Antique Tintype Photograph Illustrates I Once Had a Lover, Hi, Ho!

Miss Mary — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:49:14 +0000

An early slacker? Antique tintype photograph of an extremely casual young Victorian man. Scanned and retouched from my original.

“I Once Had A Lover, Hi, Ho!”

By F. H. Stauffer, Peterson’s Magazine, 1860

I once had a lover, hi, ho!
That’s not very strange, I admit;
I was lovely and young, you know,
A Venus just in her transit!

He came with the Summer, hi, ho!
And knelt at my feet to adore;
He called me a “bird,” and a “star,”
And other sweet things by the score.

Before long I took sick, hi ho!
And the small-pox pitted my face,
My cheeks lost their glow, you know,
And my beauty went off in disgrace.

Soon lost I my lover, hi, ho!
That’s not very strange, I admit;
For beauty is fragile, you know,
And so is the sparkle of wit.

He went with the Summer, hi, ho!
But another came in his stead;
‘Tis my soul that he loves, I know,
And soon you will hear we are wed!

What makes you feel young?

Miss Mary — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:38:04 +0000

So I do feel young, but why? Not attitude as much as circumstance. Living in the family home? Never having learned how to drive (“Mom, can we go to the market?)? Today, I think it’s the household chores that are giving me that youthful feeling. As long as I can get on a ladder and dust the chandelier, I’ve still got it. Boundless energy! There it is, that’s the key! Boundless energy!

Now to get back to dusting.

Miss Mary's Victorian and Vintage Image Archive » youth

Antique Tintype Photograph Illustrates I Once Had a Lover, Hi, Ho!

“I Once Had A Lover, Hi, Ho!”

What makes you feel young?