parsonwalker
Bronze Member
I found this daguerreotype picture (At least, I think that's what it is) in an antique store for $2. Yep, two bucks. I was thinking about how if his descendants knew this picture existed, it would be priceless to them. So I bought it, just to have it.
I got home and took the photo out of the frame, you know . . . just 'cause you HAVE to check . . . And there was a date, and a verse. Also some paper was stuck in the frame.
The date blew me away, because the civil war is my thing. That's my area of interest. June 7, 1862.
On that day, James Andrews was executed in Atlanta in connection with his role in the Great Locomotive chase. Also on that day, Benjamin Butler has William Mumford executed for tearing the Union flag from the mint in New Orleans. And hundreds of miles away, Union forces were shelling Chattanooga from the North side of the Tennessee river. And also on that day, perhaps on the porch of some long-forgotten plantation, someone wrote the verse which I was now reading - probably the first one to even SEE that handwriting in a very long time.
I finally was able to make out the verse. And I quote (written in cursive very faded) . . .
"The shadows caught,
the features clear.
And all but naught,
when substance near."
The verse struck me as a person looking at a picture, missing the person IN the picture. Lamenting that yes, while the shadows were "caught", frozen in the photo, and yes, the features of the loved one were clear. But oh, if that person were here with me today, standing here in "substance", this photo would be nothing to me. "All but naught." of course, that's just my interpretation.
Of course, there was also the scrap of paper. I carefully removed it, and the image stopped me in my tracks. It was a little girl. Since it was a paper photo, obviously from many years after the original portrait was made.
It may be just my imagination, but I feel like I can see a family likeness. Perhaps this was this man's daughter, or even grand-daughter many years later. I'll never know. Whether this man was a civil war soldier or not will likewise never be known. But given the date, and his apparent age - and the verse . . . longing to see him again . . . I'd say it's a very good bet.
All in all, the verse and the little girl are two treasures WITHIN a treasure to me. I wouldn't part with it now for many, many times the little token I paid for it.
I got home and took the photo out of the frame, you know . . . just 'cause you HAVE to check . . . And there was a date, and a verse. Also some paper was stuck in the frame.
The date blew me away, because the civil war is my thing. That's my area of interest. June 7, 1862.
On that day, James Andrews was executed in Atlanta in connection with his role in the Great Locomotive chase. Also on that day, Benjamin Butler has William Mumford executed for tearing the Union flag from the mint in New Orleans. And hundreds of miles away, Union forces were shelling Chattanooga from the North side of the Tennessee river. And also on that day, perhaps on the porch of some long-forgotten plantation, someone wrote the verse which I was now reading - probably the first one to even SEE that handwriting in a very long time.
I finally was able to make out the verse. And I quote (written in cursive very faded) . . .
"The shadows caught,
the features clear.
And all but naught,
when substance near."
The verse struck me as a person looking at a picture, missing the person IN the picture. Lamenting that yes, while the shadows were "caught", frozen in the photo, and yes, the features of the loved one were clear. But oh, if that person were here with me today, standing here in "substance", this photo would be nothing to me. "All but naught." of course, that's just my interpretation.
Of course, there was also the scrap of paper. I carefully removed it, and the image stopped me in my tracks. It was a little girl. Since it was a paper photo, obviously from many years after the original portrait was made.
It may be just my imagination, but I feel like I can see a family likeness. Perhaps this was this man's daughter, or even grand-daughter many years later. I'll never know. Whether this man was a civil war soldier or not will likewise never be known. But given the date, and his apparent age - and the verse . . . longing to see him again . . . I'd say it's a very good bet.
All in all, the verse and the little girl are two treasures WITHIN a treasure to me. I wouldn't part with it now for many, many times the little token I paid for it.
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