A children's book from 1905 - Sue Purkiss

 

Was having a bit of a tidy-up in the hut today, and I came across this children's book from 1905, which a friend gave me a while ago. The dedication in the front reads, in beautiful handwriting, with lots of curls and loops:

Rowland Edgar Weston

From his Mother

On his sixth Birthday.

So Rowland would have been about the same age as my grandparents, and will be long gone now. Still, I think he enjoyed this book - it looks well used. He's coloured in a few of the black and white pictures, very carefully. It's called Pictures and Plums, for Fingers and Thumbs. I thought you might like to see this poem, in which the narrator imagines how her life is going to pan out. Obviously, with Rowland being a boy, his expectations would have been quite different.

While I'm in the ones, I can frolic all the day;

I can laugh, I can jump, I can run about and play.

But when I'm in the tens I must get up with the lark,

And sew, and read, and practise from early morn till dark.

When I'm in the twenties, I'll be like Sister Joe;

I'll wear the sweetest dresses (and, maybe, have a beau!).

I'll go out in the evening, and wear my hair up high,

And not a girl in all the town shall be as good as I.

When I'm in the thirties, I'll be just like Mamma;

And maybe I'll be married to a splendid big Papa.

I'll cook, and bake, and mend, and mind, and grow a little fat

But Mother is so sweet and nice, I'll not object to that.

Well, life changes. Things are very different now. But it's still a charming book!