"A Medium in Which I Seek Relief": Manuscripts of American Sailors 1919-1940Main MenuIntroductionPublication IntroductionTranscriptionsThe SailorsBeginning of PathThe ShipsBeginning of PathContext & AnalysisBeginning of PathSources / CitationsBeginning of PathAnnie Tummino3ab49bb2dc491ebce8f162f5757538b6789c8434
Cecil Northrop "Me" - Title Page
12019-03-10T22:05:13-07:00Annie Tummino3ab49bb2dc491ebce8f162f5757538b6789c8434331955Title page from hand written diary produced in 1923-1924 that includes textual entries, drawings, poems, and postage stamps. Original bound volume contains entries on approximately 100 pages.plain2020-05-23T15:08:43-07:00SUNY Maritime College Archives, Cecil Northrop Papers: https://maritimedigitalcollections.com/Detail/objects/60991923Cecil Northrop's manuscripts entered the public domain May 21, 2019 (life of the author plus 70 years).Annie Tummino3ab49bb2dc491ebce8f162f5757538b6789c8434
12019-03-10T20:29:57-07:00Cecil Northrop "Me: With Apologies to R. Haggard," 1923, title page53Transcriptionplain2021-08-26T11:41:40-07:00Below is an image of the title page of Cecil Northrop's 1923-1924 diary (additional pages of this diary are available on Maritime Digital Collections). In 1923 Northrop worked on a freighter, and then got a position as an officer aboard Dollar Line's S.S. President Hayes "Round the World" cruises.
Transcription
"Me" With Apologies to R. Haggard
"But to thine ownself be true" Shakespear[e]
I hold it true that thoughts are things, Endowed with bodies, breath, and wings; And after you have quite forgot Or all outgrown some vanished thought. Back to your mind to make its home A doe or raven it will come.
Notes
Northrop's title is a play on H. Rider Haggard's She: A History of Adventure (1887). Rider (1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of Adventure fiction and a pioneer of the "Lost World" subgenre. The novel was adapted for the screen in 1917 (the version Cecil Northrop presumably could have seen), 1935, and 1965. The reference to Haggard signals Northrop's interest in adventure and travel as motivating factors for his career choices and writing.
"I hold it true..." lines of poetry are by American poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox (November 5, 1850 – October 30, 1919), a popular poet in the late 19th century. According to A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (1893), she "had the satisfaction of being a widely read author and of receiving a good price and ready sale for all she produces."