[PW] Re: ? "Use what talent you possess"

[Denise Montgomery]

Maybe the Henry Van Dyke citation is not erroneous after all. In checking
our university system's statewide catalog, I discovered a very proflic
author who is also named Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933), for which there are 182
cataloging records in our system! Admittedly, a number of records are
duplicates, but I did count 75 individual unique titles either written or
edited by him, so it may well be he could have written it, though admittedly
the earliest publishing date among the books was 1887.

                                                        Denise Montgomery
                                                        Valdosta State
University Library

On 1/9/07, swguardian-stumpers at yahoo.com <swguardian-stumpers at yahoo.com>
wrote:
>
> This quote appears with no attribution in the Grand Traverse Herald,
> Traverse City, Michigan on 16 July 1874. The newspapers of this time often
> printed small morality quotes like this without attribution. Often they are
> borrowed, sometimes from another newspaper, sometimes from a book, but the
> author is generally not credited. In this case, the Grand Traverse Herald
> was the oldest use of the quote I could find in newspapers.
>
>   Use what talent you possess. The woods
> would be very silent if no bird sang there
> but those who sang best.
>
>   If you would like a copy of the page it appears on, just let me know.
>
> "Cramer, Jeff" <Jeff.Cramer at walden.org> wrote:
>   I am trying to find the source for the quotation "Use what talent you
> possess" which is erroneously attributed to Henry Van Dyke. It appeared in
> the Ladies Repository (Sept. 1874) with no attribution. It also appeared
> in
> the following two books, neither of which I can easily locate. If anyone
> has
> either or both of these volumes, could you please check the page number
> indicated and see if there is any attribution? It would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
>
>
> Page 237 of Treasured Thoughts of Great Minds, compiled by J.B. (1876)
>
>
>
> Page 5 of Francis Redfern's The Edeographic Inductive Reader, or, The Art
> of Reporting . . . (1875)
>
>
>
> Many thanks in advance, Jeff
>
>
>
>
>
> Jeffrey S. Cramer, Curator of Collections
> The Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods
> 44 Baker Farm, Lincoln, MA 01773-3004
> Telephone/Fax: (781) 259-4730
> E-mail: Jeff.Cramer at walden.org
> Website: www.walden.org/Institute
>
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>
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