Looking for origins of poem
Hi everyone. I happened upon your forum while searching for the origins of a poem I found in some artifacts at the small museum where I work. I was hoping I could get some input from you.
A little background: I have been involved in cataloging our huge backlog of artifacts, and in the process found an original handwritten script for a play. We think the play was written sometime around 1900, and was most likely an amateur work. The donor of the script has no idea who wrote it, or when. It was simply given by him to us in a box of family artifacts that he though might generate some interest... boy was he right! The only clue we have about the author are the initials G.A. The play is titled "A Little Study in Scheming". We are hoping to have the play performed on our museum grounds as a bit of outdoor theatre as a fundraiser, but we would like to find out a little more history on the play if possible.
That leads me to the question of the poem. The poem is contained within the play. The play provides no context as to time period, but we might be able to use the poem to give us some clues. For all we know the poem may be written by the playwrite him/herself. I thought if you folks could read it and give any input that crosses your mind I would be very grateful.
As far as the context of the poem within the play: The poem is being recited by the servant of a fairly well of household. The man of the house was injured when his barn collapsed after being tricked by his daughter who was smitten over a young man. She has since married the young man without her father's blessing, and the father is now lamenting this fact, and that he has since found out the young man is heir to a small fortune (in which case the father would have indeed approved of the match). The servant recites this poem trying to show the father can be redeemed.
Untitiled Poem found in play by G.A.
There was once a rabbit with silver fur
Her little grey neighbors looked up at her
‘Till she thought with pride in the moonlit wood
The reason I’m white is because I’m good
Oh what shal (sic) I do! cried a tiny mole
A fairy has stumbled into a hole
It is full of water and crawly things
And she can’t get out for she’s hurt her wings
I did my best to catch hold of her hair
But my arms are short and she’s still in there
Oh darling white rabbit your arms are long
You say your good and I know you’re strong
Don’t tell me about it! The rabbit said
She shut up her eyes and her ears grew red
There’s lots of mud and it’s sure to stick
Because my fur is so long and thick
There’s plenty of water the wee mole cried
There are shining rivers from moorlands wide
Dews from the sky and the dear grey rain
And the fairy to kiss you clean again
Oh dear! Oh dear! sobbed the poor little mole
Who will help the fairy out of the hole
A common grey rabbit popped from the [--orse] (illegible)
I’m not very strong but I’ll try of course
His little tail bobbed as he waded in
The muddy water came up to his chin
But he caught the fairy tight by the hand
And sent her off safe into fairy land
But she kissed him first on his muddy nose
She kissed his face and his little wet toes
And when the day dawned with the early light
The dirty grey rabbit was shining white
Again, any input is most welcome. Have any of you heard the poem before? Does it strike you as familiar in anyway?
I look forward to reading any responses!
A lead on Charlotte Druitt
Ah yes, the mysterious G.A. If he's lurking somewhere in our collection here, I haven't found him/her yet. If somone out there knows G.A.... well, That would be awesome. Though as it stands right now, I'm having a load of fun just picking at this mystery :). I have to be careful though and not let my actual collections work slide... but it's so easy when there's a minor mystery to solve!
I might have found our Charlotte Druitt Cole.
It appears that Charlotte Druitt is the daughter of solicitor James Druitt from his second marriage. She was born on January 13, 1878, the youngest of 15 children (from two marriages). Charlotte's older brother, Herbert, was an active citizen in the town of Christchurch and was particularily interested in their archives. It was his wish that the town have a library, art gallery, and museum. Herbert accumulated a large estate, which was left to his sister, Charlotte, who passed away a short number of years later. The estate was left to the town, according to Herbert's wishes, and now makes up the Druitt Gardens, as well as the local library. As well, Herbert opened a local museum which still runs today under the name Red House Museum. (This somewhat echoes the history of the Cultural Centre I work at here in Minden, Ontario... and I would imagine many other like establishments).
Charlotte seems to have been a fairly prolific poet, but largely unknown. She lived until shortly after 1943 and in that time contributed to a number of poetry compilations including "The Bairn's Budget", "A Song of the Green Lady", and "The Red Clover Story Book"... it seems intended for educational purposes. The University of Leeds has a Libretto for Robin Goodfellow written by her in 1939 as part of their James Clifford Brown collection. Her poems seem to be primarily occupied with fairies. She may have been married to a Joseph Schroeder Cole around 1907.
Surprisingly my search also took me to a Jack the Ripper message board. Turns out Charlotte Druitt was a cousin of Montague Druitt, the prime suspect in the Ripper murders who committed suicide in 1888.
Anyway, I'm not sure exactly how accurate the above is because it is pieced together from a large number of sources in which she is only mentioned sporadically at best... but it does make for an intriguing start. I'm going to see if I can track down some of those books, and contact the Red House Museum for more information.
Here are the websites I visited:
http://casebook.org/forum/messages/4922/7809.html - The Jack the Ripper Connection, includes Druitt genealogy
http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/articles...ail.asp?ID=170 - The Incredible Druitts
http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/articles...ail.asp?ID=428 - James Druitt on Wimborne Grammar School and his life
http://www.hants.gov.uk/museum/redhouse/ - The Red House Museum
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcol...S1707Brown.pdf - The James Brown Collection at Leeds
http://www.prattens.co.uk/families/COLE/text.txt - The Cole connection
UPDATE: -- turns out this is just a neat little piece of fiction... Charlotte Druitt and Charlotte Druit Cole are two entirely different people. See post farther down. Ah well.
