This Conference talk started out in one direction and ended up in quite another, with an emphasis on eternal marriage.
Elder LeGrand Richards reads a short poem by Anderson M. Baten. The poem is entitled, "To His Wife Beulah" (and her name apparently was Deulah, not Beulah):
The Poem
“I wed thee forever, not for now,
Not for the sham of earth’s brief years,
I wed thee for the life beyond the tears,
Beyond the heart pain and clouded brow.
Love knows no grave and it shall guide us dear
When life’s spent candles flutter and burn low.”
I had never heard of Anderson Monroe Baten before this very moment. He's so not remembered that he doesn't have even a Wikipedia page, which surprised me.
What I did find was a library website with a list of his written works. He wrote and published around the 1930s, and his books mostly concern themselves with either philosophy or Shakespeare.
An AI search led me to a book of genealogy which had this to say about him on page 191-192:
"Anderson Monroe Baton,
b. Jan. 14, 1888 at Brenham, Wnshington County, Tex.;
mar. Beulah (Deulah) Gertrude Golden of San Saba, Tex., Feb. 28, 1912.
Resides Dallas, Tex.; is a writer and publisher;
was graduated from Howard Payne College, Brownwood, Tex. in
HHO;
student in Baylor University in 1910/11.
The following statement is quoted from The American
Magazine of Apr. 1, 1935:
"This man Baton has written single handed, the biggest and most complete
book on Shakespeare ever published."
The Business Month of Jan. 1935 said: "It may safely
be asserted that Mr. Baton has, through years of painstaking labor and brilliant research
given to the world at large one of the most outstanding and important
compilations in all history-those who appreciate
the enormous detail of the work stand in awe and astonishment
before it and its creator."
Mr. Baton is the author of the following books
and pamphlets:
The Philosophy of Life, 1910, 680 pages;
Slang from Shakespeare, 1931, 163 pages;
Why Are You Standing Still, 1934, 100 pages;
Do You Believe in Yourself? 1935, 140 pages;
The Philosophy of Success, 1936, 500 pages;
The Philosophy of Shakespeare, 1937, 625 pages;
A Complete Dictionary of Shakespeare, 1937, 1,500 pages;
The Language of Life, 1937, 800 pages;
The Secret of Overcoming Fear, 700 pages;
Monthly Income Insurance; On the Five Yard Line; Will Rogers; Dallas.
Mr. Eaten is a member of the Shakcspeare Associntion
of America, Inc., New York City,
an honorary member of the Cooperative Club of America,
and a life member of the Barrington Fiction Club..."
Etcetera, etc.
He sounds fun, my seventh cousin three times removed. There's a couple of his works still online, and a few more available from libraries. But not all.
Despite his glowing notices, he didn't become more than a minor figure as far as history is concerned, but he's the perfect target for my research. Those who once were notable who's who figures, who had interesting lives and work, but who have faded away from the memory of most. He's my people. :-)
His brothers also wrote books, and they didn't get even this much notice. May try and search them out as well.
And despite all of the many books and pamphlets this guy has written, it's interesting that what remains is a piece of family poetry, small and intimate, that makes it into the Conference talk, when he wasn't even known as a poet.
Just goes to show, eventually all of us are remembered only by God and history geeks like me. Fame is a fleeting thing.
But eternal life (and love) goes on and on...can't we feel that?
I think we can. Anderson Baten felt it in his love for his wife. I feel it too. :-)
