who appeared on the lecture plat­
form in the city. The signature of George Wil­
liam Curtis, the distinguished editor of the Atlantic 
Monthly and polished essayist, is written in deli­
cate flowing style, including his address, “West 
New Brighton, L. Island, N. Y. Oct 6/74.“ The 
signature, Bret Harte, is written in small, neat, 
regular letters with the final “e“ swept into a 
straight reverse line below. On a slip of ruled 
paper, in careless, self-assured hand is “Yrs truly 
R. G. Ingersoll.“ It may be noted that none of 
these vigorous, original thinkers used the Spen­
cerian penmanship.
To complete this group of national celebrities, 
we turn to the year 1876. Theodore Tilton, fa­
mous in pre-Civil War days as a strong Abolition­
ist and well-known as a popular lecturer, undoubt­
edly won Helen’s admiration. We may picture 
her, an appealing beauty of twenty-two, timidly 
offering her request in the hotel parlor. The gal­
lant lecturer, at a writing desk with convenient pen 
and ink, in rotund strokes, greets her thus:
256 THE PALIMPSEST
In this Centennial year, I bear you a hundred wishes 
for a thousand blessings on your head and heart — on 
your home and life.
Theodore Tilton
Much entertaining material has been necessa­
rily omitted, but this little book of seventy years 
ago bears silent witness to a friendly social atmos­
phere, a bit of teasing fun, flattery, and refreshing 
spontaneity. We offer tribute to Helen Freeman’s 
persuasive skill with her guests, and we add our 
appreciative thanks to the many who contributed 
in the spirit of friendly cooperation and ‘a good 
time”.
F rances L. Rogers


An Old Autograph Album

The Palimpsest

https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2619&amp;context=palimpsest

An Old Autograph Album

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Iowa Research Online

The Palimpsest