63. 1916 February

On one February morning F.A.I.s nephew
Sidney Davis (aged 5) went out to play and
did not return.

Several newspaper articles were retained by his mother
Ethel and latterly by his sister Babs, which describe the search.




HAMPTON- CHILD MISSING -Widowed Mother's Increasing Anxiety

Much anxiety is felt concerning the mysterious disappearance of a little boy named Sidney Davis, aged 5, the son of Mrs Davis, a widow of the River Tearooms, 23, Church Street, Hampton.
The little fellow left his home about 10 o’oclock on Monday morning to play, and is stated to have been last seen a little later going in the direction of Hampton Court with another little boy somewhat bigger than himself. Little Sidney Davis was a very intelligent child for his age. He was full faced, of fair complexion and was wearing a grey tweed overcoat, red jersey, brown cloth knickers, grey socks, high laced boots, red cap with two tassels, grey woollen gloves and a white scarf.The missing child is said to have been fond of playing near the river, and it is thought that he might have gone on the recreational ground for that purpose. The river has been dragged, but without result.
The police and Boy Scouts have made an exhaustive search of the district, including Bushy Park.

BOYS STORY OF MISSING CHILD
A statement supporting the theory that the little child, Sidney Davis, who has been missing since Monday in the last week, has been kidnapped, has been made by a boy named Greengrass, aged 13, of 19, Malvern Road. The boy who is the son of a local police constable, and knows the missing child well, declares that about one o’clock on the day on which he was missed he saw him near the entrance of Bushy Park, opposite the recreational ground, in the company of a woman, who also had with her another little boy aged about seven.
The woman who was of medium height and of dark complexion, appeared to be amused at some antics the missing child was going through at the time. On going back about 10 minutes later in order to give the little fellow a ride home on his bicycle he found that he had disappeared and also the woman and the other child. Greengrass who belongs to the Church Lads Brigade, was very much attached to the missing child and had recently taken part with him in a childrens performance in connection with the Church Sunday School. The boys statement was communicated to the police, who, however, do not attach any importance to it.

He was found eventually tragically he had drowned in the Thames. I don’t think that the whole circumstances surrounding his disappearance were ever fully known?

His mother and his sister remained in London for a few years after this tragic event but with siblings already over in Australia a decision to break with past griefs and to make a new life was made.

‘Only graves here’ Ethel was known to have said.

The booking to leave Britain was made but it took a whole year to hear if they were going. In notes made by Babs many, many years later in Australia she recalls

‘we spent a lot of time with a good brother and wife in Liverpool – my favourite Uncle F.A.I.’

Babs died just a couple of years ago, she had a full long life in Australia.
Her family brought her ashes home to rest in London alongside her dear brother ‘Siddy’

(Many thanks to PM and her family for the information)

In tender memory of our beloved Siddy,

Who passed away February 24th 1916

Aged 5 years

"Adieu sweet flower nipped in the bud, so loving sweet & fair"

"Lost a while our treasured love, gained forever, safe above"

Two desparately tragic deaths in the family at the start of 1916

62. 1916 11th January The Theatre of War

F.A.I.s ‘affectionate bros’ was killed in action. He had just celebrated his 24th Birthday.
There was no fighting that day he had obviously been wounded and died later.

I have spent hours at Kew trying to find him but alas his army records did not survive WWII.

He is buried at Menin Road South Cemetery (which opened in January 1916) alongside his other brave brothers who were told and probably believed it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country (with a lot of them thinking, after joining in 1915, they would be home for Christmas). The Christmas card on the last posting, Arthur says 'hoping you will not forget me'... F.A.I. never did, he gave his 2 sons Arthurs names as their middle names (he was known as Arthur Leonard not Arthur St. John) and Granny, after F.A.I.s death would talk about him.

In deep respect of Arthur St. John and his fellow fighters, one of my favourite poems by Wilfred Owen….. it tells it how it was !

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,

And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori.

From F.A.I.s collection

61. Off to Fight for King and Country

F.A.I . had met his woman now and also as he had just met her, he had to leave her to serve his King and Country. What a dreadful wrench that must have been for them both not knowing if they would ever see each other again (as with so many in this unsettled time).

On 16th November 1915 he signed up and joined the Royal Naval Division attached to the 5th Battalion. His home address is noted as the Caledonian Station Hotel, Edinburgh, Civil Employment -Hotel Cook, Religion - C of E, Swim? - No (good choice of career being at sea then!!)
His next of kin he gave as Maud, his sister. He gave her address as McLeod Street, Ottawa, Canada.

He was described as 5 foot 7 ¼ inches tall, Chest I.39” D.36”, Complexion fresh , Colour of hair Light Brown , Colour of Eyes Brown (what happened to the grey eyes whilst he was at sea?)
Along the way he had managed to pick up 3 scars on left wrist (oops vegetable cutting accidents I would expect) and a scar on right shin.

The month before on the 5th October 1915 his brother Arthur St. John had joined up too. He had written to F.A.I. between the 5th October and 16th November.

11th East Surrey Regiment
Shoreham Camp
Shoreham by Sea
Sussex

Dear F
Just a line to say thanks for the cigs which I received this morning was very pleased to hear from you. I am down here in advance out Battalion is still in Colchester.

It is lovely down here we are just between Brighton and Worthing, it is a lovely little place and we are having glorious weather.

We are not sure if our Brigade is coming down here or whether we are going up north.

I hope you are all keeping well, I have not heard from Aunt for about a week or 10 days.

How is the weather up in Edinburgh, I expect it is beginning to get a little cold now.

I wish you were in London for you could and spend a little holiday down here

Ta ta with best wishes
Your affectionate Bro
Arthur

Thanks awfully for cigs

60. 1915 Some Soul Searching

These next 2 are post meeting Granny and in my book a quest for some understanding of who he is and what he is about

Women Ought to

Women ought to marry young
As I don’t think a woman of 30
‘as any better judgement or knows any
Better what she wants than the woman
Of 20, on the other hand her maternal instinct
Is more developed and is far more likely
To take pity on some worthless creature and
Marry him than she would have done 10
Years ago, I think she is quite likely
To make mistakes

I am not sure here whether he has got to be 31 and feels that no one would be interested in him except an older woman or is it that older women without a husband are desparate and will take anything so as to have a husband? A different time/era when to be a spinster past 20 odd was not the done thing I expect. But true words to take on someone just to have someone because you are expected to have one acn not be right !

The Confession

In public of course I must bear myself over
As modest in all that I am and I do
In private I think I am decidedly clever
Excelled if at all by a fortunate few
In public I rave over other folks labours
And wish I could do things as finely as they
And when I am alone I look down on my neighbours
And think of myself as superior clay
In public I giggle at other mens chatter
To brilliance in banter I take off my hat
In private I sneer what a cheap line of patter
My dullest remarks are much brighter than that
In public I say I am a poetaster
Who writes little rhymes for little people to see
But really I am at least think so as a regular master

That Shakespeare and Byrom are nothing to me

For public consumption its clearly my duty
To speak of my (L) Books with a modesty vast
In private I think my fine manly beauty
Has Mr Adonis lashed tightly to the mast
In public I place with immense circumspection
My thoughts egotistical, back on the shelf
In private I think myself near to perfection
Don’t you feel like that now concerning yourself

Oct 12th 1915 FAI

Powerful writing I see here, he was questioning what he was doing and who he was as a man? ( I can tell you that it reflects a few thoughts I have..... and I guess most of us who have nodded and laughed politely in company whilst privately thinking .. 'how dull' , 'how uninteresting' etc)

I have certainly opened some lines up for him "In public I say I am a poetaster. Who writes little rhymes for little people to see. But really I am at least think so as a regular master. That Shakespeare and Byrom are nothing to me. For public consumption its clearly my duty "

How more public can the world of the internet and blogsphere be for millions of folk to read .. this medium would have blown his mind!

59. 1915 The Highland Bonnett

By the time F.A.I. wrote this (& I am yet to be convinced this is one of his... although I may be doing him an injustice here) he had met Granny as the address of Duke Street was her home.

The Highland Bonnet all Scotch FAI

My heart leaps up when’er I hap within the camp on a Highland Bonnet
A plain or dice board Scottish cap with tails and torrie red upon it
The camp dissolves – my fancies free in happy dreams go northward roaming
The islands anchored in the sea al mystic in the tender gloaming
The burns beneath the moss alighting, the sea mews white against the sky
The hills their skirts of mist a**ilting, the peewits lone bewailing cry
I would there myself to dow it and stride the braes in Highland bonnet
II
My heart lifts up when to my ear there floats the tongue of Scottish ladies
The soldier men who stalked the deer or paced the links goufin caddies
The scene ‘as changed my heart is filled with songs of Burns so peerless telling
Of royal hearts with anguish killed the cross of love at loves dispelling
In varied moods the lyrics run from grave to gay with lightsome changing
From scared grief to ribald fun, the gamat whole of life o’er ranging
Burns seiged the human heart and won it the pride of every Scottish bonnet
III
My heart leaps up when on the breeze there floats the sound of pipers chanting
The droneing hum of scottish bees the skirl of war cry fierce supplanting
The scene is changed I hear the lilt of crooning wails the gladness stilling
I see the swinging tartan kilt on every field where blood is spilling
I hear the pipes swell fierce and loud the fearless ranks of Scottish leading
Or drone laments above a shroud. Orpheaus charms their notes exceeding;
*** pibrochs call the Highland Bonnet
Would I were young enough to don it

1915
Duke Street Edinburgh

58. 1915 A Song of Suffering

A Song of Suffering

(addressed to a female ticket conductor at X station somewhere in the Eastern Counties)

Oh Women in *** of ease
Uncertain, coy and hard to please In war a patriot
True and warm you don a railway uniform
Demure, polite, serenely gay
You speed the traveler on his way
But oh next time my little friend
You clip the ticket I extend
Did I afright you with my yell
Please don’t clip my thumb as well it is by your
hand my angel, now that pain and
Anguish wrings my brow

FAI 1915

57. 1915 The Greater Loss

The Greater Loss

I sometime lose a little thing
My temper I refer to
And bricks I even long to fling
At men I must say Sir to
And while I wage a mental fight
I’d give say half a dollar
For some sweet soothing that might
Keep down my collar

But sometimes I’m aware of loss
Incomparably of no avail is
Angry force of all mankind I’m hater
But then I’d give if I but could
My last and only dollar
For just one little stud that would
Keep down my rising collar

FAI 1915

56. Here's to the Man

Here's to the Man

Here’s to the man of forty & past
Who has lived his life and lived it fast

And here’s to the girl of twenty & four
Who snuggles & sniggles & cries for more
And all he can do is to buzz & buzz
And bragg what a hell of a man he was

From Trixie to F dear

10/4/1915

Pre Granny I would imagine

55. Not Concerning the War

Not Concerning the War

It was about Christmas time and a couple of flash men of the world you might see, they were at once asked what they would have by a smart waitress of a well known restaurant in Liverpool.

‘I’ll have some Turkey without Greece, please’ said the first
The waitress replied whimsically ‘are you pro German’
‘No I am Hungary’ was the retort
His friend chimed in ‘Don’t Russia or she won’t servia’
‘Do you intend to Romania’ cracked the girl in the chic cap and apron
‘Yes I am want Somora’
‘Then I’ll call Nancy’ and jerking her head over her shoulder she went off after Turkey

FAI Jan 1915

So was he in Liverpool at the turn of 1915???

54. 1915 The Search is Over

Two significant events happened in F.A.I.’s life this year.

He met my dear Granny Violet and he joined up to fight for King and Country.

They were both working at the Caledonian Station Hotel, Edinburgh, he was a chef and she was a laundry maid. He was 31 she was 25. Finally he had met the woman for him.

Granny was born in 1890 in Melrose, Roxburgh. By the time she was 10 years old she was an orphan and her brother John had died of meningitis. She moved to Duke Street, Edinburgh with her sister Mary (May) to live with their eldest sister Isabella and her husband.

I feel this photograph of Granny and family must have been taken after the funeral of John no great detective work just looking at the sombre clothing, a young granny at the front and no John !!

To me Granny was always old, I could never imagine her being young.

She would come and stay with us a Christmas and we would complain as we would have to sit and watch all the boring adult programmes, if we chattered we were told to ‘wheesht bairns’ (be quiet kids), she wore her long white hair pinned up and would sit in the evening unraveling the clips and rolling it up again (which whilst fascinating me also scared me slightly because of the witch type look about her hair), she read tea leaves and would collect the plastic toys from Christmas crackers and put them in her handbag (I think have already said she was a hoarder) and she loved a wee dram before bed. She lived in a pensioner’s flat in Liverpool, when I knew her and we were not allowed to go down the bottom of her gardens because ‘there were rats as big as cats down there’

My mothers tales of her, when Mum met Dad in the 1950’s, include how Granny would have ready for Dads tea just a piece of ham and a tomato on a plate as she never cooked (she didn’t need to as Granddad was a chef, when he was away it is a wonder they didn’t starve to death!).

How Mum called one day to the house and my dad and his brother where white washing the ceiling wearing sailor caps, standing on the furniture with nothing covered up, everything had white wash splashes on it.

How she had a cat called Tiddles, oh poor Tiddles, the cat that was never allowed in the house. Mum would let it in only to be shooed out instantly again by Granny.

How layer of lino upon layer pf lino was laid down on the floor, which would be mopped regularly but so would the walls too!. Not a house-proud woman it would seem.

Granny, however, was a kind lady and when Granddad was away she used to take in some children from a neighbouring house who were really poor and would let them stay to ease their overcrowded home, she would give them money, cups of sugar and any thing else she could spare, not that she had a lot herself. But when Granddad was home she would still do it but on the quiet with ‘off you go don’t let Dad know’ (F.A.I. was known as ‘Dad’ and Granny as ‘Nan’ to everyone).

Granddad obviously adored her and he wrote beautiful postcards to her.

When Granny died and Mum cleared out her flat there were bundles of letters tied up with ribbons. They were thought to be personal and were disposed of. A hard decision to make, yes I, as a family researcher would have loved to have them to uncover some mysteries but I also respect the privacy and intimacy they may have contained, so I think Mum did the right thing… (saying that I probably would have read them first!!!)

Violet
Dark is the world without you
Cheerless the dreary hours
Sad is my lonely pathway
Drooping the wistful flowers
Grey are the clouds above me
Starless the skys at night
Day never dawns when you leave
You are my light and my life

What is the world without you
What are the stars above
What are the scented roses
What dear without your love
What is the charm about you
Deep in the boundless sea
What is the world without you
What is the world to me

Yours very truely

FAI

53. Oops 1914 Not Over and Out

How could I have missed this one? A rallying song to persuade our young men to join up in the war effort.
There is a line below ‘You’ll never find us fail you when you are in distress’ this particularly tears at my heart when you think that they were failed.

A couple of years ago I visited the Somme and surrounding area. I had an opportunity to visit Newfoundland Park. An excellent and fitting tribute to all the men that traveled thousands of miles to fight on a foreign field, so many perished. A very moving experience in my life.

Your King and Your Country Want You - Paul A Rubens 29th September 1914

(If you click on the link for Paul Rubens, near the bottom of the page you can listen to the song as it was sung in 1914)

We've watched you playing cricket and every kind of game,

At football, golf and polo you men have made your name.

But now your country calls you to play your part in war.

And no matter what befalls you

We shall love you all the more.

So come and join the forces

As your fathers did before.

Oh, we don't want to lose you but we think you ought to go.

For your King and your country both need you so.

We shall want you and miss you

But with all our might and main

We shall cheer you, thank you, kiss you

When you come home again.

We want you from all quarters to help us south and north
We want you in your thousands from Falmouth to the Forth
You’ll never find us fail you when you are in distress
So answer when we hail you and let your word be yes

And so your name in years to come, each mothers son shall bless

52. 1914 To a Close

These next 3 bring 1914 to an end.

In a time of great unrest and a World War (to end all wars?!!) quite beautifully the writings are about flowers, pleasant memories and hope.

A Faded Rose

A time worn bible lies on my hand
And between the faded leaves I see
A rose all crushed and withered
Scentless dead and partly shivered
T’would seem that care and sorrow lie
Concealed beneath these petals dry
And memories of woe and tears
That well up through the fleeting years
But nay not so for joy lights up
My soul and fills fond memorys cup
This rose was given by one most dear
My quickly passing years to cheer
BB FAI

A Bunch of Flowers

I give you a choice bouquet of king-cup daisies, eglantine
Sweet William, Pansies, Jasmine spray
Carnations, Pinks and Columbines with Roses fragrant
Lilies tall and sweet named flowers – a varied lot
And the very heart of you the blue Forget-me-not
And the light within your eyes is their sunshine and their
Rain. As your heart’s sad tears of pain is their rain

The heart that has its friendship dear its deeper loves
** ****ful hours its friendships that are less sincere
is only as a bunch of flowers and some shall bloom and
Fragrant be. And some shall fade and be forgot
But should your heart hold a place for me ah then forget me not
And the light within your eyes be the sunshine and the skies
**owing all your heart would know of loves glow

I know a Lovely Garden

I know a Lovely Garden
Where bloom the sweetest flowers
And there from morn till even
I pass away the hours
For love is that sweet garden
Beneath Gods boundless blue
And he looks down and blesses
My life, my love and you

51. 1914 I Remember, I Remember

Now this is a strange one?

When I read this through I thought this doesn’t seem like F.A.I.s style of writing but no name other than his is noted at the bottom.
I ran the first few lines through a search engine and up popped
Thomas Hood – I Remember, I Remember (1798 – 1845)

‘Ah!’ I thought ‘another he has liked and written in his book’.
Well yes for the first 4 lines only then it is a completely different slant than that of Thomas Hood.
F.A.I.s is more music hall!

So the jury is out on this one !!!!

I Remember, I Remember -Thomas Hoods version

I remember, I remember

The house where I was born,

The little window where the sun

Came peeping in at morn;

He never came a wink too soon

Nor brought too long a day;

But now, I often wish the night

Had borne my breath away.
I remember, I remember

The roses red and white,

The violets and the lily cups--

Those flowers made of light!

The lilacs where the robin built,
And where my brother set

The laburnum on his birthday,--

The tree is living yet!
I remember, I remember

Where I was used to swing,

And thought the air must rush as fresh

To swallows on the wing;

My spirit flew in feathers then

That is so heavy now,

The summer pools could hardly cool

The fever on my brow.
I remember, I remember

The fir-trees dark and high;

I used to think their slender tops

Were close against the sky:

It was a childish ignorance,

But now 'tis little joy

To know I'm farther off from Heaven

Than when I was a boy.

I Remember, I Remember - FAIs version
I remember, I remember

The house where I was born,

The little window where the sun

Came peeping in at morn;

You would hardly know the old place now
For dad is up to date
And the farm is scientific
From the back lot to the gate
The house and barn are lighted
With bright acetylene
The engine in the laundry
Is run by gasoline
We have silos we have autos
We have dynamos and things
A telephone for gossip
And a phonograph that sings
The little window where the sun came peeping
In at morn now brightens up the
Bathroom that cost a car of corn
Our milkmaid is pneumatic
And she sanitary too
But dad gets fifteen cents a quart
For milk that once bought two
Oct 1914 FAI

50. 1914 Post Sailing 3

The 3^rd poem is noted with a name 'SK Bolton Sept1914'

Sarah Knowles Bolton was an American writer, born in Connecticut in 1841.

During her life she wrote extensively for the press, was one of the first corresponding secretaries of the Woman's national temperance union, was associate editor of the Boston "Congregationalist" (1878-81), and traveled for two years in Europe, studying profit-sharing, female higher education, and other social questions. Her writings encourage readers to improve the world about them through faith and hard work. She died in Cleveland, Ohio in 1916. (thank you Wikipedia)

What an amazing woman for her time !!

The Inevitable is one of her works

I Like the man who faces what he must
With step triumphant and a heart of cheer;
Who fights the daily battle without fear;
Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trust
That God is God,that somehow, true and just
His plans work out for mortals; not a tear
Is shed when fortune, which the world holds dear,
Falls from his grasp—better, with love, a crust
Than living in dishonor; envies not,
Nor loses faith in man; but does his best,
Nor ever murmurs at his humbler lot;
But, with a smile and words of hope, gives zest
To every toiler. He alone is great
Who by a life heroic conquers fate

These are the only 3 with names noted to them

49. 1914 Post sailing 2

The next poem has noted beneath it' F.R. Havergal 1914'.
It is titled in the book ‘Can you say “and for me’

Frances Ridley Havergal was a poet, hymn-writer, musician, composer and linguist. Born in 1836. She was the youngest child of Canon W. H. Havergal, composer of hymnal tunes and sacred music. Frances had a fairly short life (dying at the age of 42 of hepatitis) but during that life she wrote many hymns, was regular speaker and correspondent for the Church of England and visited Switzerland 5 times were she enjoyed mountain walking and climbing in the Alps.

The words in F.A.I.s book is taken from the first hymn Frances wrote in 1858

‘I Gave my Life for Thee’ It was re­cast in 1871, under the ti­tle “Thy Life Was Giv­en for Me”:

The words in F.A.I.’s book are a mixture of the 2 hymns.

F.A.I was 14 when his mother died and I wonder if, until he went to work as a potman in 1901, he lived with his Aunt Matilda who was married to Edgar, the church organist? I feel they were religious people and maybe this influence led to the recall of this hymn.

I gave my life for thee
My precious blood I shed
That thou mightest ransomed be
And quickened form the dead
I gave my life for thee
What hast thou given for me
I suffered much for this
More than my tongue can tell
Of bitterest agony
To rescue you from Hell
I suffered much for thee
What canst thou bear for me

48. 1914 Post Sailing 1

In the latter part of 1914 I am almost certain that F.A.I. had moved to Edinburgh, one thing is for sure he certainly wasn’t at sea.

Interestingly the next 3 poems in his book have names noted to them. Initially I thought they were dedications to past loves or people he knew but further research has uncovered otherwise.

The first one is noted ‘Ada Crossley Sept 1914’

Ada Crossley was an Australian singer (born 3^rd March 1874, died 17^th October 1929). She regularly performed in England and made her home in London.

The poem is entitled ‘Sunshine and Rain’. Further researching I have found that a Scottish poet/songwriter called F. Wyville Home wrote the lines

Tho' the rain is on the river,
Yet the sun is on the hill.
- Sunshine and Rain

I have not been able to find anything about F. Wyville Home except he was a Scot and he was born in 1851(date of death unknown)… I think leafing through real books may assist me.

This is a song F.A.I. obviously must have admired. I wonder if he had actually heard or maybe even witnessed, Ada Crossley singing this along the way? I must try and find how it was sung!

Sunshine and rain
The rain is on the river but the sun is on the hill
And I know the clouds will sever when the storm has had its will
Set your then on the morrow if the sky be gray today
For the darkest of your sorrow be ye sure will pass away
Lift your eyes to your day giver look up higher hoping still
Though the rain is on the river the sun is on the hill
T’is the winters white snow shower that defends the shivering root
T’is the falling of the flowers that gives birth to fruit
Then arise from helpless moping nor repine at each annoy
There is room for wider hoping if your days are void of joy
Time is kind and will deliver all your days of every ill
Though the rain is on the river the sun is on the hill

47. 1914 Have You Forgotten

A lovely short poem!

Have you forgotten

Have you forgotten love so soon
That night, that lovely night in June
When down the tide so idly dreaming
We floated where the moon laid gleaming
My heart was weary and oppressed
By some sweet longing unconfessed
When like an answer to my sighing
Your hand in mine was gently lying

46. 1914 Youth

Youth

What beautiful words are life & love as they ring in the ears of youth
In the glorious spring when the blithe birds sing and the sun shines bright
To hearts delight, how sweet they sound to the ears of youth

What beautiful words are life & love when hidden from view is the truth
Whether happy or sad, whether good or bad is the course to be run
Which is just begun, how sweet they sound in the ears of youth

What beautiful words are life & love when we hold our heads aloof
When the mind is free and we laugh with glee when the limb is strong
And there is nothing wrong, how sweet they sound in the ears of youth

What beautiful words are life & love when two hearts beat that need
No proof to show they are there for the other to teach and to lean upon as the
Years roll on, how sweet they sound in the ears of youth

FAI

45. 1914 Every Life

Every Life

Every life has vacant pages still
Whereon a man can write the things he will
Tis the mind that makes the body rich
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds
So honour peereth through in the meanest habit
What is the jay more precious than the lark
Because his feathers are more beautiful
Or is the adder better than the eel
Because his painted skin contents the eyes

Far one chord the harp is silent, move one stone
The arch is shattered. One dark cloud can hide
The sunlight, lose one string and the pearls
Are scattered, think one thought a soul may
Perish, say one word and a heart may break

FAI

44. 1914 Goodnight Little Blue Eyed Girl

Good-night Little Blue-eyed Girl

Good-night Little Blue-eyed Girl may your eyes be just as bright
When the years have flown an’ you face alone the world alone with it’s
Wrong and right. May your smile be just as fair
When flowers all fade around your feet little maid when your heart
Holds many a care good night little blue eyed girl
May your love be just as pure as it is today
When you hair turns grey may God’s love still endure
God help you ever in his sight Goodnight little girl goodnight

FAI 1914

43. 1914 The outbreak of War

1914 (as we know) was the year the world was turned on its head with the commencement of World War One. From this year on, not one single persons life would remain untouched by the awful events that took place for the next 4 years.

F.A.I. started this year as he had ended the last, on board the R.M.S Tunisian.

He sailed twice from Liverpool to Halifax N.S. still chopping up his vegetables.

He spent his 30^th birthday mid Atlantic

2^nd January – 28^th January & 31^st January – 23^rd February

On 7^th March he was off again out of Liverpool to Halifax but this time on the R.M.S. Empress of Britain. He did 2 sailings on her both to Halifax, returning to Liverpool on 25^th April.

No more ‘veg’ for F.A.I. he was now 1^st Assistant Pass Cook (what ever that is??)

This Empress of Britain was the 1^st of 3 ships of the same name in Canadian Pacific’s fleet over the years. She was built at Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering’s yard in Glasgow and launched in 1905.

Her maiden voyage took place on the 5^th May 1905 sailing from Liverpool to Montreal.

She was a bit if a ‘mover’ setting 2 eastbound speed records in 1906 &1908.

During World War One, she served as an armed merchant cruiser and troop carrier. She managed to get through the war unscathed and returned to the Canadian Pacific fleet in 1919.

After a conversion to become a cabin cruiser she was renamed the Montroyal. Her final voyage was in 1929 and she was scrapped in Norway in 1930.

The final entry out for 1914 in F.A.I.’s discharge book is dated 21^st May. He sailed out of Liverpool for Paraguay on the R.M.S. Anthony. I am afraid he was back to vegetables again! He returned to Liverpool 10^th July.

Whilst he was away Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on 28^th June. I wonder if he had heard but above all did it actually mean anything to him or his fellow sailors and passengers at the time?

Within few weeks of is return, Austria & Hungary declared war on Serbia (28^th July), Germany declared war on Russia (1^st August), Germany declared war on France (3^rd August) then we joined in declaring war against Germany on 4^th August with Lord Kitchener 3 days later calling on 100,000 men to join up to fight for King and Country.

F.A.I’s discharge book comes to halt in 1914 and starts briefly again in 1920. His book of poems continued though.

I know he was in Edinburgh in 1914 as he was photographed with I believe to be his brother Arthur. I would imagine that this was taken post July 1914 and his time asore before he too signed up to ‘fight for King and Country’.

42. 1913 Poems

Within F.A.I.s book there are non dated 1913.
The 'book' after 1912 continues but 1914/15 and beyond are not as per page number. I have to my mind that the he wrote on the even pages as he went along, initially, but as the years went on he picked up the book again & filled in the odd pages. These are a couple with no date on even pages, following on from 1912.

To One Away

I heard a cry in the night
A thousand miles it came
Sharp as a flash it came
My name, my name
It was your voice I heard
You waked and loved me so
I send you back this word
I know I know

Gentians

I gave you flowers that painted true
The color of your eyes
Each year I gather gentians blue
Since you have gone In Paradise
Do you remember where they grew
And under which ethereal skies
We sought them as the summer prize
Ah love the gentians bloom anew
I love them but I have not you

Is this someone who has died or someone who died in his eyes, non reciprocated affection??

41. 1913 The Reason

Venturing into this year I have discovered why he wanted to visit Canada. It wasn't maybe that he was sick of New York and Boston but it was because his younger sister Maud was there.

A family postcard it explains things (thankyou PM)

10th October 1913

Dear ??? Ethel
Just a long while since I wrote to you but I only got your address off Maude.
I can tell you Maude is doing fine. I have been several times to see her and Cools?? such a dear girl. This is my 7th time this way. Excuse more in haste.
Best Wishes to Ivy and yourself

I wish I could know what the 'Cools?' meant? In my mind she had a child in 1913...'such a dear girl!'' or maybe it was some one Maud had been sent to live with ?? The search goes on!

40. 1913 Canada phase 2

For the rest of the year he sailed on the R.M.S Tunisian. The first entry is impossible to read but the date is obviously post April 1913.

Throughout all his sailings on the Tunisian he was a ‘Veg Cook’ (again is this better or worse than a 2nd or 3rd Cook… these days he would be fairly important with ‘5-a-day’!!)

His sailings were mostly to Montreal
4th June – 6th July
9th July- 27th July
6th August- 27th August
9th September – 24th September
1st October – 23rd October
29th October - ? November
6th November – 9th December (to St.John)

The R.M.S. Tunisian was launched in 1900 by the Allan Line after being built by Alex Stephen & Son, Glasgow. Her maiden voyage was on 5th April 1900 from Liverpool to Halifax and Portland, Maine. Not long after she started sailing to Quebec and Montreal.

During WW1 she served as a prisoner of war ship on the coast of the Isle of White and then later serving as a troop carrier. She returned to commercial service in 1917, servicing Canada from Liverpool, London and Glasgow.
In 1920 she was converted to a ‘cabin/3rd class’ configuration and in 1922 she was renamed the Marburn.In April 1928 she made her final transatlantic crossing from Antwerp to St.John, New Brunswick and later that year she went to the breakers yard (at least she avoided the torpedoes, unlike a lot of the ships F.A.I. sailed on!)

39. 1913 Canada

In 1913 F.A.I. must have decided he needed a change of adventure and sea way.

During most of 1913 he sailed back and forth from Liverpool to Canada.

His first trip was on 7th March to St. John, New Brunswick as 3rd Cook.

After much eye-strain I figure the ship was R.M.S Grampian.

The Grampian was built by A.Stephen & Son, Glasgow in 1907 for Allan Line.
Her passenger capacity was 210 1st class, 250 second class and 1000 3rd class. She sailed from Liverpool to Canada 1907 –1921, unfortunately, in 1921 she was gutted by a fire whilst having a refit in Antwerp.

In 1913 The Imperial Theatre was built in St.John, New Brunswick…… I wonder if F.A.I. managed to see a performance or 2 whilst he was there. The theatre managed to pull in some of the huge stars of the time such as Harry Lauder, Ethel Barrymore and John De Sousa.

Granddad did like his pin ups and within his postcard collection there are few