The Church Memory Book

Among my mother's effects is an autograph book, a small blue volume carrying the title "My Church Memory Book". The first inscription (on the page headed "My Pastor") is from the Rev. Frederick P. Moffatt of Bath, Maine, with the Scriptural citation Galatians 2:20: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Most of the signatures are dated around March 18 - 21, 1942. Stella would have been about 12 1/2 years old. Some of the entries carry humorous or pithy messages:

Once you had a parrot but you killed it in a rage.
For every time your boyfriend came the darn thing told your age.
- Beverly Rogers, Corliss Street

Brunswick girls are pretty
Portland girls are smart
But it takes a girl from Bath
to break a fellow's heart.
- Gloria Rogers, Corliss Street

I had a little cat
I fed him on tin cans
And when the little kittens came
They came in Ford Sedans.
- Jean MacDonald

Remember me when far far off
where the woodchucks die
with the whooping cough.
- Betty Hopkins, Corliss Street

The very best of luck to a future teacher from a teacher.
- Mary A. Morris, Portland, Maine