Category: 1850s

Categories
1850s Poem

To the Ant & The Ant’s Answer

To the Ant & The Ant’s Answer

By Caroline Howard Gilman
Annotations by Kathryn t. burt
Winslow Homer. Two Young Girls, 1879, charcoal, brush, and white gouache on brown-gray laid paper. Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum Collection, Gift of Charles Savage Homer, Jr., 1912-12-276. CC0.
To the Ant
Two little girls carried a piece of sugar for some 
months, every day, from the breakfast table, to a 
family of ants, and one of them said thus:

Come here, little ant,
For the pretty bird can't.
I want you to come,
And live at my home;

I know you will stay,
And help me to play.
Stop making that hill,
Little ant, and be still.

Come, creep to my feet,
Here is sugar to eat.
Say, are you not weary,
My poor little deary,

With bearing that load,
Across the wide road?
Leave your hill now, to me,
And then you shall see,

That by filling my hand,
I can pile up the sand,
And save you the pains
Of bringing these grains.
GILMAN, CAROLINE HOWARD. 1850. “To the ant.” IN A GIFT BOOK OF STORIES AND POEMS FOR CHILDREN, 43-44. New York: C.s. Francis & Co. ProQuest American Poetry.
Wheeler, William Morton. Broken twig of Sunflower, showing ants (Myrmica brevinodis) caught and killed by the exuding sap, 1905, in Collected Papers on Ants, 417, https://archive.org/details/collectedpaperso00whee.
The Ant’s Answer
Stop, stop, little miss,
No such building as this
Will answer for me,
As you plainly can see.

I take very great pains,
And place all the grains
As if with a tool,
By a carpenter's rule[1].

You have thrown the coarse sand
All out of your hand,
And so fill'd up my door,
That I can't find it more.

My King and my Queen
Are chok'd up within;
My little ones too,
Oh what shall I do?

You have smother'd them all,
With the sand you let fall.
I must borrow or beg,
Or look for an egg[2],

To keep under my eye,
For help by and by,
A new house I must raise,
In a very few days,

Nor stand here and pine[3],
Because you've spoilt mine.
For when winter days come,
I shall mourn for my home;

So stand out of my way,
I have no time to play.
Gilman, Caroline Howard. 1850. “The Ant’s Answer.” In A Gift Book Of Stories and Poems For Children, 45-46. NEW YORK: C.S. FRANCIS & CO. PROQUEST AMERICAN POETRY.

[1] A specialized ruler used by carpenters that can be folded up.

[2] A note from Gilman: “When an ant’s nest is disturbed, there may be seen processions of ants bearing little white eggs, for more than a day. Ants are divided into workers, sentinels, &c., like bees, and they have their King and Queen also.”

[3] To yearn, long, or wish desperately for.

Contexts

In her book, The Poetry of Traveling in the United States, Caroline Howard Gilman expressed ambivalence towards the infrastructural improvements occurring in her town of Charleston, SC. While she recognized “the spirit of utility” in such developments as roads and public walks, she mourned the loss of “spots to verdure and shade, where our children can revel amidst glimpses of nature, instead of struggling through King-Street for sugar plums and ice creams” (33). Howard Gilman also believed that time spent in nature allowed adults and children alike to feel better connected to God, and she urged her readers to take time away from the distractions of the industrialized cities: “Let those who live in cities carry their children, sometimes, to a retreat of idleness; let them pause in the hurry of the locomotive sweep of modern education, and teach them by hillside and rivulet” (158).

Resources for Further Study
Pedagogy

In their article, “Learning with Children, Ants, and Worms in the Anthropocene: Towards a Common World Pedagogy of Multispecies Vulnerability,” Affrica Taylor and Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw argue that children who have encounters with small creatures like ants are more aware of the ‘common world’ they share with other creatures. The authors encourage such interactions and suggest that ant encounters in particular teach children “about the relative power and affect that large and small creatures can exert upon each other” (523). Below are other resources available that can help you facilitate safe interactions between ants and the young people in your life:

Categories
1850s Poem

Death

Death

By Anonymous
Annotations by Abby Army
“Woman, seated with lyre, thespian’s mask, and cupid” by Ferd. Mayer & Sons Mammoth Lithographic Print, c. 1870
When Nature, chill with misty shades and clouds,
Seems in her dark funereal vestments wrapped,
And no glad brightness glimmers through her gloom,
‘Tis fit, I thought, O mightiest and most dread
Of Phantoms! on thy sway to muse; to call
Thee up from out thy caverns; and to look
Upon thee, grim and ghastly as thou art;
Crowned with sad cypress, in triumphal-wreaths[1],
Betokening[2] thy victories o’er Hope,
Youth, Beauty, all the smiling train of Joy.[3]

As oft amid the flowers, and the bright
Foliage of Spring we wander, drinking in
The joyous sounds which burst from every chord
Of Nature’s lyre, and blend their harmonies
In one sweet strain of grateful offering
To the pure SOURCE from whom their being came,
Thy dark form rises in the distance dim, 
And with gigantic stride approaches us:
By thy tempestuous breath each chord is broken
Of that melodious lyre; the notes of joy
Are changed to wild, unearthly sounds, that grate 
Upon the soul, and in its shattered celled 
Will echo long.[4]


                     But Phantom still art thou:
Though thou hast made us journey through a vale
Where weeping-willows, dripping with their tears,
Shut out the sun, and every breath of air
Comes burdened with the weight of sighs, thy rule
Must end.
                               

                    The tearful willows soon shall bloom
With heaven’s brightest flowers; each tear-drop 
Beaming with purest rain-bow[sic] raidiance;
The winds that sighed with vain regrets,
And bore along the notes of woe, shall waft
Upon their perfumed gales the voices clear
Of the long-lost, but now for e’er regained.
As thy more ancient brother Chaos[5] fled,
When, from the night of time, the morn arose:
So shall the second and more glorious 
Rising of Beauty’s brilliant sun dispel
Thee, shadowy wanderer in the vale of tears!
Anonymous. “Death.” The Knickerbocker; or New York Monthly Magazine, American Periodicals, 42, no. 6 (December 1853): 594.
Woman, Seated with Lyre, Thespian’s Mask, and Cupid. 1870. Photograph. Library of Congress. Created by Ferd. Mayer & Sons Mammoth Lithographic Print https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014637344/

[1] Similar to a Laurel Wreath, this is a a round wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (Laurus nobilis), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen, or later from spineless butcher’s broom (Ruscus hypoglossum) or cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus). It is a symbol of triumph and is worn as a chaplet around the head, or as a garland around the neck. The symbol of the laurel wreath traces back to Greek mythology. Apollo (God of the Sun) is represented wearing a laurel wreath on his head, and wreaths were awarded to victors in athletic competitions (wikipedia.com)

[2] be a sign of; indicate. (Oxford Languages)

[3] Note the capitalization of “Hope, Youth, Beauty… and Joy” and how that changes these concepts from abstract to almost human, and familial.

[4] The end of this stanza juxtaposes the sounds of joy and pain. It is described in such a visceral manner that audiences can gather what the author truly means.

[5] The capitalization of Chaos reiterates the idea of abstract concepts as tangible people. This also reinforces the idea of these concepts as a family.

Resources for Further Study
  • If you are interested in more works by the artist for “WOMAN, SEATED WITH LYRE, THESPIAN’S MASK, AND CUPID,” be sure to check out this website.
Pedagogy

Have students write related works focused on “Hope, Youth, Joy, Beauty, or Chaos.” See how each piece can be interrelated with “Death.”

Categories
1850s Poem

The Seasons

Scan from color transparency

The Seasons

By Anne Wales Abbot
Annotations by Abby Army/JB
Alexander H. Wyant. Spring. Oil on canvas, 1909, Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
                       First Child.
I love the Spring, when first the leaves and flowers
       Peep from the ground,
And the rain falls with its refreshing showers
       And rushing sound.
Ah, then how gayly, gladly pass the hours
       That Spring has crowned!

I love the first soft airs that, gently blowing,
       Break Nature’s sleep;
And the free streamlet from the hillside flowing, 
       So full and deep;
And velvet carpet of the green grass, growing
       On plain and steep.
Albert F. Bellows. Summer Landscape. Chromolithograph,1869, Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.
                       Second Child.
Give me glad Summer, for the Spring is chilling
       With its fresh gales;
But the warm breath of Summer, ever filling
       With joy the dales,
Comes, and to my heart, attuned and willing,
       Tells its sweet tales.

Yes! give me Summer; for the earth is ringing
       With glad delight;
And lovely flowers in every field are springing,
       Than Spring’s more bright;
And the sweet warblers of the grove are singing
       From morn till night.
William Henry Holmes. Autumn Tangle. Watercolor, 1920, Smithsonian American
Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
                       Third Child.
The Autumn, with its wealth of fruits abounding,
       I love the best:
The harvest-home is merrily resounding;
       And gay the jest
Of the good farmers, when, the board surrounding
       They take their rest.

Then wears the sky a deeper tinge, and brighter
       The sunset’s hues,
And the full moon makes night than day seem lighter, 
       And gleam the dews,
Till the white frost locks all in keeping tighter,— 
       His reign renews.
Birge Harrison. Winter Sunset. Oil on wood mounted on wooden cradle, 1890,
Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
                       Fourth Child.
Mine be the Winter, with its dazzling glory
       Of drifted snow;
And the old trees, that bow their heads so hoary
       To winds that blow:
Then, then I hear the ghost or wizard story
       By firelight glow.

The pure, clear air, that whistles through the valley, 
       To me is dear: 
I let its breezes with my garments dally,
       Nor danger fear,
When forth into the storm I boldly sally
       With hearty cheer.

                       Mother.
All have their joys,—the Spring, that brings the roses
       Among its train;
The Summer fair, that thousand sweets discloses 
       On hill and plain;
Then the ripe Autumn, with its well-filled closes
       Waving with grain.

Last, Winter comes, and, round the fireside bending, 
       We feel no cold. 
Then from our full hearts let us ever, sending
       Forth praise untold,
Thank the grad God, and pray that we, ascending,
       May reach his fold.
Abbot, anne wales. “The Seasons.” The Child’s Friend and Family Magazine 26 (January 1856): 276-78.
Contexts

Abbot (or Abbott) was an author, board and card game designer, and the editor of The Child’s Friend from 1851 to 1858. Slantwise Moves: Games, Literature, and Social Invention in Nineteenth-Century America by Douglas A. Guerra briefly discusses Abbot’s popular 1843 card game The Improved and Illustrated Game of Dr. Busby: “This card game, invented by a thirty-four-year-old Salem woman affectionately (if somewhat patronizingly to modern ears) remembered as “Miss Annie Abbot,”…would remain a part of the American gaming vernacular for the next century. Their version alone—and there would be many imitators by the latter quarter of the nineteenth century—sold more than one hundred fifty thousand copies during the same period when…John Punchard Jewett was stunning the country by selling roughly three hundred thousand copies of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (p. 162).

Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:

dally: To spend time idly or frivolously; to linger, loiter; to delay.

hoary: Having white or grey hair, grey-haired; Ancient; venerable from age, time-honoured.

sally: A going forth, setting out, excursion, expedition (of one or more persons).

Resources for Further Study
Categories
1850s Poem

The Frost

The Frost

Author Unknown
Annotations by Abby Army
Bertha Boynton Lum. Frost. Print from woodcut, 1920, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.[1] 
The Frost looked forth one still, clear night,
And whispered, ‘Now I shall be out of sight;
So through the valley and over the height,
  In silence I’ll take my way.
I will not go on like that blustering train,—
The wind and the snow, the hail and the rain,
Who make so much bustle and noise in vain,
  But I’ll be as busy as they!’

Then he flew to the mountain, and powdered its crest
He lit on the trees, and their boughs he drest
In diamond beads; and over the breast
  Of the quivering lake, he spread
A coat of mail, that it need not fear
The downward point of many a spear,
That he hung on its margin, far and near, 
  Where a rock could rear its head. 

He went to the windows of those who slept,
Wherever he breathed, wherever he stepped,
  By the light of the morn wee seen
Most beautiful things; there were flowers and trees;
There were bevies of birds and swarms of bees;
There were cities with temples and towers; and these
  All pictured in silver sheen!

But he did one thing that was hardly fair—
He peeped in the cupboard, and finding there,
That all had forgotten for him to prepare,
  ‘Now, just to set them a-thinking,
I’ll bite this basket of fruit,‘ said he,
‘This costly pitcher I’ll burst in three;
And the glass of water they’ve left for me 
  Shall “tchick!” to tell them I’m drinking!’
Author unknown. “The Frost.” The Youth’s Companion 32, no. 2 (January 1858): 8.

[1] “Printmaker, painter and illustrator Bertha Lum is best known for her color woodblock prints, made using Japanese techniques, which reflect the style and often the subject matter of classic Japanese ukiyo-e (“floating world”) prints.” (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco)

Contexts

Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:

bevy: The proper term for a company of maidens or ladies, of roes, of quails, or of larks; A company of any kind; rarely, a collection of objects.

Categories
1850s Column Native American

Stars

Stars

By Ga-Yu-Ga[1]
Annotations by Jessica Cory
Image of hooked rug with beige and red border and the inside with a white crescent moon and eleven stars.
“Hooked Rug with Stars, Crescent and Fret.” Artist unknown. Wool on Burlap. Held in the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

When the golden clouds in the West have faded away, and the hours of twilight approach; when the wayward zephyrs bear on their bosoms the rich perfumes of Flora’s domains; how beautiful is the faint glimmering of the first tiny stars.

Soon all is wrapped in the deepest shade of night; then the heavens are filled with those bright luminaries sending forth their pale light to guide the weary traveller [sic] on his way.

The stars are the wonder and admiration of the world. How little children love to gaze on them, and with what strange imaginings do they fill their minds. Some think they are the eyes of angels looking down upon them from above. Others think they are lamps lit up, or blazes in the sky to give light at night.

I have heard of one who asked if they were not holes in the floor of heaven, to let the glory through. I remember when quite a child, thinking they were windows in heaven, and that at each one a little angel was placed to watch the children on earth, to see when they did right and wrong.

Who can look at the stars without thinking of their Maker? They seem so much nearer to Him than the rest of his works.

It may be that after this world is destroyed, the Saints will be permitted to visit the different stars to see and admire still more the works of their Glorious Contriver.

Well might the Psalmist exclaim, while gazing upon them, “What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him. [sic]

ga-yu-ga. “Stars.” a wreath of cherokee rose buds 2 no. 1 (August 1855): 3.

[1] While some residential schools at the time kept and have digitized student records, no information was available regarding Ga-Yu-Ga’s tribal affiliation or identity beyond just her name.

Contexts

The many references to Christianity within Ga-Yu-Ga’s “Stars” is likely expected, as she was a student at a seminary. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for Native peoples to be employed as Christian ministers (such as William Apess and Samson Occom).

However, Ga-Yu-Ga’s references do harken back to the ways in which the Christian religion has been used as a tool of colonization of Indigenous peoples across the globe. In fact, religion, not race, was the primary excuse used by early colonizers to commit genocide on Turtle Island and many other territories. As this interpretation explains, the Doctrine of Discovery, an international law, allowed for lands that were not inhabited by Christian peoples to be conquered and settled, even if they were sovereign nations. Later in 1823, the decision in Supreme Court case Johnson v. Mc’Intosh upheld notions of the Doctrine of Discovery, essentially arguing that Britain was the original “discover” under the Doctrine and that the U.S inherited their ownership when the thirteen colonies won their independence from Britain. An extension of the Christian settler colonialism can also be evidenced in that many of the residential schools that Native youth were forced to attend were also run by religious organizations. On the whole though, Native Americans and Christianity is a very complex topic that cannot be fully explored on this page.

Resources for Further Study
  • For additional information on the first Cherokee Female Seminary, please take a look at my other work.
  • Mary Annette Pember (Red Cliff Tribe of Wisconsin Ojibwe) writes about the issues with missionaries on reservations and includes first-person narratives.
Pedagogy
  • The Unitarian Universalist Association’s video would be helpful in explaining the Doctrine of Discovery to middle grades and older students.
  • The Pluralism Project’s discussion of Native peoples and Christianity does a good job of capturing the complexities of the matter.

Categories
1850s Column Native American Water

A Small River or Creek

A Small River or Creek

By Quale-U-Quah[1]
Annotations by Jessica cory
Black and white image of a man standing in a river with mountains in the background.
James Mooney. Cherokee Country of North Carolina. Black and white glass negative, 1888, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. The photo shows the Oconaluftee River with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background.

There is a small river which runs along about a mile from my home; it is a very beautiful one; its banks are covered with large fine trees, grass and various kinds of flowers. In the spring, it is very pleasant to sit on the bank and look at the water gliding along. Many a happy hour I have passed at this creek with my sisters and schoolmates, looking at the water and gathering flowers, making boquets [sic] and gathering grapes and berries. There are a great many fine nut trees on the bank with their large branches hanging over the water. A little way up the creek is a mountain. It has some large rocks on it. When we go on the top of the mount [sic] and get on one of these large rocks and look down on the creek running below, it is very beautiful. There is one place at this mountain where there is a way to go down like steps, and the rocks are placed one after another, and look as if some one [sic] had made them that way. Between some large rocks, there is a place almost in the shape of a house. It is square just like a room, and it has a beautiful spring in it, and the water come from out the rock, runs down to the bottom and goes into the creek. It makes a great noise when it falls off the rock. There is an open place like a door, and just in front of the door is the creek. It is pleasant to sit in there and see every thing [sic] looking so fresh and beautiful.

Quale-u-quah. “A small river or creek.” A wreath of cherokee rose buds 1, no. 2 (august 1854): 4.

[1] While some residential schools at the time kept and have digitized student records, no information is available regarding Quale-U-Quah’s tribal affiliation or identity beyond just her name.

Contexts

This piece first appeared in A Wreath of Cherokee Rose Buds, a publication of the first Cherokee Female Seminary. The seminary, which opened in 1851, was a residential school for female Native American students in the U.S. located in Park Hill, Oklahoma, just outside of Tahlequah (the capital of the Cherokee Nation). The seminary (and other similar seminaries, many of which were for males) differed significantly from the industrial boarding schools for Native youth. While still teaching many subjects to encourage assimilation and refusing to teach the Cherokee language or culture, the seminaries’ curriculums were what we might think of today as college prep, rather than readying students for occupational labor. The student body also contrasted with boarding schools, as seminary enrollment was optional, tuition was expensive, and students generally came from upper-class and mixed-blood backgrounds.

Because of the residential nature of the seminary and the fact that it accepted students from many tribes, some of whom may have been far from home, the longing for familiar landscapes expressed by Quale-U-Quah was likely also felt by other students. Unfortunately, because there is no available biographical information about Quale-U-Quah, we can’t know more about the place she called home.

The Youth’s Companion published this piece on September 7, 1854, as “A Small River” in the “Indian Youth’s Newspaper” section.

Resources for Further Study

When learning or teaching about Cherokee history, it can be easy to get caught up in Removal (also known as the Trail of Tears) or other atrocities which the Cherokee faced. However, it’s important to also teach about Cherokee recovery and resistance. The Cherokee are still here, and that recovery and resistance in the face of settler colonialism and genocide is the reason why.

  • The Association for Core Texts and Courses offers many wonderful materials to teach about the Cherokee from pre-contact through contemporary art and culture, focusing on reclamation and renewal.
  • The Zinn Education Project, named after Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States, offers a treasure trove of history and social studies lessons for all grades. Here are some for teaching about Native Americans, including this activity, which analyzes Andrew Jackson’s speech about Removal from a critical perspective.
Contemporary Connections

The rebuilt Cherokee Female Seminary (reconstructed at a different site after an 1887 fire ruined the original) is now part of the Northeastern State University campus known as Seminary Hall. The Cherokee Heritage Center now sits on the original Park Hill site. The rebuilt seminary is also on the National Register of Historic Places.

Categories
1850s Poem

Of What Is the Alphabet Composed?

Of What Is the Alphabet Composed?

By Mattie Bell [1]
Annotations by Maggie Kelly
“Children’s Alphabet.” 18th century woodcut. Image is courtesy of Minneapolis Institute of Art (CC0).
Of busy Bees,
  And sparkling Eyes,
Of billowy Seas
  Ruled by the Wise.
Of shady El-ms,
  And mourning Yews,
And noisy Ohs,
  Which you must Ex-cuse.
Of blooming Peas,
  A measuring Ell,[2]
And some so smart
  They the rest Ex-cel.

Of singing Jays, [3]
  And vexing Tease,
Questioning “Why” 
  And languid Ease
Of fragrant Tea,
  And hairy Cue,[4]
With debtors who drawl out
  “I—Owe—You.”
And En-vy, who makes
  You grumble and fret,
Together compose
  The Alphabet.
Bell, Mattie. “Of What Is the Alphabet Composed?” Robert Merry’s Museum, July 1858.

[1] Mattie Bell was a subscriber to the magazine Robert Merry’s Museum, where this poem was published in July 1858. From 1858-1863, 20 of her poems were published in this magazine (Pflieger).

[2] An Ell is an unit of measurement of 18 inches, originally known as a cubit.

[3] A Jay is a species of bird, with the most popular being the blue jay.

[4] In this context, Cue is referring to a long braid or pigtail.

Contexts

Robert Merry’s Museum was a popular children’s literary magazine in the 19th century. For more information about this magazine, visit Pat Pflieger’s website, particularly the page dedicated to Robert Merry’s Museum: https://www.merrycoz.org/bib/1850.xhtml#06.1841.08

Resources for Further Study
Pedagogy

This poem lists a number of words that sound like letters of the alphabet (i.e. peas, bees, yews). What other words can you think of that sound like a letter in the alphabet? Next, try writing your own poem that uses the list of words you come up with.

Categories
1850s Fairy Tale

The Elves of the Forest Centre

The Elves of the Forest Centre

By Pansy [1]
Annotations by Maggie Kelly
Richard Holzschuh. Untitled (Troop of Elves). Pen and ink and watercolor on card. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN.

There lived a little girl, named Maia, with her mother, in a deep forest. As they had always dwelt in the same lone spot, the child had become accustomed to the solitude of the surrounding woods, and even loved the old trees that towered above her head.

So she was not surprised when, one bright morning, her mother said: “Maia, take thy little basket, and go to the forest centre, and fetch a few fagots and some nuts.”

Maia quickly put on her gipsy hat, bade her mother good-bye, and tripped away. She knew all the little birds and squirrels; she did not fear even the king of beasts, so gentle was he to her. And oh! when the young tigers leaped forth to meet her, she could not help setting her basket down, to take a nice tumble upon the soft moss. Then the old tiger and tigress came home, bringing four little lions to spend the day. So they carried Maia on their backs by turn, until they reached the forest centre, then, wagging their tails, they left her, all alone.

Hark! a rustling among the dry branches—only the wind or a squirrel in its nest—Maia began to fill her basket from a store of nuts, hidden in a hollow stump, and to tie up her fagots, for she must hasten; but soon she dropped her basket, the fagots were forgotten, for there, before her, were the little Elves of the forest; yes, the dear funny little Elves, whose history her mother had so often told her.

A little Elfin maid stole to her side, to see what she might be, and Maia was half tempted to seize the tiny creature, but something bade her not, so she only said: “Oh, how beautiful thou art!” At this the little Elf darted away, but soon returned to say: “Our king desires thee to come and feast with us, oh! great giantess!”

Maia, quite bewildered, followed the little maid, and soon found herself in the presence of the Elfin king, a tiny fellow, about as tall as her hand, and dressed in a robe of crimson velvet, spangled with diamonds. As she began to blush and courtesy, he said: “Maia, thou art a good child; we have watched thee, day by day; all the beasts of the forest love thee. They say, ‘So kind and gentle is little Maia, that we would not harm her.’ We, too, love, and will befriend, thee.”

Photograph of the painting “When Love Reigns” by Strutt depicting children surrounded by beasts, [s.d.]. Three small children pose on what appears to be a desert ridge, surrounded by animals large and small. The young girl of the three stands at center, holding a laurel branch, while the two other children play with snakes at her feet. In the right foreground, a lamb lies with a lion. In the background, cows, lions, leopards, bears and other animals recline peacably in a prospect of flowers. The sky fills the rest of the image.

He paused, and a little Elf came forth to dance. When the dance was finished, Maia sang a song about the Elves, which pleased the king very much; then all sat down to the banquet, which was composed of the most delicate food ever known. When all were done feasting, the Elves sang another song, after which Maia was again called by the king: “Here,” he said, leading forward the Elfin maid whom she had before met, “here is a little one for thee; guard her well, and she will be a faithful friend.”

“How can I repay thy kindness?” cried Maia; but before she could say more, she found herself in a beautiful little carriage, drawn by twelve robins, and at her side sat the maiden Elfletta, given her by the king. Soon she arrived at home, where she had long been expected; but where was the basket of nuts? where the fagots? Elfletta soon answered that question, by pointing to another Elf, who was seen in the distance, bringing them, and many other nice things.

But this good fortune did not make Maia forget her duties, and I am sure she set a good example for Elfletta, by rising early, and cheerfully performing her labors. At the forest centre the Elves were always glad to see her, and the tigers always glad to carry her there.

When she grew older, the little Elfin maid found a little Elfin man, and, as they loved each other, they were married. Then Maia’s good old mother died, blessing the dear daughter who had been a comfort to her in all her trials. And when Maia found grey hairs among her own dark tresses—when her hand failed, and she grew old and feeble, there had sprung up around her a little family of Elves—then did they befriend her, and she loved them more than ever.

Her eyes grew dim, she lay down to rest, and with her last breath blessed the little Elves. Upon the bed lay a cold form, with a calm smile upon the face; the heart did not beat, the eyes were fixed, the old woman was at rest, but was she there? No; in the sky were a host of angels—they bore the soul of Maia to its heavenly home.

Seward, Frances. “The Elves of the Forest Centre.” Merry’s Museum 35 (January 1858): 11.

[1] Pansy was the pen name for Frances (Fanny) Adeline Seward, who wrote several pieces for the children’s literary magazine Robert Merry’s Museum. Seward was 13 when this story was published.

Contexts

This piece is a selection from Robert Merry’s Museum, a popular children’s literary magazine in the 19th century. Samuel Griswold Goodrich founded it in 1871, and in 1872, the magazine was absorbed by The Youthful Companion.

According to scholar Pat Pflieger, “‘Elves’ is a good example of a ‘Mary Sue,’ an unbelievably amazing character often created by amateur writers.” Click the Mary Sue link to learn more about the history of this archetypal character, often featured in children’s fairy tales.

Resources for Further Study
Categories
1850s Poem

The Snow Fairies

The Snow Fairies

By Anonymous
Annotations by Abby Army/JB
Frederic Edwin Church. Winter Landscape at Moonlight. Brush and oil paint on
paperboard, 1870, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, NY.
Bright the winter moon was beaming
   O’er the snowy plain and hill,
And in steady radiance streaming,
   Silvered o’er the frozen rill.

As I wandered, my slow footsteps
   Seemed alone the calm to break,
Save the sound of distant laughter
   From the skaters on the lake.

Where the little copse-wood groweth,
   —Used the rivulet to shade,—
Every spray bent down with snow-flakes, 
   Thither, carelessly, I strayed.

Hark! a strain of tiny music
   Ringeth through the thicket white,
With a sound of merry voices
   And a tread of footsteps light.

Forth advancing from the covert,
   Bounding o’er the unyielding snow, 
Lo! a train of fur-clad fairies
   Dancing gaily as they go!

Of rich furs their graceful raiment
   Bright with many a varied hue,
While beneath each small fur head-dress
   Sparkled forth their eyes of blue.

One among them moved superior,—
   White her robe as lady’s hand;
And a slender spear, ice-jewelled,
   Seemed her sceptre of command.

Graceful round their queen encircling,
   Swiftly moved each little foot, 
To the dance this song responding, 
   And the notes of fairy flute:—

“Round we go o’er the sparkling snow,
   Bright the stars are glancing!
Merrily sound, as we go round,
   To lively music dancing. 

“Still the air, the moon shines fair,
   In light the landscape steeping, 
The trees shine bright through the lovely night,
   Too fair a night for sleeping.

“Forth we come from our crystal home,
   Our home with ice-gems gleaming,
To dance a round on the fleecy ground,
   And sport in the moonlight beaming.

“And when the day drives night away, 
   When the watching stars grow weary,
Then swift we’ll fly where the shadows lie,
   And creep to our grottoes cheery!

“Round we go o’er the sparkling snow,
   Bright the stars are glancing!
Merrily sound, as we go round,
   To lively music dancing.
Author Unknown. “The Snow Fairies.” The Child’s Friend and youth’s Magazine 24 (1855): 121-22.
Contexts

The Child’s Friend and Youth’s Magazine appeared under several titles during its publication history from 1843 to 1858, including The Child’s Friend and The Child’s Friend and Family Magazine. It was edited by Eliza Lee Cabot Follen from 1843 to 1850 and was later published with no editor listed.

Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:

raiment: Clothing, dress, apparel.

rill: A small stream; a brook; a rivulet.

thither: To or towards that place (with verb of motion expressed or implied).

Resources for Further Study
Categories
1850s African American Poem

Bury Me in a Free Land

Bury Me in a Free Land

By Frances Ellen Watkins
Annotations by celia Hawley/JB
Childe Hassam. Colonial Graveyard at Lexington. Pastel drawing, 1891, Smithsonian American
Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
You may make my grave wherever you will,
   In a lowly vale or a lofty hill;
You may make it among the earth's humblest graves,
   But not in a land where men are slaves.

I could not sleep if around my grave
   I hear the steps of a trembling slave;
His shadow above my silent tomb
   Would make it a place of fearful gloom.

I could not rest if I heard the tread
   Of a coffle gang to the shambles led,
And the mother's shriek of wild despair
   Rise like a curse on the trembling air.

I could not rest if I heard the lash
   Drinking her blood at each fearful gash,
And I saw her babes torn from her breast
   Like trembling doves from their parent nest.
Artist unknown. A Slave Auction in Virginia. Print, 1861, New York Public Library Digital Collections.
I'd shudder and start if I heard the bay
   Of the bloodhounds seizing their human prey;
If I heard the captive plead in vain
   As they tightened afresh his galling chain.

If I saw young girls, from their mothers' arms
   Bartered and sold for their youthful charms
My eye would flash with a mournful flame,
   My death-paled cheek grow red with shame.

I would sleep, dear friends, where bloated might
   Can rob no man of his dearest right;
My rest shall be calm in any grave.
    Where none calls his brother a slave.

I ask no monument proud and high
   To arrest the gaze of passers by;
All that my spirit yearning craves,
   Is—bury me not in the land of slaves.—
Charles Nicolas Ransonnette. A Cemetery in a Village. Graphite, brush and wash, pen and ink on tissue
paper, c. 1840-1870, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, NY.
Watkins, Frances Ellen. “Bury me in a free land.” The Anti-Slavery Bugle 14, no. 13 (November 1858): 3.
Contexts

The burial of slaves and formerly enslaved people is another area of large-scale erasure and invisibility and is a concern for historians, researchers, and descendants. There are efforts in many locations to restore cemeteries and burial places, in Mount Vernon, near Clemson University, and Rhode Island, to mention just a few.

The Guardian’s poem of the week article from February 2017 breaks down the poem and touches on Harper’s background. The Archives of Maryland has a more extensive biography and additional resources.

Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:

coffle: A train of people or animals fastened together; spec. a gang of slaves chained and driven along together.

shambles: 2. In Old English, a table or counter for exposing goods for sale, counting money, etc. A table or stall for the sale of meat. 3. A place where meat is sold, a flesh- or meat-market. 4. The place where animals are killed for meat; a slaughterhouse. 5. A place of carnage or wholesale slaughter; a scene of blood. In more general use, a scene of disorder or devastation; a ruin; a mess.

Resources for Further Study
Contemporary Connections

An excerpt from Harper’s poem is inscribed on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. The excerpt reads: “I ask no monument, proud and high to arrest the gaze of the passers-by; all that my yearning spirit craves is bury me not in a land of slaves.”

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