Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, week 4

LOVE

 

It's a word we whisper often - comes so easily to the tongue.

"I love you" How we bandy it. Why youth must have its say

And we think we know the meaning of this word when we are young

But we learn what loving really is, when the years have rolled away.

 

It takes a lot of suffering, gladness and joy, side by side

It needs a lot of years of sadness, grief and pain

Years of constant struggling, hand in hand, against the tide

Before the glory of real Love our human hearts may gain.

 

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all. 

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Society Saturday - Harriet Tubman

This weekend is the first annual Illinris Heritage Weekend.  13 lineage societies met in the center of the state to conduct their meetings. Each group had a separate (but open) business meeting, and we all joined together for lunch and dinner.

The goal of this weekend was to save individual members the time and expense of traveling to multiple meetings, as well as to encourage membership in multiple organizations.

Our Banquet speaker was Kathryn Harris, who gave an excellent first person presentation on Harriet Tubman.  She was very convincing in character, and handled questions without batting an eye.  Everyone present really enjoyed her presentation.

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, week 3

Oh, what fun it is to work all day,

While others have naught to do but play.

And if you stop, or scold, or fret

Then all the adverse talk you get.

 

You work and work till the end of the day.

You are stubborn, mean, crazy, so they say.

My only wish, when they are tired and old

The same is returned to them, a thousand-fold.

 

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all. 

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, week 2

How nice it would be if we could forget all our

worries at the close of the day,

Just fold them up, shut the door on them, putting them

forever away.

Leaving plenty of room for wonderful thoughts for the

coming tomorrow

How we might help someone, even to lighten their

load of sorrow

Could we forget our worry, meet each trouble with a

lively song,

Thinking maybe tomorrow will be the best that ever

came along.

If we meet someone, between whose path and ours

there is a wide berth

Just remember there is room for a great many paths

on this great big earth

And if we joyfully follow ours to the end of the long

last day

We will find the other has pursued his, in his own

fashion, the end of the very same way.

 

 

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all. 

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, week 1

A PLACE TO KEEP YOUR SECRETS

 

Build for yourself a strong box.

Fashion each part with care.

Fit it with hasps and padlocks,

Put all your troubles in there.

Hide in there all your failures

And each bitter cup you quaff,

Sock all heartaches within it,

Then sit on the lid and laugh.

 

Tell no one of its contents

Never its secrets share

Drop in your worries and cares

Hide them forever there.

The world will never dream half

If you fasten the top down securely

Then sit on the lid and laugh.

 

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all. 

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Society Saturday - Farnsworth House

The Lac des Illinois Chapter of Colonial Dames 17th century had their September meeting at the Farnsworth House in Plano, IL. 
The Farnsworth House was the weekend escape of Dr. Edith Farnsworth, a nephrologist  at Northwestern University in Chicago.  The main significance of this structure was that it was built for her by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1951. 

The house is an excellent example of Mies' philosophy of "Less is More".  It stands along the Fox River on 62 acres of land.  It is a beautiful wooded setting.  The house was built 5 feet off the ground to prevent flood damage, but unfortunately did sustain some damage in 2 very large floods.

The house is surrounded on all four sides by glass panes.  This provides a lovely view of the river, the woods, or the surrounding lawn.  Inside, there is a center enclosed area which contains 2 bathrooms and a utility room. 

There is very little storage throughout the house - essentially just the kitchen cabinets.  Dr. Farnsworth ultimately had a large wardrobe constructed for the bedroom area, although the architect was opposed to this.

This was a very interesting tour, and all the ladies (plus one husband) seemed to enjoy it.

Our guide is telling us the history of the house - the Fox River can be seen in the background.

The "front" of the house - to the left is the study area, in the center is the living area, and the bedroom is behind the curtain on the right.

The ladies walk up the steps to the patio before entering the house.  The yellow structure is a sculpture that was recently added.

This is the "back" of the house - bedroom to the left, kitchen in the center, and dining area on the right.  The house is suspended by the white steel beams.  The larger "beam" under the house contains the electricity and telephone lines.