Archives & Special Collections‘A kiss is love in tabloid form’

Roses are red, violets are blue . . . want a wittier way to say ‘I love you’? Then read on for snippets from a trainee teacher’s autograph book of 1916, which could easily grace an 'alternative' Valentine's Day card.

The owner of the autograph book, Louisa Jessie Fletcher (1893-1972), studied at the Glasgow Provincial Training College (later known as Jordanhill College) from 1914-1916. On receiving the book as a gift in May 1916, she invited her fellow students to fill its blank pages with their signatures, verses and drawings. This was a common practice of the day, and an excellent way to compile a keepsake for the future. However, after Louisa gained her teaching diploma and left the College in the summer of 1916, her autograph book passed into the hands of James Maxwell Dewar Teape, a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

Letter reads ‘Yes, this is my Album, but learn ere you Look [,]that all are expected to add to this book [.]You may read it & quiz it, the penalty is,You put something in for others to quiz.Ja[me]s MD Teape1917

The personal connection between Louisa Fletcher and James Teape is unclear. James did not study at the Glasgow Provincial Training College, nor did he and Louisa subsequently marry each other. When the First World War ended, James married another Glasgow schoolteacher, Isabella Falconer, who had trained at the College from 1913-1915. As a second-year student, Isabella may have encountered Louisa during the latter’s first College session in 1914-1915; but they did not live in the same district of the city, and Isabella is not among the numerous ‘College Friends’ who signed the autograph book, suggesting that the two women had not known each other well. Could James have been Louisa’s one-time sweetheart, a family member, or perhaps a childhood friend? Was the book Louisa’s parting gift to James when he was called up for war service? We may never find the answers to these questions, but the book’s dual ownership has certainly produced an intriguing variety of content. While some pages are covered in the teaching-themed doodles, poems and signatures of Louisa’s College friends, others bear the signatures of James’s fellow servicemen. In honour of Valentine’s Day, here we present the contribution of one of Louisa’s fellow students, Catherine Makin - an amusing page of tongue-in-cheek quips about love:

Please click 'Some snippets image description' for full description.

'Some snippets':

"To think more of someone else than yourself, that is love."

"Cupid anticipated Marconi."

"A bridegroom is always out of place at a wedding. It’s the bride’s day out."

"The proper study of kind men is woman."

"A kiss is love in tabloid form."

"Had the late Methuselah been a woman, the world would never have known how old she really was."

"Love in this civilised age should be spelled £-O-V-E."

"When a woman’s pretty, she is charming; when clever, fascinating, but when she is sympathetic, she’s adorable."

With apologies, Yours sincerely, C Makin.

There are surely some potential Valentine’s card verses here, provided the recipient has an appropriate sense of humour! Should these witticisms fail to tickle his or her funny bone (or be rewarded by a black eye instead of a passionate clinch!) the lovelorn reader may find solace in this sketch by another of Louisa Fletcher’s College friends, Helen Greenshields. A little boy has plucked up courage to steal a kiss from his beloved, earning himself a wallop to the eye in the process. Yet he remains triumphant: ‘I don’t care; I kissed her!’ The pursuit of true love can be a painful business, but worth it!

Anne Cameron, Archives Assistant