Stretched upon his narrow bed,
With no loving face bent o'er him,
No soft hand about his head,
O, let kind and pitying angels,
Their bright forms around him bow;
Let them kiss his heavy eyelids,
Let them fan his fevered brow.

Poor and needy little children,
Still we raise our cry to Thee
We have nestled in his bosom,
We have sported on his knee;
Dearly, dearly do we love him,
--We, who on his breast have lain--
Pity now our desolation!
Bring him back to us again!

If it please thee, Heavenly Father,
We would see him come once more,
With his olden step of vigor,
With the love-lit smile he wore;
But if we must tread Life's valley,
Orphaned, guideless, and alone,
Let us lose not, 'mid the shadows,
His dear footprints to thy Throne.

_Maulmain_, April, 1850.

SWEET MOTHER.

The wild, south-west Monsoon has risen,
With broad, gray wings of gloom,
While here, from out my dreary prison,
I look, as from a tomb--Alas!
My heart another tomb.

Upon the low-thatched roof, the rain,
With ceaseless patter, falls;
My choicest treasures bear its stain--
Mould gathers on the walls--Would Heaven
'Twere only on the walls!

Sweet Mother! I am here alone,
In sorrow and in pain;
The sunshine from my heart has flown,
It feels the driving rain--Ah, me!
The chill, and mould, and rain.

Four laggard months have wheeled their round
Since love upon it smiled;
And everything of earth has frowned
On thy poor, stricken child--sweet friend,
Thy weary, suffering child.

I'd watched my loved one, night and day.
Scarce breathing when he slept;
And as my hopes were swept away,
I'd on his bosom wept--O God!
How had I prayed and wept!

They bore him from me to the ship,
As bearers bear the dead;
I kissed his speechless, quivering lip,
And left him on his bed--Alas!
It seemed a coffin-bed!

When from my gentle sister's tomb,
In all our grief, we came,
Rememberest thou her vacant room!
Well, his was just the same, that day.
The very, very same.

Then, mother, little Charley came--
Our beautiful fair boy,
With my own father's cherished name--
But oh, he brought no joy!--My child
Brought mourning, and