The Autograph Age Part 2

Some of the participants in the Chester Quilt added a verse to their quilt block.  Mary Criswell's verse reflects her receipt of the quilt as gift from her friends.

'My album is a garden plot

Here all my friends may sow,

Where thorns and thistles flourish not

But flowers alone will grow.'

Mary's best friend Martha Lambourn made an identical block to Mary's.  Her verse could be on behalf of all Mary's friends.

'Not I alone, this wreath will twine

But all thy friends who write a line

In this receptical of thine

Shall form the wreath in unity.

This album's then's a wreath for thee

Sacred to love and memory

And every name a flower shall be

A pure bright gem of constancy.'

Mary's sister Margaret continues the garden theme.

'The golden sun of summer

Hath never shone more fair

Than on the odour of the dying flowers

Which lies so sweetly on the air.'

Mary Stubbs states the obvious.

'Like a leaf we all must die.'

Margaretta goes for a round about message with round about writing.

 

'Round is the ring that has no end
So is my love for you my friend.'

But Jane Trayner has the last word with the classic:

'Remember me when this you see.'