Album of Love

Expressions from the past. This is another item from the family home which I have decided is worth keeping. It’s a tiny book of laid finish papers in several pastel colors. Interspersed among romantic etching prints with protective tissue covers are handwritten prose poems to Lizzie Payne from loved ones. My family genealogy book tells me that Lizzie was my great great grandmother on my father’s mother’s side. Since the earliest poem is dated July 12th, 1858, I’m guessing that this little memento was given to her on the eve of her wedding.

Though most of the poems are wishing her happiness in her future life, they don’t stop there. There’s a poem from a gentleman dated July 15th 1862 which talks about the country’s flag as an emblem of liberty and symbol of truth that will soon wave over the southerners’ name and the southerners’ grave.

What started out as a naive book of love and friendship ended as a memento of a life full of love and loss. She had carefully pasted the obituaries of two of her children. Both lost as young adults.