May I Have Your Autograph?

At the age when I was going to pajama parties and dancing to LP’s of Elvis and then the Beatles  (I’m old!), I was the proud owner of an autograph hound.  This stuffed dog had an elastic loop on his back that held a pen.  My friends and I would sign each other’s hounds and write very short messages of endearment.  Just a few years later, we were ecstatic when the yearbooks came out at our high school.  Whole pages were reserved for special friends. Casual acquaintances had to sign among the ads in the back.   For the most part, we wished each other luck and promised to be friends forever. I am not sure where my autograph hound is, but I still have my yearbooks.  It is nice to occasionally read over the sentiments and remember the good times.

Before yearbooks and autograph hounds, there were autograph books, remarkably as early as the mid-1500’s. I came across a collection of vintage autograph books from the late 1800’s/ early 1900’s in a consignment store recently.  They were filled with short poems, drawings, and interesting notes that depicted the times and relationships between the owners. I wish I could have bought them all, but I only chose a few.

Hopefully, you will not think these scribblings from long ago are too sappy and trite.  I found they added a little touch of sweetness to my day.  I hope yours is blessed in the same way.  Enjoy.

“True friends, like diamonds are precious but rare.  False ones, like autumn leaves, are found   everywhere.”   Your sister-graduate,  Agnes R.

 

“Forget me when you see apples growing on an orange tree.”  Pauline N.

 

“There is nothing so kingly as kindness, nor nothing so royal as truth.” Rose M.

 

“The thing that goes the farthest in making life worthwhile, that costs the least and does the most, is just a pleasant smile.”  Your friend, Ruth S.

 

“Remember A.  Remember B.  And last, but not least, remember me.”  Jennie S.

 

“You might find friends, kind and true.  But you will never, never find one as your mother has been to you.”  From your classmate, Evelyn J.

 

“If life was a thing that money could buy, the rich would live and the poor would die.  But God, in his mercy, ordained it so, that the rich and the poor, alike, must go.”      Elsie F.

 

“In the golden chain of friendship, consider me a link.”  Elsie K.

 

“Trust many.  Love few.  And always paddle your own canoe.”  Mollie M.

 

“When the golden sun is setting and your mind care is free, while of others you are thinking, will you sometimes think of me?”  Anna S.

 

“May your joys be as deep as the ocean, and your sorrows as light as its foam.”  Estelle R.

 

“We may write our names in albums.  We may chisel them in the sand.  We may carve them in marble with a firm and skillful hand.  Every monument will crumble as all earthly things decay.  But, my friend, there is an album, where the leaves are snowy white, where no name can tarnish, but forever stay pure and bright.  In the book of life, God’s album, may your name be written with care.  And may all who here have written, write their names forever there.”

Sadie B. (1916)

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Tags: autographs, connections, friendship, from our youth, inspiring thoughts, remembrances, scribbles of the heart, words of kindness

One response to “May I Have Your Autograph?

  1. I love rememberances! It is so funny to revisit our old selves….and to see the growth we have made over the years….

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