He's Back...

I tried to keep him away, but Cupid is fairly persistent. He's here to teach me a lesson.

 

And, be careful, he's armed with bad rhymes. The one below only works if you pronounce 'worse' like the Three Stooges: 'woyse'. Either way, it's still a bad rhyme.

This rhyme's not so great either.

These cards were all posted, but only the last one has an interesting message:

The card is addressed to Miss Alice Owens, with a message that reads:

Dear Friend

Alice I have been very ill and wish I would have met you to have you nurse me hoping I have that pleasure very soon wish i knew you as well as I do that brother of yours but I think you are cuter

From

Billy the kid

with love

Happy Birthday, Auntie Freeman

A hundred and one years ago, Mrs. Freeman was celebrating her birthday and received this card with its lovely bunch of violets from her relative, William S. Bliss.

He calls her Auntie, but I don't think he's her nephew. They are related though.

Here it is in a nutshell.
Edmund Freeman was born in England in 1590, but came over by ship (The Abigail) in 1653 and settled in Lynn, Massachusetts. Five generations later, Lewis and Catherine Freeman had seven children, including twins Ada and Ida, born in 1854. Ada Freeman married Seth Henry Bliss. That's where the relationship between Freeman and Bliss comes in, but William S. (born in 1862) is not one of their children, so he must be a nephew of Henry Bliss. In that case it's especially sweet of him to send a card, don't you agree?

Mrs. Freeman appears to be Florence Peek Freeman, born in about 1850 and married to George Lewis Freeman, a Baptist and a Free Mason who lived in Schuyler Lake, Exeter, Otsego County, New York.

 Here's a photo of the Exeter School in 1915, courtesy of the Exeter Historical Society.

Teacher, Gussie Brainard, Hobart Curtiss, Gladys Truman, May Wilson

next row: Leslie Curtis, Bernice Chappell, Truman Allison, Ferris Bliss, Julia Bliss, Joe Allen, Pearl Bliss

I have trouble matching these names up, unless Pearl is a boy, but whatever the case there are three children with the surname of Bliss in this picture.


Here's what Schuyler Lake looks like today. It's still very rural. Wait a minute...is that the Mason's Lodge?

View Larger Map

And if it happens to be your birthday today, I hope it's full of bliss and happiness.

Get Back, Ya Little Varmint!

If you really want to keep him away though, you will have to do more than just yell. You need to spray him down, and not just with water either. You may need some strong repellants to keep this kind of trouble away.

And if you fail, all sorts of bad things could happen. Ouch!

Don't want that! ...or this:

Watch out for Cupid; you never know what he's packing.