Newspaper History presents media sourced from a United States newspaper dating back 108 years.

  • He Wonders If She Knows

    From the Rock Island Argus, May 20, 1914. By Henry Howland.

    “I wonder if you know how fair
        You make the world for me?
    I wonder if you know that where
        You are I long to be?
    Your smile is like the morning sun
        That gladdens all below;
    When you appear the day’s begun,
    But when we part the day is done—
    I wonder if you know or care,
        I wonder if you know?”

    (He wonders if she knows or cares;
        Why should he ever doubt it?
    The lovelorn, longing look he wears
        Has told her all about it.
    Although he never tells her so,
    He may be sure that she will know;
    Love needs no speech—long, long ago
        Love learned to do without it.)

    “I wonder if you ever guess
        That when you linger near
    The world is filled with loveliness,
        That when you leave ’tis drear?
    For you, sweetheart, it is that all
        The fairest breezes blow,
    And from the skies the stars would fall
    Responsive to your witching call;
    You smile to gladden and to bless—
        I wonder if you know?”

    (He wonders if his sweetheart knows
        Or has the wit to guess it;
    He tells it everywhere he goes
        His looks and sights confess it;
    He thinks her lips forbidden fruit,
    Ah, let him cease from being mute,
    And boldly, bravely press his suit—
        She longs for him to press it.)