The Life and Works of James Easson the Dundee People’S Poet
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THE LIFE AND WORKS OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JAMES EASSON AMES EASSON (1833–1865) suffered from more disadvantages than most men are able to bear. He THE DUNDEE PEOPLE’S POET wasJ an illegitimate orphan, and his seaman father died before he himself was born. His mother died when he was two, and he was brought up in Dundee in great By poverty by his only surviving relative, his widowed grandmother. He attended only an elementary school ANTHONY FAULKES and a Sunday school, and worked most of his life as a house-painter in Dundee. He died at the age of 31 in the Lunatic Asylum in Dundee. He left a small book of verse, and had contributed to the Dundee PEOPLE’S JOURNAL several other poems and a number of articles, sketches and short stories that in many cases are illustrative of life in Victorian Dundee and show great concern for the poor, the sick and those with disabilities. He was a popular writer in his time and came to be known as the PEOPLE’S POET. This book JAMES EASSON includes reprints of all Easson’s extant writings. ISBN: 9780952745525 THORISDAL DUNDEE 2016 Easson cover.indd 1 05/03/2016 15:09 THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JAMES EASSON THE DUNDEE PEOPLE’S POET By ANTHONY FAULKES THORISDAL DUNDEE 2016 James Easson Dundee People's Poet.indd 1 07/03/2016 11:39 © Anthony Faulkes Published by Thorisdal 210 Broughty Ferry Road Dundee DD4 6LD [email protected] ISBN: 9780952745525 Printed by CMP (UK) Ltd James Easson Dundee People's Poet.indd 2 07/03/2016 11:39 PREFACE Most of the contents of this compilation are based on books, documents and archives in the Local History Centre in Dundee Central Library, and I am grateful to the staff there for their help in locating items relating to the life and works of James Easson. The runs of the People’s Journal that are available in the Dundee Central Library, however, are unfortunately neither well conserved nor complete: some issues are missing, there are pages missing, some of them having been torn out, and many short items have been cut out with scissors. In most cases I have been able to supplement the Dundee holdings from the online British Newspaper Archive, though in fact only one number containing an article by James Easson that was missing in the Dundee archive was found to be available in the BNA, ‘The Loveliness of Truth’ (April 30, 1864). But I was able to search paper copies of the issues from 1862 and 1865 in the British Library holdings that had not then been added to the BNA. (1865 has since been added to the BNA, but 1862 is still lacking.) The only contribution by James Easson that was found there that was not extant in the Dundee archive was the poem ‘Goodness Triumphant’ (February 25, 1865). The texts that are edited here have been transcribed literally, with liberties only being taken with the spaces before punctuation marks, which were at that time frequently inserted by compositors in places where they are no longer customary. Only obvious printer’s errors have been corrected, and then always marked in a footnote. Words and letters apparently accidentally omitted are supplied in square brackets where necessary. It is hoped that all the extant works of and information available about James Easson have been collected here in a form that will enable readers to form as accurate a picture of the man as possible and a just estimate of his writing skills in prose and verse. Dr Anthony Faulkes Emeritus Professor The University of Birmingham February, 2016 James Easson Dundee People's Poet.indd 3 07/03/2016 11:39 CONTENTS Preface . 3 I: Life of James Easson . 7 II: Works of James Easson. A: Select Miscellany . 15 The Triumphs of Philanthropy. 17 Jesus in Bethlehem’s Manger . 23 The Hopes of the Christian . 24 “There shall be No Light There” . 24 Conscience . 25 “Jesus Wept” . 26 Providence . 26 Eternity . 27 The Midnight Streets . 28 A Lament for Judah . 29 The Song of the Morning Star . 29 The Factory Girl . 31 England . 32 “No More in Fancy Roaming”. 32 The Old Beggar Woman . 33 The Dumb Boy . 34 “And Can’st Thou Give” . 35 “Oh, Come with Me” . 36 The Heart’s Emotions . 37 The Broken Heart . 38 A Glimpse of Fairyland . 39 The Blind Girl . 40 Fair Land of Palestine . 41 “I Forgot” . 42 Lines Written on Parting with a Friend . 43 *The Blind Mother . 46 III: Works of James Easson. B: Contributions to the Dundee People’s Journal . 48 i: Poems . 48 Lines on the Death of a Neglected Local Artist . 48 Lines Written on Visiting the Western Cemetery . 49 The Song of the Wanderer. 49 Stanzas on the Portrait of a Departed Friend . 50 The Song of the Broken Bough . 51 A Sang to Tammas Bodkin . 52 By the River . 53 4 James Easson Dundee People's Poet.indd 4 07/03/2016 11:39 Night Visions . 54 Sabbath Days . 55 Goodness Triumphant . 56 ii: Sketches, Essays and Letters . 58 Dr Guthrie’s Church on Sunday Afternoon . 58 Fresh Lessons from our “Collection.”. 60 “The Poopit Fit.” . 63 The Glories of a Week in Summer . 65 Old Neighbours . 68 Will’s Braes . 70 George’s Chapel—The Monthly Evening Lecture . 72 Educational Patriotism and Philanthropy . 77 Castle Street Chapel—The Morning Service . 78 The Necessity for Working Men’s Colleges . 82 Cheery Blinks in a Dark Winter’s Day . 86 Dudhope Free Church . 89 Midnight and Morning. 91 Bonnie Roslin Castle . 94 Lindsay Street Chapel . 96 Six o’Clock in the Scouringburn . 99 Mill Girls v. Factory Girls. 104 The Painters’ Prize Letter . 105 The Loveliness of Truth . 109 The Graces of Humility . 112 Thoughts about the “Journal’s” Lifeboat . 116 *The Electric Telegraph . 118 *Autobiography of a Working Man . 119 iii: Short stories . 128 Pompey’s Breakfast . 128 The Fortunes of a Family . 131 Done Brown . 137 Cornelia Austen, The Gentle Ballad-Singer . 140 Kindness Avenged. 148 Seen Better Days . 164 The Breeze Borne Letters . 167 Banished for Love. 174 Hooray!—Jack’s The Lad! . 178 Jack Turned Baptist . 179 Index . 181 Bibliography . 181 5 James Easson Dundee People's Poet.indd 5 07/03/2016 11:39 6 James Easson Dundee People's Poet.indd 6 07/03/2016 11:39 I: Life of James Easson Near the south-west corner of the Eastern Necropolis in Dundee there is a memorial stone inscribed as follows: JAMES EASSON BORN 25TH DECEMBER 1833, DIED 5TH JUNE 1865. ERECTED BY THE PROPRIETORS OF “THE PEOPLE’S JOURNAL” IN MEMORY OF A WORKING MAN WHO HAD RARE LITERARY GIFTS AND WHOSE WRITINGS ARE HIS BEST MEMORIAL. James Easson’s Death Certificate states that he was a painter, illegitimate, single, son of seaman James Mullins and Betsy Easson, deceased, and died in the Royal Lunatic Asylum, Dundee, after three weeks of paralysis (Statutory Deaths 282/01 06361). The 1851 Census return (Census 1851 282/00 087/00 0361) says that at that time he was a painter, single, born in Dundee, now residing at no. 13, West Wynd, Dundee, with his grandmother Betty Easson, aged 58, widow, born in Longforgan, Perthshire, head of the family, which had no other members at that address. She is likely to have been the Betty Forbes who was married to a James Easson in Longforgan in February 1808 at the age of 15.† According to a letter to the People’s Journal signed D. T. (June 24, 1865; reprinted below), his father died before James was born, and his mother died when he was two years old. There were at least two other families living at the same address in Dundee in 1851, whose heads were weavers. The Eassons therefore probably lived in a tenement block. In the People’s Journal in the issue of June 10, 1865, the following notice was printed: DEATH OF MR JAMES EASSON. We regret to record the death of Mr James Easson, long and favourably known to our numerous readers for his letters, poems, and sketches which appeared from time to time in the columns of the Journal. The melancholy event took place on Monday afternoon in the Dundee Asylum, in the presence of his only surviving relative, his grandmother, who has watched over him with all a mother’s love and care. He was subject to fits of mental derangement, and about four weeks ago, while suffering from a severe attack, was removed to the Asylum, where paralysis of the entire system supervened.‡ In his lucid hours he appeared to be quite aware of his condition, and in a prayerful state of mind. In his last hours, however, he did not recognise † 0. P. R. Marriages 377/00 0030 0289 Longforgan; “Scotland, Marriages, 1561–1910,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XY3X-DT5 : accessed 31 August 2015), James Easson and Betty Forbes, 07 Feb 1808; Longforgan,Perth,Scotland; FHL microfilm 1,040,128.It may have been the same James Easson that was a weaver born in Forgan in about 1779, who died of fever in 1826 (Friends of Dundee Archives – Howff Graveyard of Dundee, Surname Range – Eddie – Eingland, p. 15). ‡ It would seem likely that Easson’s condition was largely due to strokes. 7 James Easson Dundee People's Poet.indd 7 07/03/2016 11:39 the presence of any one, and appeared quite unconscious. Mr Easson was a house-painter, but devoted his leisure hours to literary pursuits.