Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1859-09-08
From the Atlantic Monthly,
Daniel Gray.

II / shall ever win the home in heaven,
For whose sweet rest l humbly hope and pray,
In the great company of the forgiven
/ shall be sure to find old Daniel Gray.
Fknew him we'll in fact, few knew him better;
For my young eye oft read Cor him the VOID,
And saw how meekly from the crystal letter
He drank the life of his beloved Lord.
Old Daniel Gray was not a man who lifted
On ready words his freight of gratitude,
And was not called upon among the gifted
In the prayer-meeting of his neighborhood.
He had a few old fashioned words and4hrases,
Linked in with sacred texts and Sunday rhymes
And I suppose, that, in his prayers and graces,
I've heard them all at least a thoucand times.
I see him now-his form, and face. and motions,
His homespun habit, and his silver hail.
And hear the language of his trite devotions
Rising behind the straight-back kitchen chair.
Lean remember how the sentence sounded
"Help us, o Lord. to pray, and not to faint!
And how the 'conquering and-to-conquer'
The loflier aspirations of the saint.
He had some notions that did not improve him
He never kissed his children-so they say;
And finest scenes and fairest flowers would move
rim p
Less than a horseshoe picked up in the way.
He could seq naught but vaai in beauty,
And taught but weakness in a fond caress.
and pitied men whose views of Christian Guty
Allowed indulgence in such foolishness.
Yet there were love and tenderness within him
And I am told that when his Charley died,
Nor Natures need nor gentle words could win him
From his fond vigils at the s~leeper's side.
And when they came to bury little Charley,
They found fresh d~ew-drops sprinkled in his hair
And on his bienst a rosebud, gathered early
And guessed, but did not know, who placed ii
there. ,
Ny good old friend was very hard on fashion,
And held its ~votaries in lofty scoru,
And often burst into a holy passion
While the gay crowds went by On Sunday morn.
Yet he was vain, old Gray, and did not know it,
He wore his hair impaired, long and plain,
To hide the handsome brow that slept below it,
For fear the world would think that he was vain
Es had G hearty hatred of oppression, y
And righteous words for sin of every hind
Alas, that the transgressor ard transgression
We're linked so closely in his honest mind
Yet that sweet tale of gift without repentance,
Told of the Master, touched him to he core,
And fearless he could never read tie sentence:
Neither do 1 condemn thee sin no more"
Honest and faithful constant in his calling,
Strictly attendant on the mems of grace,
Instant in prayer. and fearful most of falling,
Old Daniel Gray was always in his place.
A practical old man, and yet a dream or,
He thought that in some strange unlocked for-way
His mighty Friend in Heaven, the great Redeemer,
Would honor him with wealth some golden day.
This dream he carried in a hopeful spirit,
Until in death his eyes grew dim,
And his Redeemer called him to inherit
The heaven of wealth long garnered up for him.
30, if l ever via the home in heaven.
For whose sweet rest 1 humbly hope and pray,
In the great company of the forgiven
l shall be sure to find I'D Daniel Gray.