Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series on comments about and examples of autograph book verses.
This post presents examples of autograph book verses from websites other than Mudcat folk music forum.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/06/examples-of-autograph-book-rhymes-part.html for Part I of this pancocojams post. That post presents some comments and examples from a mudcat folk music forum discussion thread that I started Sept. 30, 2009.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and historical purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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MORE ONLINE EXAMPLES OF AUTOGRAPH BOOK RHYMES
These examples are selected from other autograph verses that are included in these online sources. These sources are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
ONLINE SOURCE #1
From https://ameshistory.org/content/autograph-book-verses
"AUTOGRAPH BOOK VERSES
Verses Gleaned from 19th Century Autograph Books
Ames History Museum
Ames, Iowa 50010
info@ameshistory.org
When the golden sun is setting
And your mind from care is free
When of others you are thinking
Will you sometimes think of me.
- - -
When the golden sun is setting
And the birds are flitting free
When of dear ones you are thinking
Won't you sometimes think of me.
- - -
Think of me when you are happy
Keep for me one little spot
In the depth of thine affection
Plant a sweet forget me not.
I have your album in which to write
I've turned to a leaf that's pure and white
I dip my pen into the ink
I knit my brow and try to think
I think, I think, I think in vain
At last I think I'll sign my name.
- - -
A line of my writing
Oh! What shall it be,
A token of friendship
from Libbie to thee.
- - -
When you get old and cannot see
Put on your specks and think of me.
- - -
When at home and in the tub
Think of me and give a rub.
Remember me and my gray eyes
When you're at home and making pies.
May your friends be many
And your enemies few
May God be your guide
In what ever you do.
May your virtues ever shine
Like blossoms on a pumpkin vine.
Forget me not, forget me never
Till yonder sun shall set forever.
- - -
I only ask this little spot
In which to write Forget me not.
- - -
Here on this page I claim a spot
To write the word Forget me not.
- - -
I thought, I thought, I thought in vain
At last I thought I'd write my name."
****
ONLINE SOURCE #2
From https://ameshistory.org/content/autograph-book-verses-0
"A faithful friend is hard to find
But, when you have one, bear in mind
As I shall, when I think of you
Being a lasting friend, both kind and true.
- - -
When on this page you cast your eye
Recall to mind the days gone by
Forget my faults and drop a tear
And think of me when no more here.
- - -
Mary Hodges is my name
England is my nation.
London is my dwelling place,
Christ is my salvation.
---
When in a distant land
This little verse you see
Think of the gentle hand
That penned these lines for thee.
- - -
When you think of me
Please bear in mind
A truer friend
You scarce will find.
- - -
Remember me and bear in mind
A faithful friend is hard to find
And when you find one good and true
Change not the old one for the new.
- - -
Some may wish you happiness
Others wish you wealth
I wish you the best of all
Contentment and health.
- - -
Remember on the river
Remember on the lake
Remember on your wedding day
And give me a piece of your cake.
- - -
Age may mar, or time efface
The lines which kindly here I trace
But years may never take from mind
A friend that's ever true and kind.
- - -
When our life in school shall be at end
Please at times give thought of your true friend.
- - -
These few lines to you are tendered
From your sister sincere and true
Hoping but to be remembered
When I am far away from you.
****
ONLINE SOURCE #3
From
https://letterpile.com/personal-essays/Wise-Sayings-An-Old-Autograph-Book "Wise Sayings: An Old Autograph
Album" by Bronwen Scott-Branagan, September 27, 2017
..."Recently I came across my Mother's old Autograph
Book. I used to have one, too, but I've moved several times and that hasn't
turned up yet. However, there were plenty of entries in hers to entertain me as
a child and that delight has not diminished.
There's such a range, from the downright sententious, to lovely thoughts about the importance of friendship, to sayings that today we would view as sexist and politically incorrect, to the clever and funny. There are even delightful illustrations. I remember how we, too, if asked to write and entry in a friend's book, would request to take it home so we could find just the right thing to write, or to spend hours over a miniature illustration.
I haven't put them all in, but even so it's turned out quite long, so it's probably best if you just browse a few. They are fun to read.
The First Entry
I remember that in my album, a cheeky friend scrawled,
"By hook or by crook
I'll be first in this book."
Mother wrote her own first entry:
"My album's
open, come and see.
What, won't you waste
a line on me?
Write but a thought, a word or two,
hat memory may revert to you."
[…]
Christian And Moral Entries
[…]
This next one must have impressed my Mother as she often
quoted it to me.
"I would rather be beaten in the right than succeed in the
wrong."
[…]
The hand here is more mature than some of the entries;
perhaps it was a teacher.
"There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it behoves us
To speak the least of any of us."
[…]
The Importance of Friendship
I've seen different versions of this one, but they all
mean the same thing:
Are precious and rare;
False ones, like autumn leaves,
Are found everywhere."
[...]
"I wish you happiness and health,
All the wealth you need;
Friends in plenty, tried and true,
What more is there I could wish for you."
[...]
Think of me with every rub,
And if the suds be very hot,
Render away and forget-me-not".
[…]
The Humorous Entries
"He that sitteth on a pin,
Shall surely rise again
According to the sharpness thereof."
[…]
"There are many things we ought to do:
We ought to sing, we ought to laugh,
We ought to eat, we ought to sleep,
But here we (ought to graph) autograph."
[...]
Beecham's Pills, as you may imagine, were for treating
constipation. This little verse is usually written:
She swallowed it one day,
And now she takes Beecham's Pills
To pass the time away.
Caption:
If we were to dress ourselves on scientific principles, what
would become of man?"
****
ONLINE SOURCE #4
From https://wordnymph.com/tag/rhyming-verses-for-autograph-books/ rhyming verses for autograph books, Word Nymph, May 3, 2012 · 7:55 AM
"I’ve hit the mother lode (note, not mother load) of
mementos.
My husband has been cleaning out our attic, and my box of collected treasures has emerged from the clutter. I’ve scooped out just the first layer, so let’s call this post the first in a series. There are sure to be more.
In this tranche were all those charms I thought I’d lost, some religious relics, including my First Holy Communion book, an Immaculate Conception medal and an honorable mention certificate from Saint Dominic’s Catholic School in Shaker Heights, Ohio. There were a few old pictures, lots of cards and letters and my photo album from summer semester in Spain.
My favorite relic to be unearthed was an autograph book I got as a souvenir of Disneyland when my father took me there in 1969. I scored no celebrity autographs, unless you count that of the five-year-old daughter of the TV comedy writer with whom we stayed in L.A.
[…]
The other pages hold what we all know as autograph book
rhymes. Things like:
Don’t worry if your pay is small, and if your jobs are few.
Remember that the mighty oak was once a nut like you.
Remember the girl in the city. Remember the girl in the
town.
Remember the girl who ruined your book by writing upside
down.
See you in the ocean, see you in the sea.
See you in the bathtub. Oops, pardon me.
When you’re in heaven and it gets hot,
Pepsi-cola hits the spot.
When you get married and live in a hut,
Send me a picture of your first little nut.
When you get married and you have twins
Don’t come to me for safety pins.
It tickles me and makes me laugh
To think you want my autograph.
Never kiss by the garden gate
Because love is blind but the neighbors ain’t.
When I turned 50, my father gave me his mother’s autograph
book, which is dated 1927 — 42 years before I had christened mine.
Allow me to share a few ditties from my grandmother’s crackled pages:
Lock up thy heart, keep safe the key,
Forget me not, til I do thee.
I wish I were a bunny with a little tail of fluff.
I’d climb upon your bureau and be your powder puff.
Some write for money, some write for fame,
But I write for the honor of signing just my name.
Down by the river there lies a rock,
And on it is printed, “Forget me not.”
If you get married and live upstairs,
For heaven’s sake, don’t put on airs.”
-snip-
Here are two autograph book rhymes that commenters shared:
Aunt Patsy
May 3, 2012 at 2:31 pm
Round as a ring that has no end, that is my love for you my
friend. I loved reading this blog and I will see you at lunch tomorrow.
**
Kathleen
May 3, 2012 at 9:37 pm
From my dad’s leather autograph book…
Y Y U R
Y Y U B
Me thinks U R
Y Y 4 me."
****
ONLINE SOURCE #5
From https://libraries.udmercy.edu/find/special_collections/digital/cfa/index.php?field=keyword&term=ABCB& The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
"YOUR HEART IS NOT A PLAYGROUND,
YOUR HEART IS NOT A TOY,
BUT IF YOU WANT IT BROKEN,
JUST GIVE IT TO A BOY.
WANT IT BROKEN, JUST GIVE IT TO A BOY.
Submitter comment: THIS VERSE WAS TAKEN FROM AN AUTOGRAPH
BOOK BELONGING TO THE INFORMANT,WHO IS MY MOTHER. THIS SAME VERSE WAS FOUND THREE
TIMES IN THE BOOK, SO IT MUST HAVE BEEN A POPULAR VERSE WITH THE EIGHTH
GRADE
AT NICHOLS SCHOOL IN DETROIT, JUNE 1944.
AUTOGRAPH VERSE (COLLECTOR'S TITLE)
I THOUGHT AND THOUGHT, I THOUGHT IN VAIN,
BUT ALL I COULD THINK OF WAS TO SIGN MY NAME.
Submitter comment: THIS ITEM WAS WRITTEN IN THE AUTOGRAPH BOOK OF COLETTE'S BY A SCHOOLMATE.
Where learned: NOT RECORDED BY COLLECTOR
[…]
Autograph Verse Announcing a signature
Date learned: 10-08-1967
AUTOGRAPH BOOK (COLLECTOR'S TITLE)
IT TICKLES ME/ IT MAKES ME LAUGH/ TO THINK YOU WANT/ MY
AUTOGRAPH
Data entry tech comment: LINES DIVIDED BY KEYPUNCHER
Where learned: NOT RECORDED BY COLLECTOR
[…]
Autograph Verse Announcing a signature
Date learned: 09-00-1968
****
LOOK NOT (COLLECTOR'S TITLE)
LOOK NOT FOR THE BEAUTY/ NOR WHITENESS OF THE SKIN.
BUT LOOK FOR THE HEART/ THAT IS LOYAL WITHIN.
FOR BEAUTY MAY FADE/ AND SKIN GROW OLD,
BUT THE HEART THAT IS LOYAL,/ WILL NEVER GROW OLD.
Submitter comment: LEARNED IN DETROIT.
Autograph Verse
****
AUTOGRAPH BOOK VERSE (COLLECTOR'S TITLE)
YOUR LIFE LIES BEFORE YOU,/ LIKE A BANK OF SNOW,/ BE CAREFUL
HOW YOU
TREAD IT,/ FOR EVERY STEP WILL SHOW.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
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