When My Fire Burns Low

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:48 pm

http://onebeggar.20m.com/custom.html

Well it's a story about Lizzie Borden, I guess you could say.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:23 pm

I did a word search to see if he had the answer to who might have written our familiar words but:

"But Lizzie never lashed out, and she deeply appreciated those few that stood by her. They say she had a poem carved above her fireplace. I don't know where she got it from. Maybe she wrote it herself. This is what it said:

'And old true friends, and twilight plays

And starry nights, and sunny days

Come trouping up the misty ways

When my fire burns low.'

At least I still have the starry nights."

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 10:16 am

Rats - I thought you found out where that poem came from, Allen. Thanks for the link to the story, though. I'll look in on it.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 10:01 pm

Kat @ Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:23 pm wrote:I did a word search to see if he had the answer to who might have written our familiar words but:

"But Lizzie never lashed out, and she deeply appreciated those few that stood by her. They say she had a poem carved above her fireplace. I don't know where she got it from. Maybe she wrote it herself. This is what it said:

'And old true friends, and twilight plays

And starry nights, and sunny days

Come trouping up the misty ways

When my fire burns low.'

At least I still have the starry nights."

I had copy/pasted this text qouted above.

In Rebello, pg. 325, it says:

"AND OLD TIME-TIME FRIENDS & TWILIGHT PLAYS,"

--This is transcribed exactly as on the page, caps and all, except for the quote marks which I added.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 11:01 pm

According to the picture of the mantle thats what I made out, even after I blew it up a few sizes, was:

AND OLD TIME FRIENDS TWILIGHT PLAYS
AND STARRY NIGHTS AND SUNNY DAYS
COME TROOPING UP THE MISTY WAYS
WHEN MY FIRE BURNS LOW

It really is a beautiful mantle. I can't believe no one knows the source of the inscription. I've been really intrigued by that

Audrey · Post by **Audrey** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 11:12 pm

I had that as moving text in my signature once. It is lovely....

Maybe Lizzie wrote it...

theebmonique · Post by **theebmonique** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 11:34 pm

Kat,

You cited Rebello perfectly (of course).

He goes on to state on pg. 325;
Note: The author of the above line of poetry or poem is unknown. Research at the New York Public Library, Boston Public Library, Harvard University Library, and Fall River Public Library was unsuccessful.

Tracy...

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 3:17 am

Allen @ Sun Jan 23, 2005 11:01 pm wrote:According to the picture of the mantle thats what I made out, even after I blew it up a few sizes, was:

AND OLD TIME FRIENDS TWILIGHT PLAYS
AND STARRY NIGHTS AND SUNNY DAYS
COME TROOPING UP THE MISTY WAYS
WHEN MY FIRE BURNS LOW

It really is a beautiful mantle. I can't believe no one knows the source of the inscription. I've been really intrigued by that

Where is the mantle picture, please, and does it have the dash and the ampersand and all capital letters?

theebmonique · Post by **theebmonique** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 3:42 am

This is the picture from Stef's website:

Tracy...

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 3:46 am

Thanks. I figured it was there but I didn't know where Allen got it from...
So Len's transcription is the most correct!

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:29 am

Thats the picture I refered to in my post.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:42 am

Thats the picture I refered to in my post.Sorry if I am slow to respond but I am pretty busy with a research paper from one class, and a Statistics professor who doesn't believe in having a day go by where she doesn't assign some kind of homework. I would've posted that I got it from Stefani's site but theebmonique already posted the picture

. I think its beautiful I would love to see it in person.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 6:31 pm

Thanks you guys.

In the Annotated listing of past LBQ's I knew there was a reference to an article written by our member William:

"Ulrich, William. 'The Carvings of Maplecroft.' Lizzie Borden Quarterly II.6 (Winter 1995): 1-3.
Article devoted to the house on the hill that Lizzie and Emma moved to following Lizzie's acquittal. Ulrich also details his search for the source of the poem that was carved on a panel above the fireplace. Included is a full reprint of the poem 'My Ain Countrie.' "
http://lizzieandrewborden.com/Resources ... BQAuth.htm

I thought mantle info might also have come from the LBQ article and the picture was on the cover, so I asked.

stuartwsa · Post by **stuartwsa** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 11:20 am

Do we know as absolute fact that Lizzie had the carvings installed after she moved into Maplecroft?
This is just one of those "assumptions" that we've always heard (such as August 4, 1892 being a sweltering day in Fall River), but there seems to be no source for proof. It's entirely possible that the previous owners might have put them in as well.
...Just a little something for everyone to chew over!

Audrey · Post by **Audrey** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:51 pm

Interesting Stuart...

Could Lizzie have seen the "My Ain Country" AT Maplecroft and liked it? Could it have been something she stumbled onto there? Throws some rather large holes in the theory that it was her secret confession!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 5:33 pm

If the original owner, Allen, had the mantles already carved, it might have stimulated Lizbeth to have the front steps she had replaced with stone carved with the word "Maplecroft."
Maybe the owners right after Lizbeth had the mantles carved?

Does anyone have access to a description contemporary with Lizbeth from the newspapers, of the house?

Charles Allen was the person who had the house built and lived there and sold to the Borden girls. See Rebello, pg. 287, for short bio.

Audrey · Post by **Audrey** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 5:37 pm

and a point has been made for Lizzie ordering the carvings done if she was on a carve-athon and did the steps at the same time???

stuartwsa · Post by **stuartwsa** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 7:50 pm

Perhaps Lizzie did the carving herself,and was just doing some practicing on Andrew and Abby's heads? :-0

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:38 pm

I think I found the origin of the poem Lizzie had engraved on her mantle.
Common School Literature English and American With Several Hundred Extracts to be Memorized By J. Willis Westlake A.M. Copyright J. Willis Westlake 1876

page 149

CCXLIV
When klingle, klangle, klingle,
Way down the dusky dingle,
The cows are coming home;
How sweet and clear and faint and low,
The airy tinklings come and go,
Like chimings from the far off tower,
Or patterings of an April shower
That makes the daisies grow;
Ko-ling, ko-lang, ko-linglelingle,
Way down the darkening dingle,
The cows come slowly home;
And old time friends and twilight plays,
And starry nights, and sunny days,
Come trooping up the misty ways,
When my cows come home.

http://books.google.com/books?id=dggBAA ... ight+plays

1bigsteve · Post by **1bigsteve** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:10 am

Well, beat me over the head with a hatchet. I think you found it Allen! It looks like it's all there. It wouldn't take much for Lizzie to change the last line to fit in with the fireplace setting.

-1bigsteve (o:

william · Post by **william** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:28 am

Good job, Alien!

From your entry it would seem that this extract was from a poem (The cows) written prior to 1876.

I have the book by Westlake. I'll check it out ans see where that leads us.

"The games afoot!"

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:37 am

Oh Jolly GOOD- this takes the Muttoneater's Golden Spoon Award. Can't tell you how many anthologies of Victorian poetry I have waded through trying to find this. Fabulous! Amazing! Good for you! Huzzah and Hurrah! Bravo! Orchids to you!(Turning cartwheels and waving insanely).

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:03 am

That title by Westlake is available online at http://books.google.com/books?id=dggBAA ... 8#PPA12,M1

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:42 am

The poem we want is on page 149 at that link above. Funny ALL the other poems and extracts have the author or poet listed. The Cows does not. Boo.

kfactor · Post by **kfactor** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:05 am

Wow! Nice job, Allen! That was a tough one, for sure!!! I wonder if Lizzy had to memorize that one in school at some point, and it "stuck" with her through the years.

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:14 am

The expression- "Until the cows come home" is Scottish in origin- and we know Lizzie loved the Scottish element to be sure. Here is what I found on the phrase- "until the cows come home"

"Cows are notoriously languid creatures and make their way home at their own unhurried pace. That's certainly the imagery behind 'until the cows come home', but the precise time and place of the coining of this colloquial phrase isn't known. It was certainly before 1829 though, and may well have been in Scotland. The phrase appeared in print in The Times in January that year, when the paper reported a suggestion of what the Duke of Wellington should do if he wanted to maintain a place as a minister in Peel's cabinet:

If the Duke will but do what he unquestionably can do, and propose a Catholic Bill with securities, he may be Minister, as they say in Scotland "until the cows come home."

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:22 am

WHEN THE COWS COME HOME

With klingle, klangle, klingle,

Way down the dusty dingle

The cows are coming home;

How sweet and clear, and faint and low,

The airy tinklings come and go,

Like chimings from some far-off tower,

Or patterings of an April shower

That makes the daisies grow—

Ko-kling ko-klang, koklingle lingle,

Way down the darkening dingle

The cows come slowly home.

With a klingle, klangle, klingle,

With a loo-oo and moo-oo and jingle

The cows are coming home:

And over there on Merlin's hill

Hear the plaintive cry of the whip-poor-will,

The dewdrops lie on the tangled vines,

And over the poplar Venus shines

And over the silent mill.

Ko-ling, ko-lang, kolingle lingle

With a ting-a-ling and jingle

The cows come slowly home.

Let down the bars, let in the strain

Of long-gone songs, and flowers and rain;

For dear old times come back again

When the cows come home.

—AGNES E. MITCHELL.

twinsrwe · Post by **twinsrwe** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:25 am

Good Job, Allen!!! How in the world did you find this??? I gave up trying to find it quite awhile ago.

(Click on image to animate.)

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:27 am

Apparently this poem of Agnes E. Mitchell's was well-known as a piece to be learned to improve elocution and diction-and you can see why!

There are more verses.

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:48 am

Not too much on Google on Agnes Mitchell, but in a book of Victorian poems, right under "The Cows" is an interesting poem by Duncan Campbell Scott called The Home Song. In 1893, Scott privately published his first book The Magic House, and Other Poems. "Although his poems were heavily influenced by Romantic and Victorian themes, Scott's facility with language and verse forms was evident, and the book was generally well received." Coincidence??

I think My Ain Countrie will spring to mind!

THERE is rain upon the window,
There is wind upon the tree;
The rain is slowly sobbing,
The wind is blowing free:
It bears my weary heart
To my own country.

I hear the white-throat calling,
Hid in the hazel ring;
Deep in the misty hollows
I hear the sparrows sing;
I see the bloodroot starting,
All silvered with the spring.

I skirt the buried reed-beds,
In the starry solitude;
My snowshoes creak and whisper,
I have my ready blood.
I hear the lynx-cub yelling
In the gaunt and shaggy wood.

I hear the wolf-tongued rapid
Howl in the rocky break,
Beyond the pines at the portage
I hear the trapper wake
His En roulant ma boulé,
From the clear gloom of the lake.

Oh! take me back to the homestead,
To the great rooms warm and low,
Where the frost creeps on the casement,
When the year comes in with snow.
Give me, give me the old folk
Of the dear long ago.

Oh, land of the dusky balsam,
And the darling maple-tree,
Where the cedar buds and berries,
And the pine grows strong and free!
My heart is weary and weary
For my own country. by Duncan Campbell Scott

Mitchell, Agnes E. (poet)
"Across the Sea" published in the New York "Daily Mirror" 12/28/1895.

kfactor · Post by **kfactor** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:39 pm

Fascinating, both about the cows coming home and this last poem you posted, Shelley, with "My Own Country" in it! Isn't Google great?

We could almost compile a list of works that possibly inspired Ms. Lizbeth and her literary carvings...

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:44 pm

Well, it seems quite a coincidence these two poems should follow each other in this book- and Scott was a well-known and beloved poet from Canada and widely read in America. Seeing the maples and mapleleaf and calling her house Maplecroft AND having Scottish Duncan Campbell Scott as the poet babbling on about "My own country" in his poem in 1893 and her library mantlepiece having HUGE carved Scottish thistles carved into it sure gives one PAUSE to think this is not all coincidence.

diana · Post by **diana** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:39 pm

Wonderful sleuthing, Allen! This is a truly exciting Lizzie find!

I'm not able to access the full text of that book on Google for some reason, but the word "extracts" in the title makes me wonder if we're looking at only one stanza of a longer poem with another stanza having the same lead in, i.e.:
"And old time friends and twilight plays,
And starry nights, and sunny days,
Come trooping up the misty ways,"
But with the closing line of "when my fire burns low"?

Is that a possibility?

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:35 pm

Shelley, might we have your links to the info cited here- thanks!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:36 pm

Remarkable, Missy! Yay!
William is very pleased, I can tell!
Him especially- he has written about and researched those mantles for years!

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:28 pm

Wonderful find, Missy!

My hat's off to you

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:25 pm

The book is called, The World's Best Poetry edited by Bliss Carmen. in 10 volumes by John D. Morris and Company, Philadelphia. Vol. I Home and Friendship.

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:35 pm

A book called The Humbler Poets, (A.C. McClure and Co.) A Collection of Newspaper and Periodical Verse 1870-1885 by Slason Thompson, Chicago , copyright 1885 has the Agnes Mitchell poem too.

Yes, there are more verses. To have the names of all the cows and soooo much other stuff, try page 323 and 324. Hope the link works.

http://books.google.com/books?id=SvhzX3 ... #PPA323,M1

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 8:37 pm

Wow! Amazing find, Melissa! I'd given up searching on the source of that stanza quite awhile ago. Thats so cool, two new Lizzie finds by our members here; Emma's school info and now quite possibly the source for the mantel in Maplecroft!

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:42 pm

With all the excitement- still we do not know if Lizzie had anything to do with putting in those mantels, as much as we'd like to think so. Mantels, I would think, are something integral to the house when it is built, and Mr. Allen may well have seen and liked these poems, which were, after all, very popular Victorian fare at this point in the 1890's and in many anthologies as we have noted above.

Allen (sometimes Allan) is a Scottish surname, so the thistles could as easily have been his idea too. Lizzie could have torn off the old mantels, yes- but I noted the mantelpieces are stained the very same shade as the moldings, mopboards and trim. Again, this could have been made to match by Lizzie. Is it likely that this is something she would have done though? When did it happen, if so- right away, later on after she moved in?
Would it even be likely to demolish and replace something in a relatively new house?

Much has also been made of the hymn and poem in the other mantel, At Hame in my Ain Countrie- it may also be simply that she was intrigued by the mantel and found a hymn by the same name in her hymnal. I have a copy of the Temperance Union's White Ribbon Hymnal from 1891 and it has At Hame in My Ain Countrie in it, so it may have been popular at the Congregational Church.

Once I met a famous author, and burbled on and on about the many shades of meaning and significance and symbolism in one of his novels. He looked at me a long time and said, "Did I really put all that in there? News to me." I was disappointed because I thought I had found so many revealing symbols, insights, etc.- when in fact none of it was intentional by the author. I wish there were records somewhere of the specs for Maplecroft,- I wonder if any of Allen's descendants might have letters ,work orders, old papers, etc. or even memories of his house being built.

I also wonder why one complete version of the Agnes E Mitchell's poem does not have the same last stanza as the fireplace mantel.

Just playing devil's advocate. . . .we may never know for sure what all that mantel business is about- there is sure more than one possibility.

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:02 pm

The Bliss Carmen edition of the Mitchell poem ends:

Let down the bars, let in the train,
Of long-gone flowers, and songs and rain;
For dear old times come back again
When the cows come home.

One thing is clear, though, it IS Alice E. Mitchell's poem. Perhaps the last verse was altered or added later on, Another mystery.

lydiapinkham · Post by **lydiapinkham** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:23 am

Hurrah, hurroo for Melissa! I know I for one have looked hard and long for this source with no success. Great detective work!

It looks like we have a new mystery now, though. Why are there two such different versions? The version Shelley turned up is not only longer but also missing the crucial lines from the mantlepiece. Could there be yet another version with the fire after the cows got back?

--Lyddie

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:44 pm

I've been conducting a little more research via the googlebooks resource. It's a wonderful resource!!

The poem by Agnes E. Mitchell does seem to appear in a few deviating forms, but most all of them include the same four stanzas somewhere in the poem. I've listed a few of these sources below. Some of these books include discussions about exactly what meaning this poem holds. There are many more available which I found by typing in the stanzas of the poem at this site: http://books.google.com/

Lizzie could quite well have had to learn this poem as part of her studies at some point. It's possible she may even have taught this poem to the sunday school children.

1. Library of American Literature From the Earliest Settlement to Present compiled and edited by Edmund Clarence Stedman and Ellen Mackay Hutchinson, published in 1890, page 350.

2. Standard Selections: A Collection of Adaptation of Superior Productions by Robert Irving Fulton, published in 1971, on page 392.

3. Common Sense Didatics For Common School Teachers by Henry Sabin L.L., copyright 1903, on page 275.

4. Three Minute Readings for College Girls by Harry Cassell Davis, published 1897, page 329.

5. Vision: A Magazine for Youth, by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, published in 1893, page 90.

6. Wheeler' s Graded Literary Readers, with Interpretations, by William ller Crane and William Henry Wheeler, published 1919, page 56.

----------------------------------------------------------

An Excerpt from Talks to Young People by Harry Sabin, copyright 1899 , page 37. According to Sabin, the book is dedicated "To the young men and women whom I have known as pupils during my years of service in the public schools." He shares graduating addresses which were "mainly delivered to the graduating classes of Clinton High School." This comes under a chapter heading called "Truth class of 1878."

"With these diplomas accept the hearty good will of teachers, schoolmates and friends. May all lifes sorrows be as the fire which refines the gold, and all it's joys be as the sunshine which lifts the palm to its lofty height. Our work is done. And yet the "good-by" lingers on our lips. To-night a thousand memories throng about us. Dear familiar forms, the life and light of children's homes, whose faces long since were hidden beneath the sod, walk again among us in old familiar places, and their voices, tuned to sweeter converse with the angels, thrill our hearts with melody as in the days that are no more. The sweetest memories of childhood dwell in the secret corridors of the heart. We open wide the doors and

"Old-time friends and twilight plays,
And starry nights and sunny days,
Come trooping up the misty ways."

In all vicissitudes of life,

"Be just and fear not;
Let all the ends thy aim'st at by thy country's,
Thy God's, and Truth's.".....

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:54 pm

Wow! I'm doubly impressed!
Good for you!

The question about the changes to that last line reminds me of the story about the writing of the Hymn "Amazing Grace."
That song has changed over the years. It's almost hard to find the original lyrics anymore.

william · Post by **william** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:46 am

The Westlake version of the poem, published in 1876, contains 15 lines of poetry (page 149). This poem includes the words of the carving of the Maplecrof mantel. No author credit is given. I have a copy of this book and have checked the author index. There is no listing.

Several records of the poem, "When the Cows Come HOme", can be found on the web. This is the work of of Agnes E. Mitchell (1863-1939) consisting of 71 lines of poetry. Two identical versions can be found,
"The Humble Poet "(1886) and "The World'Best Poetry" (1904). Both versions are attributed to Mitchell.

It is apparent that Mrs Mitchell "appropriated" eleven lines , word for word,
from the 1876 Westlake version to form the nucleus for her 71 line masterpiece. The only lines she didn't steal were those carved on the Maplecroft mantel.

It is my belief that Lizzie, or the former owner of Maplecroft, Charles M. Allen, had a copy of the Westlake book. This provided the inspiration for the carving of those memorable words in the mantel at Maplecroft

lydiapinkham · Post by **lydiapinkham** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:57 am

William, I believe you do the lady much wrong! I found a version of the ditty that credits her and contains the crucial lines. It comes from Standard Selections: A Collection and Adaptation of Superior Productions From Best Authors For Use in Classroom and on the Platform. Arranged and Edited by Rober I. Fulton, Dean of the School of Elocution and Oratory in the Ohio WesleyanUniversity; Thomas C. Trueblood, Professor of Elocution and Oratory in the University of Michigan; and Edwin P. Trueblood, Professor of Elocution and Oratory inEarlham College. It was published by Ginn and Co., Boston, 1907. This is the version they give:

WHEN THE COWS COME HOME

AGNES E. MITCHELL

With klingle, klangle, klingle,
Way down the dusty dingle,
The cows are coming home;
Now sweet and clear and faint and low,
The airy tinklings come and go,
Like chimings from some far off tower,
Or patterings of some April shower
That makes the daisies grow;
Ko-ling, ko-lang, kolinglelingle,
'Way down the darkening dingle
The cows come slowly home;
And old-time friends and twilight plays,
And starry nights and sunny days,
Come trooping up the misty ways
When the cows come home.

With jingle, jangle, jingle,
Soft tunes that sweetly mingle,
The cows are coming home.
Malvine and Pearl and Florimel,
Dekamp, Redrose and Gretchen Schnell,
Queen Bell and Sylph and Spangled Sue--
Across the fields I hear her "loo-oo"
And clang her silver bell;
Goling, golang, golinglelingle,
With faint far sounds that mingle,
The cows come slowly home;
And mother-songs of long-gone years,
And baby joys and childish tears,
And youthful hopes and youthful fears,
When the cows come home.

With ringle, rangle, ringle,
By twos and threes and single
The cows are coming home.
Through violet air we see the town
And the summer sun a slipping down,
And the maple in the hazel glade
Throws down the path a longer shade,
And the hills are growing brown;
To-ring, to-rang, to-ringleringle,
By threes and fours and single
The cows are coming home;
The same sweet sound of wordless psalm,
The same sweet June-day rest and calm,
The same sweet scent of bud and balm,
When the cows come home.

With tinkle, tankle, tinkle,
Through fern and periwinkle
The cows are coming home;
A-loitering in the checkered stream
Where the sun-rays glance and gleam,
Clarine, Peachbloom and Phoebe Phillis
Stand knee-deep in the creamy lilies
In a drowsy dream;
To-link, to-lank, to-linklelinkle,
O'er banks with butter cups a-twinkle,
The cows come slowly home;
And up through memory's deep ravine
Come the brook's old song and its old-time sheen,
And the crescent of the silver queen,
When the cows come home.

With klingle, klangle, klingle,
With loo-oo and moo-oo and jingle
The cows are coming home;
And over there in Merlin hill,
Hear the plaintive cry of the whip-poor-will;
The dew drops lie on the tangled vines,
And over the poplars Venus shines,
And over the silent mill;
Ko-ling, ko-lang, kolinglelingle
With ting-a-ling and jingle
The cows come slowly home;
Let down the bars, let in the train
Of long-gone songs, and flowers and rain,
For dear old times come back again,
When the cows come home.

Now we have the album version [/i]with the crucial lines and the Mitchell attribution. I think Lizzie probably had the Westlake version, which had a partial version of the whole and no attribution, but I do think Agnes Mitchell is the author. Since it's a recitation piece, I think it frequently went without auhtor's name and may have been cut to fit the needs of the performer. Since it seems to be part of the popular imagination, I wonder if Lizzie was the first or only one to adapt the words to fit her hearth.

--Lyddie

william · Post by **william** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:56 pm

The book you selected, Standard Selection, was published in 1907. The fact that Ms. Miitchell included the words from the Maplcecroft mantel in this version, only proves that she was only a bigger thief than I originally thought.

The Westlake version was published in 1876 - Ms. Mitchell was born in 1863. Precocious? Perhaps, but I doubt it.

lydiapinkham · Post by **lydiapinkham** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:38 pm

Hadn't noticed her birthdate, William. Sorry.

--Lyddie

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 11:10 am

One must be careful to get the original copyright- I noticed the FIRST publish date and that of the edition in hand can be very different things. It may say 1907 on the frontispiece of the edition in hand, but the original printing was much earlier. It is a mystery yet as to why there are differing versions and the four lines we want only appear in one, and the last line adapted to fit the fireside scenario at that. Looks like a great article for someone to write for the Hatchet.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 3:11 pm