19th Century Public Domain Poetry: Sadness by S. E. Everett

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.

Free Vintage Illustrated Templates: Edwardian Lady Travelers Journal Pages (Set 2)

Why do you go away?
So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
– Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky
Two pre-made templates featuring antique illustrations of Edwardian lady travelers from my personal collection of La Mode Illustrée. The first template shows a lady in a dress of emerald green trimmed with wide bands that feature sparkling stars. The second template shows two ladies in heavy jackets and skirts that are stylish yet sturdy enough to withstand travel on dusty roads. These templates can be used as travel journal cards, invitation cards or other general announcements.

You can download the high-resolution 11" x 8.5" @ 300 ppi JPEGs here (lady in green) and here (ladies in monochrome).


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.

19th Century Public Domain Poem: A Halloween Frolic (Poetry for Kids)

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.


For personal use only. Not for resale. All digitized work by The Real Victorian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Please cite RealVictorian.com as your source when sharing or publishing.