Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1862-12-01
Now I Lay He Down to Sleep.
" Now lay me down to sleep,
| pray the Lord my soul to keep,
If l should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take"
Henderson, N. C.

VINO arc you, man or woman, for whom
this prayer has not old associations who
hearing its words, hear not too, the
memory bell ringing up from the golden
plains Of your childhood, and feels not the
soft gales from the morning land of your
life sweeping over your soul?
You may be a man now in the pride
and strength of yonr years; you may
have carved out for yourself an honorable
name and destiny in this world-mayhap
you are the owner of broad lands, and
proud homes, and your heart has grown
hard in its battle with the world.
But stop moment, and listen to this
little verse, so simple that the merest babe
who learns to lisp the words can cempre-
hend them, and so grand in its sublime
significance and faith, that the wisest shall
only have learned the true lessons Of life
when the soul utters them as it did in its
infancy.
Let US see! How many years ago was
it! twenty, thirty no matter, at the
sound of Now lay me- they have roll
ed their massive doors, and you go down
through them to the old red one story
Ing. You see the little window on the
right side, close under the rafters ah |!
YOU slept sounder slumber, and dreamed
sweeter dreams in that old garret, than
you ever did in your lofty chambers, with
their gilded ceiling and snowy drapcries !;
and what matter if your bed was straw
one, and your coyerlet was made of red
and yellow patches of calico, you never
, snuggled down SO contentedly under your
spring mattresses and n,arseilles counter
: panes. -.. d. .......-. ...s: e..a .-.. IS.
: s Now lay me > how softly sleep would
come and weigh down your eyelids, as you
repeated the words after her ah ! You
can hear her very tones now stealing
> across your heart though it is SO many
i = years since death silenced them you feel
the soft touch of her hand on your pillow
{ and the tender lingering of her kiss upon
= = your lips-you break down here, proud as
- - you are-the memory of your mother
- is more than you can bear. If she hae
~ had only lived, you would not have beer
what you now are; but thanks be to q cd
=, u she left you something that cannot grow
'o old and dim, not even in the unspeakabl'
81 IL brightness beyond the shining gates-th'
. memory of loving, praying, christial
mother. .r .,...-s-... ,.sE. .. -.a.
,'' Ie Reader, it may be that in the din an
! struggle of life you may have forgotten t.
~ ~ pray at all, and that night after night yo
- have laid down on your pillow, .neye
a. thinking of the shining ranks of angel
that Gods mercy stationed around Q
le le thanking him for the day or the night.
~ ~ But come back, we beseech you, to th
III old prayer of your childhood. You can
~ not have outgrown that-no matter
" your hair is frosted with the SHOWS of life
~ December, and if your years are three
q score and ten, kneel down by your bed
= side, and utter these words, see if some
.o thing of the old peace and faith of 20,
childhood does not come back to yeu,
na something of its dew and blessing fall q
upon your slumber. @ .
And remember that sooner or later, y,
VI must lie down and Sleep when this pray
~ will be all your soul can take all that W
avail of your rank, or wealth, or fam
u whatsoever you most prise in this worl
- which is but the shadow Of eternity. AL
,Ia n,a we shall pass the
he .'Green threshold of our common grave"
yet but the little prayer, the first. it may
lck that We took Upon our childish lips, as
not sail out under the solemn arches of t
River Of Death-follows us, faint, TEL
am der air, from the shores, and when
not cast anchor,
me "The Lord our souls shall take"
APPS --- - s.
Of A dicnatch from Ea;rrav II cavs