Oh! I’d be a rich blessing to your and your wife.

Should I be a burden still greater to bear,

The daughter and wife in the trial must share.

Think then of my age, over seventy years,

And bear with me though I cause sorrow and tears.

Though fretful, impatient, not suited at all,

And you think it best not to mind every call,

Remember past seasons, my kindness, and know

I would have you as blest as one could be below.

And in the new earth when all trials are o’er,

I would be with you there to have life evermore.

An unbroken band may we all there appear,

The father, the mother, the children so dear.

We should there know each other, and all we’ve been through,

While Annie would greet her dear brothers anew

And Harriet and Frances[2] would help swell the song,

Of Heaven’s free grace, with the numerous throng.

My dearest Samuel, through life’s scenes

I’d thought to live with thee,

But providentially a change,

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