Between the pages: the boy, the poem, and a riddle - Part 2

In the pages of an antique book, The Child's Scripture Question-Book, a picture of a young boy and a handwritten poem were discovered.

Photo by Jamanix Books. Used with permission.

Since the back of the CDV (carte de visite) photograph had nothing that identified the individual in the picture, a closer look at the folded pages was warranted. the paper was 17" x 11" and creased or torn where folded. Written on the front and back was a poem. The poem was written in pencil and titled "Frozen Charlott."

Photo by Jamanix Books. Used with permission.

Transcribed, it reads as follows: (grammatical and spelling errors have not been corrected in order to keep the transcription as original as possible.)

Frozen Charlott

Young Charlott lived by the mountain side

In a wild and lonly spot.

No other dwelling for ten miles around

Except her father's cot.

Twas new years eve the sun went down

young sperts had gatherd ther.

For her father kept a social board

And she was very fair.

He loved to see his daughter dress,

Gay as a city bell.

For she was the only child he had,

And he loved his daughter well

Twas on a cold and winter night

yet beamed her wandering eye.

She to the frosted window went.

To see the sleighs go by.

There is a merry ball to night.

in full ten miles around

For the air was freezing cold as death

but her heart was loving warm.

Oh Charlott dear her mother said

These blankets around you fold

For the air was freezing cold as death

you will catch your death of cold

Oh no no Charlott said

For she felt like a gipsy queen

To ride in blankets all muffled up

I never shall be seen.

You know I have my satin cloak

You know its lined all through

Besides I have my silken mantel

To tie my neck about.

Her bonnet and her shawl was on

She stepped in to the sleigh

And they did ride by the mountain

And over the hills away.

Three merry mile the sound of bells

As silents they pass on

What a screeching noise the runners make

As they leave the drifted snow.

It is a dreadfull night he said

The lines I scarce can hold

When Charlott said in these

I am getting warmer now exceeding cold.

He cracked his whip, and urged his steed

Much faster than before than before

And they did ride by the mountain side

And over the hills away.

How fast the [illegible] and sorrow he said

Are freezing in my brow. 3.

When Charlott said in this few words

I’m getting warmer now.

He drove up to the hall jumped out

And he gave his hand to her.

Why sit you hear like a monument

That has never power to stir

He put his hand in hand oh god

Twas odd and hard [illegible] then?

As he drew his mantel from her brow (now?)

And the stars did (shine?) on them

He quickly to the lited stall

A lifeless corps he bore

Young Charlott was a frozen girl,

And spake again no more.

Twas there he sat down by her side

While bitter tears did flow.

He said my young and charming bride

I never more shall know.

He twane his arms around her neck

And kissed her marble brow

When his thoughts went back to the she said

I am getting warmer now.

As lines of the poem were researched I discovered that this copy was a rough, and loose, adaptation of a poem titled "Young Charlotte" that became a ballad.

Several sites online have interesting information and history about the poem.

"'Young Charlotte' is a poem that is native to North America. It became a popular ballad all over North America...and widely studied. It was so popular, in fact, that it inspired a doll called Frozen Charlotte.

Yet it still posed problems for folklorists. Phillips Barry first credited William Lorenzo Carter, a blind poet from Benson, Vermont, with the song in 1912. According to Barry, Carter wrote the song sometime before he let Vermont in 1834, and sang it wherever he went, which accounts for its widespread popularity. Then Barry made another discovery, and in 1937 retracted his earlier argument and attributed the song to Seba Smith, a well-known journalist. Smith published the song as a poem in 1843 in The Rover, a newspaper in Maine, as “A Corpse Going to a Ball.” Despite a later comment by Kenneth Peacock that efforts to relate the song to an actual event have failed, according to Barry, Smith based the poem on an article in the February 8, 1840 edition of the New York Observer. The article told of a woman who froze to death on a sleigh ride to a ball on December 31, 1839. This detail of New Year’s Eve remains in some versions of the song. Even with Barry’s retraction, folklorists still seem confused regarding the song’s origin. Some still attribute song to Carter, while others credit Smith. Eloise Hubbard Linscott even credits both: Smith with writing the song and Carter with spreading it around the continent.

Whatever the origins of “Young Charlotte,” the song exhibits a number of other interesting structural aspects. For one, “Charlotte” is a cautionary tale for young women, who are warned to listen to their parents’ instructions and not to concern themselves with fashion over their health. Unlike many other traditional songs that contain a cautionary element, however, “Charlotte” does not include an explicit warning in the lyrics; instead, the message is implicit. This seems to have been an odd message for a song so popular among men working in the woods, but certainly these men had sweethearts and daughters of their own who could some day be in the same position as Charlotte. There is also considerable consistency in the format of the song as it spread throughout the region. In the versions collected in the northeastern United States and Maritime provinces of Canada, there is little variation in the structure of the song. Two related tunes exist in this area, one in Maine and New Brunswick and another in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. A third, and similar, tune is also common everywhere the song is found – that of the ancient ballad “The False-Hearted Knight.” Almost all of the versions collected in this region include the full story heard here, but some end after eleven verses. This omission is also common, though not dominant, throughout the rest of the continent. This consistency speaks not only to the strength of the oral tradition in this area, but also may point to the importance of the single figure who carried the song across half of the continent. William Carter may not have written the song, but he is as important in its history as Seba Smith, the man who likely did write it."

-Maine Song and Story Sampler: Young Charlotte (Fair Charlotte) accessed on Digital Commons, Library, University of Maine (https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/songstorysamplercollection/28/).

Some research revealed that indeed, there was a report of a young girl who froze to death.

The Evening Post, New York, New York. 7 Feb 1840, p2. Accessed at Newspapers.com.

Although several newspapers disputed the story's validity as seen in the articles below:

The Buffalo Commerccial, Buffalo New York, 16 Mar 1840, p2. Accessed at Newspapers.com

The Buffalo Commerccial, Buffalo New York, 19 Feb 1840, p2. Accessed at Newspapers.com.

I found that it was Elizabeth Oakes Smith, an American poet and suffragist, who turned the story of a frozen girl on her way to a ball into a poem. It was published in The Neapolitan, in Naples, New York, on January 27, 1841, under the title "A Corpse Going to a Ball". A version of Smith's poem was subsequently set to music, leading to the creation of the song.

Elizabeth Oakes Smith married magazine editor, Seba Smith. Some online references to the poem "Young Charlotte" or "Fair Charlotte" attribute the song to him and not his wife due to a publication in The Rover magazine in 1843 under his name. Other sources attribute the poem to Ernest Lord or William Lorenzo Carter. With so many attributions, and so much written on the poem, I can only offer my opinion about what I've read and learned thus far, which is that Elizabeth Oakes Smith is the original author of the poem that later became a popular ballad.

Here is the earliest published edition of the poem that I could find:

The Neopolitan, Naples, New York, 27 January, 1841, p1. Accessed at NYS Historic Newspapers (https://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=tn18410127-01.1.1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------)

I believe any reference to Seba Smith as author of the poem are in error. It seems clear that it is Mrs. Seba Smith (Elizabeth Oakes Smith) who authored the poem. And any reference to Ernest Lord or William L. Carter are for their contribution to or collection of the song versions, which helped perpetuate interest and widespread fame for it.

However, the individual who wrote down their own version of "Corpse Going to a Ball," that was discovered in the pages of the book, may have been trying to remember the words, and inadvertently made several errors with ommissions, additions, and some grammatical mistakes. The most interesting thing about the version that we found tucked in the pages of a Sabbath School book, is that the one who wrote it gave the poem a very unique attribution. It is in code!

Be sure to subscribe if you haven't done so already, and never miss a post.

Part 3 has been posted. Click here to read what I discovered next!

#historydetective