GOOD-NIGHT
by W.T. Peters
(Originally published 1881)
GOOD-NIGHT, happy stars,
With your yellow eyes,
Good-night, lady moon,
In the evening skies;
Good-night, dusky world
And the boundless deep;
I am tired out;
It is time to sleep ―
Time, time to sleep.
Good-night! Good-night!
Good-night, weary boy;
It has been decreed
That some mysteries
Only a child can read;
But the sweet child-heart
May you always keep,
And the stars will be yours
And the boundless deep ―
The boundless, boundless deep.
Good-night! Good-night!
Vintage 1912 photo of the mother and sleeping child above
can be downloaded as a 6" x 4" @ 300 ppi JPEG here.
How then does light return to the world
after the eclipse of the sun? Miraculously.
Frailly. In thin stripes. It hangs like a glass cage.
It is a hoop to be fractured by a tiny jar.
There is a spark there. Next moment a flush of dun.
Then a vapour as if earth were breathing in and out,
once, twice, for the first time.
Then under the dullness someone walks with a green light.
Then off twists a white wraith. The woods throb blue and green,
and gradually the fields drink in red, gold, brown.
Suddenly a river snatches a blue light.
The earth absorbs colour like a sponge slowly drinking water.
It puts on weight; rounds itself; hangs pendent;
settles and swings beneath our feet.
― Virginia Woolf, The Waves
19th century sheet music, originally published in 1866. The arrangement is called "Sunshine Schottisch" by Septimus Winner, an American songwriter of the 19th century. He used his own name, and also the pseudonyms Alice Hawthorne, Percy Guyer, Mark Mason, Apsley Street, and Paul Stenton.
In 1855, Winner published the song "Listen to the Mockingbird" under the Alice Hawthorne name. He had arranged and added words to a tune by local singer/guitarist Richard Milburn, an employee, whom he credited. Later he sold the rights, reputedly for five dollars, and subsequent publications omitted Milburn's name from the credits. The song was indeed a winner, selling about 15 million copies in the United States alone.
Another of his successes, and still familiar, is "Der Deitcher's Dog", or "Oh Where, oh Where Ish Mine Little Dog Gone", a text that Winner set to the German folk tune "In Lauterbach hab' ich mein' Strumpf verlor'n" in 1864, which recorded massive sales during Winner's lifetime. Here's a happier, modified version by the Frazee Sisters:
You can download the sheet music for "Sunshine Schottisch" as an 11" x 8.5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soe'er,
But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.
― William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
19th century sheet music, originally published in 1893. The arrangement is called "Sérénade de Rosells" with lyrics by Paul Demaria and music by G. Marietti. You can download the 8" x 8" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),
It's always our self we find in the sea.
― e.e. cummings, 100 Selected Poems
Above is the first half of a page of 19th century sheet music, originally published in the November 26, 1893 issue of La Famille. The arrangement is called "Sérénade Sur L'Eau" with lyrics by H. de N. and music by A. Maas. Below is the second half of the page:
You can download both halves in ONE sheet of music as a high-res 8.5" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.
These two verses were originally published in either the May or June 1867 issue of Godey's (the book is falling apart so the pages are jumbled together). The verses were translated into English from Italian and French, respectively. I am not quite sure if the translations were accurate as the poems seem to be missing something?
The Italian verse reads:
With joyful notes birds greet the spring,
And fairest flowers their odors fling;
But wicked love pretends to sigh
'Cause the fair things so soon must die.
Poor child! cries spring, thy happiest hours―
Will they last longer than my flowers?
The French verse is called "With a Lock of Gray Hair" and goes like this:
Despise it not because 'tis gray,
Nor cast the gift with scorn away.
It tells of love as warm and true
As ever youthful bosom knew;
But, purer far than love of youth,
It needs no blush to own its truth,
Nor faltering tongue a love to tell,
Such as might angels' bosoms swell.
You can download the verses on the original book paper as a free high-res JPEG without a watermark here. Lovely as a a vintage scrap to embellish a card, collage, junk journal or scrapbook page.
Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.
TWILIGHT
by Augusta Hancock
(originally published August 19, 1893)
In the tender hush of twilight,
When the summer day is o'er,
And the little waves are rippling
On the golden-tinted shore,
Comes the western wind's soft dream-song
With sweet echoes evermore.
Come amid the gathering shadows,
As they linger long and low,
Visions fair and fancies fleeting,
From the misty years ago;
With the old-time memories stealing
Ever softly, to and fro.
Comes again a loving echo
Like a lingering refrain,
From those voices in the gloaming
With their gladness and their pain;
And the never-failing sweetness
Of that long-remembered strain.
Comes the dewy breath of comfort,
Comfort for the souls that weep,
For the hearts that faint with sorrow
'Mid the shadows long and deep;
For the twilight brings the rest-time.
And to God's beloved, sleep.
Featured paintings, from top to bottom:
(1) Evening by the Lake by Max Nonnenbruch (1857 - 1922)
(2) Autumn Sunset by Jakub Schikaneder (1855 - 1924)
(3) Scirocco, 1885 by Ralph Wormeley Curtis (1854 - 1922)
(4) Never Morning Wore to Evening but Some Heart Did Break by Walter Langley (1852 - 1922)
(5) An Evening by the Sea by Alfred Stevens (1823 - 1906)
Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.
Painting ia titled "Symphony in Green"
by Alfred Stevens (1823 - 1906)
SADNESS
by S.E. Everett
(originally published 1867)
My heart is filled with strange unrest;
I'm sad, I know not why;
This world seems all a weariness,
From which I fain would fly.
It is not that I envy those
By fortune more caressed;
Nor is it strife with worldly foes,
That brings this wild unrest.
My friends are true, the world is kind;
My wants are well supplied;
Nor can my wishes be defined,
Or tell what I'm denied.
Yet strange it is, my heart is sad;
The days are long and drear;
And oft I wish their measure had
Fulfilled their courses here.
Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.
See link for printable poem at the bottom of this post.
Here is a sweet little Halloween poem (titled "A Hallowenn Frolic") written by Helen Gray Cone and originally published in a late 19th century issue of St. Nicholas Magazine.
The poem in full reads:
A little witch in steeple hat
Once tried a merry spell,
To make the hares come pit-a-pat
From dingle and from dell.
And pit-a-pat, beneath the moon,
The shy hares peeping came;
The little witch in buckled shoon,
She called them each by name.
"Come, 'Fairy-foot' and 'Sparkle-eyes'!
Come, 'Fine-ear,' 'Bob,' and 'Bun'!"
They gathered round in mild surprise,
But glad of any fun.
And when she told them what she willed,
They stamped and leaped in glee,
And all their velvet noses thrilled
With laughter strange to see.
What was the prank, do you suppose,
And what the merry spell? ―
The sleepy owlet only knows,
And she would never tell!
High-res 8" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Lovely to hand out with Halloween candy but can also be used in altered art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects.
Play, baby, in thy cradle play --
Tick goes the clock, tick-tick, tick-tick;
And quick goes time, quick, quick!
Grow, baby, grow, with every day --
Tick goes the clock, tick-tick, tick-tick;
And babyhood will pass away,
For quick goes time, quick, quick!
Not long can mother watch thee so --
Tick goes the clock, tick-tick, tick-tick;
And quick goes time, quick, quick!
To pretty girlhood thou wilt grow --
Tick goes the clock, tick-tick, tick-tick;
To womanhood, before we know,
For quick goes time, quick, quick!
Play, baby, in thy cradle play --
Tick goes the clock, tick-tick, tick-tick;
And quick goes time, quick, quick!
And some brave lad will come some day --
Tick goes the clock, tick-tick, tick-tick;
And steal my baby's heart away;
Ah, quick goes time, quick, quick!
You can download the full version of the poem as it was originally printed here. Lovely as a framed print but can also be used in a Mother's Day card or baby album.
Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.
A page of Victorian sheet music, originally published in the July 1, 1886 issue of the Young Ladies' Journal. The arrangement is called "The Pompadour Galop" and was composed specifically for the publication by James Fitzgerald.
You can download the high-res 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.
Victorian sheet music is from my personal collection. All digitized work by VictorianPrints.ca is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianPrints.ca as your source when sharing or publishing.
An illustrated version (from 1883) of "Sing a Song of Sixpence," an old nursery rhyme that probably dates back to the 18th century. This printable sheet music with scenes from the song can be used as a gift wrap, in a decoupage creation or to embellish scrapbooking and graphic design projects.
You can download this free high-res 8" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.
Vintage sheet music is from my personal collection. All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.
This little poem, entitled "The Toll-Gate" was written and illustrated by Rudolph F. Bunner (1860 - 1931), a noted illustrator and painter. It was originally published in the December 1895 issue of St. Nicholas Magazine. Here is how it goes:
There is a toll-gate hidden away,
Half in the fields, and half in the trees,
Where the children, the elves, and the fairies stray,
With footsteps facing the twilight breeze.
The fairies and elves can pass through free,
But a child must pay for the toll with a song,
Before the fairy land it can see,
And this must be said, or it all goes wrong:
"I believe in the Three Little Bears,
And the Prince that climbed the Mountain of Glass,
And I know how the Wild Swan's sister fares, --
So open the gate and let me pass."
Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.
