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| The Silver Lining by Daniel Webster Crist 1907 |
The Silver Lining
For the Day School, Singing School and Conventions by D. W. Crist. Published by D. W. Crist. Moultrie, Ohio, 1907
In my bookseller capacity, on occasion people interested in selling older books will come to me with the assumption that age itself makes value. If only that were true, a far larger quantity of books would be flying of the shelves into the hands of eager buyers. The fact is that many factors preceed the sale of an antiquarian or collectible book, including condition, age, provenance, genre, etc., as well as the right buyer finding the book the seller has for sale. And although the internet has made the mating of right buyer to right book and seller much easier, such unions may take years. In bookselling, patience is a necessary virtue.In the case of the book noted on this blog, what will make The Silver Lining, in the genre of general songbooks with genral songs, containing many entries of music of general compositional quality, of interest to buyers?
First, of course is the genre collector, most likely of the type like myself with limited means, who will be interested in locating songbooks of this sort in the best possible condition in relation to the amount of funds available. Seeking a smaller specialty will be those who collect perhaps songbooks published in Ohio, or hardcover songbooks, or maybe those who collect Ohio memorabilia.
Gleaning information on the man noted as author and publisher, Daniel Webster Crist, poses a challenge for the internet researcher for the simple fact that what opens up in great quantity are informational links about Daniel Webster, not Daniel Webster Crist. I found one link that will not be posted here since the page was virtually blank when opened. The two links posted here are good.
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| Photo from Hymntime.com |
My brief biography of Daniel Webster Crist. For more information please visit the posted links.
Daniel Webster Crist (1857-1929) was a graduate of Ohio Northern University (1882), teaching school for fourteen years and also serving as a superintendent of schools, after which health issues led him to other pursuits. He married Mary Ann Reed the year of his college graduation, and together they bore three children.
He was a member of the Christian Church and a Mason. Crist was elected to the Ohio state legislature in 1901 and state senator in 1905.
He was a successful businessman, operating his own publishing firm in Moultrie, Ohio, and beginning in 1915 in Alliance, Ohio. where he also was one of the founders and president of the Peoples Bank of Alliance. As a composer, Daniel Webster Crist began writing music as a child, with a large compositional output during his lifetime.
My opinion about the collectibility of this book, The Silver Lining, after examining the contents is that outside of the collectible nature, a conservative homeschooling home might put it to good use. Also, a teacher might share the book with a class in relation to how much can be accomplish when a positive, uplifting disposition is present, as is very evident in the texts of the songs included in the book.
Within the collectible nature, I found learning about Daniel Webster Crist very interesting. My collections include artifacts mostly from the particular midwest states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota. If my interests included Ohio history, I would find having a copy of a book published by this man who accomplished so much more desirable.
Crist composed the music for many of the songs included in The Silver Lining, and I noticed that two women were particularly prominent in writing the texts for his music: Laura E. Newell and Jennie Wilson.
Songs for which D. W. Crist wrote both text and music are as follows.
Hear the River’s
Song
In Good Old Colony
Times
The Mellow Eve Is
Gliding
Better Look at Home
Never Say Fail
Musical Bells
Come, Cheerful
Companions!
List to the Bells
The Fountain
Brightly the Star
of Freedom
My Home Is There
The Old School Bell
O How Lovely
In the Shadow of
Thy Wings
As a Mason of the 32nd Degree and Knight Templar, Crist did include one song in particular that I think relevant. This song is in public domain.
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| The Templar's Anvil in Adobe PDF format
Appropriate for the period with many people working in the Temperance Movement is a song included by another hymn writer, music publisher and piano builder of whom I have written about previously, John Henry Kurzenknabe, along with Aaron W. Orwig.
The Drink I'll Use will not be wine,
However sparkling it may be,
For in it lurks the adder's sting,
And fangs I may not see
The drink I'll use will not be beer,
For even that may bring me woe,
Its bitter sorrows, wounds and tears,
Lays tens of thousands low.
The drink I'll use will not be ale,
However harmless it may seem,
That, too, may cause the sad and wail,
And drown hope's cheering gleam.
The drink I'll use will not be gin,
Nor rum, nor brandy, nor old rye,
For if I do, how dread that then,
The drunkard's death I'd die.
Refrain
From alcohol and poison free,
My drink shall pure cold water be;
The crystal stream that floweth by,
Shall quench my thirst when I am dry.
In closing this article, I will add lastly the sarcastically humorous lyrics of a song text from The Silver Lining written by a woman simply known as Eva, to which Daniel Webster Crist wrote the music.
The Difference
A boy will stand and hold a kite
From early morn till late at night,
But, oh, it gives him bitter pain,
To stand and hold his mother's skein.
A girl will gladly sit and play
Upon the organ half a day,
But, oh, it makes her sick and sour,
To tend the baby half an hour.
A man will walk a score of miles
Upon the hardest kind of tiles,
But, oh, it nearly takes his life
To do an errand for his wife.
This article contributed to the public interest by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks. com. One copy of The Silver Lining is currently available for purchase on this site.
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