The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments, Translated Out of the ...

306.11

1831

OBITUARY.

DIED in Chatham, on the 4th inst., of hooping cough, LYDIA F., only child of Hiram and Lydia Harding,aged

6 months.

I knew that we must part day after day,
I saw the dread destroyer win his way;
That hollow cough first rang the fatal knell,

As on my ear its solemn warning fell,

I knew that we must part,-no power could save
Thy quiet goodness from an early grave;
All told thy doom, I felt it at my heart,.

The shaft was struck-I knew that we must part,
And we have parted. Thou art gone,
Gone in thy early bloom, meek, suffering one,
Thy weary spirit breathed itself to sleep
So peacefully, it seemed a sin to weep;
Then tired, like breezes didst thou sink to rest,
Nor one, one pang the awful change confessed;
Death stole in softness o'er that lovely face,
And touched each feature with a new-born grace,
On cheek and brow unearthly beauty lay,
And told that life had passed away.
In my last hour be heaven so kind to me,
I ask no more than this, to die like thee.
But thou art dead in the silent tomb,
Where thou art laid, thy kindred shall find room,
A little while, a few short years of pain,
And one by one we'll welcome thee again;
Thy kind, kind father shall seek out the place,
And rest with thee, the youngest of our race;
Thy dear, dear mother, bent with care and grief,
Shall lay her head by thine in sweet relief,
Shall come and make their quiet bed with thee,
Beneath the ground that now doth cover thee.

LINES WRITTEN IN A BIBLE.
A gift from thy mother, my own fair boy,
'Tis the true source of happiness, peace and joy;
May its beautiful precepts thy footsteps guide,
And keep thee through life on Virtue's side.
This book impearled by a mother's tears,
May it speak to thy heart in after years;
And when she rests 'neath the lowly sod,
May it teach thee to place thy trust in God.
May thine, belov'd be a blessed lot-
And oh may the giver be never forgot.