Clara Barton Handwritten Poem Twice Signed on Verso of a Boudoir Card - Simply Stunning Content
Highly uncommon boudoir card (card-mounted photograph like a cabinet card), 6 1/8 x 8 7/8 inches circa July 1902. Four six-line stanzas written to her friend, Princess Agnes of Salm-Salm. The poem reads, in part:
It's the Fourth of July. My dear sister,
The day we were taught to love;
With the soft-green grass beneath our feet
And the clear blue sky above.
With never a shadow or cloud to stay
The true child joy of the beautiful day.
Does she remember the sad same day
In the far away sixty one,
When the forces met in the mortal fray
Of the pitiless ‘First Bull Run’?
There were shadows enough in that dreadful fray
To darken forever the beautiful day.
Does she remember when peace had come
And the swords were sheathed, and the troops were free,
How we gathered anew at Liberty's shrine
And the nation held its jubilee!
And the hearts, not swords stood in battle array -
God keep forever our national day.
Once more it is with us, this ‘Fourth of July’,
In a far distant land that knows not its name;
To keep its remembrance are just you and I.
But we’ll keep it dear sister, in full faith the same;
And with hands clasped in love, we will fervently pray -
God keeps forever our national day.
Signed "Clara Barton" at conclusion, with additional “Clara Barton” signature at top margin after the dedication - “To Princess Agnes of Salm Salm, from her sister friend”.
The poem is written on the verso of a boudoir card featuring Barton standing between American Red Cross supporter B.F. Tillinghast and Russian Admiral Nikolai Kaznakoff, taken during an International Red Cross conference in St. Petersburg, Russia in June 1902. Possibly signed a third time by Barton above the photographer's imprint, but the signature has been almost fully scratched off.
Agnes of Salm-Salm (1844-1912) was the American wife of Prince Felix zu Salm-Salm, a Prussian military officer and royal by birth whose scandals forced him to emigrate to the United States. During the Civil War, he served as a colonel and later as a brigadier general by brevet the Union Army. Meeting Felix at an event hosted by President Lincoln in Washington D.C in 1861, Anges and Felix married the following year. She soon joined him on the battlefield when he became adjutant of Louis Blenker in the Army of the Potomac. During her time in the field she learned to take care of the sick and wounded; eventually crossing paths and forming a friendship with Barton.
Lightly toned, with bumped corners and minor edgewear. Minor scattered foxing on recto, and pencil notation at bottom margin of both recto and verso.
One of the finest Clara Barton items we have encountered in many years with an incredible association between two women who played important roles in the Civil War.
Highly uncommon boudoir card (card-mounted photograph like a cabinet card), 6 1/8 x 8 7/8 inches circa July 1902. Four six-line stanzas written to her friend, Princess Agnes of Salm-Salm. The poem reads, in part:
It's the Fourth of July. My dear sister,
The day we were taught to love;
With the soft-green grass beneath our feet
And the clear blue sky above.
With never a shadow or cloud to stay
The true child joy of the beautiful day.
Does she remember the sad same day
In the far away sixty one,
When the forces met in the mortal fray
Of the pitiless ‘First Bull Run’?
There were shadows enough in that dreadful fray
To darken forever the beautiful day.
Does she remember when peace had come
And the swords were sheathed, and the troops were free,
How we gathered anew at Liberty's shrine
And the nation held its jubilee!
And the hearts, not swords stood in battle array -
God keep forever our national day.
Once more it is with us, this ‘Fourth of July’,
In a far distant land that knows not its name;
To keep its remembrance are just you and I.
But we’ll keep it dear sister, in full faith the same;
And with hands clasped in love, we will fervently pray -
God keeps forever our national day.
Signed "Clara Barton" at conclusion, with additional “Clara Barton” signature at top margin after the dedication - “To Princess Agnes of Salm Salm, from her sister friend”.
The poem is written on the verso of a boudoir card featuring Barton standing between American Red Cross supporter B.F. Tillinghast and Russian Admiral Nikolai Kaznakoff, taken during an International Red Cross conference in St. Petersburg, Russia in June 1902. Possibly signed a third time by Barton above the photographer's imprint, but the signature has been almost fully scratched off.
Agnes of Salm-Salm (1844-1912) was the American wife of Prince Felix zu Salm-Salm, a Prussian military officer and royal by birth whose scandals forced him to emigrate to the United States. During the Civil War, he served as a colonel and later as a brigadier general by brevet the Union Army. Meeting Felix at an event hosted by President Lincoln in Washington D.C in 1861, Anges and Felix married the following year. She soon joined him on the battlefield when he became adjutant of Louis Blenker in the Army of the Potomac. During her time in the field she learned to take care of the sick and wounded; eventually crossing paths and forming a friendship with Barton.
Lightly toned, with bumped corners and minor edgewear. Minor scattered foxing on recto, and pencil notation at bottom margin of both recto and verso.
One of the finest Clara Barton items we have encountered in many years with an incredible association between two women who played important roles in the Civil War.
Highly uncommon boudoir card (card-mounted photograph like a cabinet card), 6 1/8 x 8 7/8 inches circa July 1902. Four six-line stanzas written to her friend, Princess Agnes of Salm-Salm. The poem reads, in part:
It's the Fourth of July. My dear sister,
The day we were taught to love;
With the soft-green grass beneath our feet
And the clear blue sky above.
With never a shadow or cloud to stay
The true child joy of the beautiful day.
Does she remember the sad same day
In the far away sixty one,
When the forces met in the mortal fray
Of the pitiless ‘First Bull Run’?
There were shadows enough in that dreadful fray
To darken forever the beautiful day.
Does she remember when peace had come
And the swords were sheathed, and the troops were free,
How we gathered anew at Liberty's shrine
And the nation held its jubilee!
And the hearts, not swords stood in battle array -
God keep forever our national day.
Once more it is with us, this ‘Fourth of July’,
In a far distant land that knows not its name;
To keep its remembrance are just you and I.
But we’ll keep it dear sister, in full faith the same;
And with hands clasped in love, we will fervently pray -
God keeps forever our national day.
Signed "Clara Barton" at conclusion, with additional “Clara Barton” signature at top margin after the dedication - “To Princess Agnes of Salm Salm, from her sister friend”.
The poem is written on the verso of a boudoir card featuring Barton standing between American Red Cross supporter B.F. Tillinghast and Russian Admiral Nikolai Kaznakoff, taken during an International Red Cross conference in St. Petersburg, Russia in June 1902. Possibly signed a third time by Barton above the photographer's imprint, but the signature has been almost fully scratched off.
Agnes of Salm-Salm (1844-1912) was the American wife of Prince Felix zu Salm-Salm, a Prussian military officer and royal by birth whose scandals forced him to emigrate to the United States. During the Civil War, he served as a colonel and later as a brigadier general by brevet the Union Army. Meeting Felix at an event hosted by President Lincoln in Washington D.C in 1861, Anges and Felix married the following year. She soon joined him on the battlefield when he became adjutant of Louis Blenker in the Army of the Potomac. During her time in the field she learned to take care of the sick and wounded; eventually crossing paths and forming a friendship with Barton.
Lightly toned, with bumped corners and minor edgewear. Minor scattered foxing on recto, and pencil notation at bottom margin of both recto and verso.
One of the finest Clara Barton items we have encountered in many years with an incredible association between two women who played important roles in the Civil War.