Year: 1877

Around all mortals here there's trouble,


And great sorrows often swell the breast,
Till all on earth seems but bubble,


Toss'd on mad sea that cannot rest;
And like life here a fleeting vapor,


That awhile appears and then is gone,
Where death, the fearless mighty reaper,


Is ever singing his harvest home.
Few do more than touch the shores of time,


Ere they from them take their departure,
To far worse or better cline


In the never-ending hereafter,
All hoping that the future holds in store


Something better than they found in life,
As we toll on, hoping evermore,


Thro' the widest, bitterest storms OF strife.
The earth hears but little else than chimes,


Solemn chants and funeral dirges,
At all seasons and in all it's climes;
Yet life from all this din emerges-
Eternal life-when storms have battered 80
The body down to its native dust,
And back again its dust been scattered
To tn elements that contained it first. e.. ..
Then, away beyond the fadeless blue,


And beyond where human sight is lost
In mist and vapors of every hue,
Just where the river of death is crossed,
There will mortals to immortals rise, a.
And hail their friends who have gone before,
And rejoice with them above the skies, ..
Or weep, groan and howl with hends below.
The virtuous dead shall all arise,


And will flourish in immortal youth,
Though the infdel this fact denies,


Still it will forever stand the truth.
The SOUL like the body, here in time


Nav be tried and suffer much and long,
c.p 49,, dooth. but twill rise Sublim6.


And triumph DER every foe and wrong.
The mind, the soul, the immortal spirit


When free from death, sorrow, sin and pain
Shall come where God himself is present


And there in glory forever reign.
Nor will it ever dim or darkel


Though sun, moon and stars all fade away,
But brighter will it ever sparkle


Round the great white Throne in endless day.
Yes. heaven and earth may pass away


worldly pleasures, honors, wealth and fame
All may perish; but there's no decay


To the soul, either in joy or pain.
Then why should souls immortal grovel;


Or act foolishly, indiscreet or rash?
Men should be men, tho in hovel,


Nor e'er barter off their souls for trash
Why let the devil downward lead us,


Till we're robed in fiery flames,
And on dry dust and ashes feed US,


Until we're fettered fast in chains?
IT'S madness to be thus led away,


In anguish and sorrow to abide,
Where, through teeming darkness not one ray
OF pale, glimmering light shall ever glide
No; rather we will look above US, '"
And strive with God to become allied, -
Where lov'd ones, who have gone before US,
Are waiting for us on tn other side
A shining, bright and glorious convoy


Who holds us ever in full survey,
And all of them their powers employ


To bring us victory every day.
Hard are the conflicts we wage on earth


With the world, the flesh and the devil,
Yet the prize is of transcendent worth


Immortal bliss, or endless euat
Hence the angels who hover DER us


And the bowling fiends from hell below,
Are striving ever to damn or bless us


In heaven above, or endless woe ...
Oh why will mortals then go reeling,


Needless and headlong upon their way,
From the paths of heavens revealing,


Like eagles hastening to their prey?
No; let each heart now nerve for conflict,
And labor till we o'ercome all foes, ...
And we are called up to inherit .... ....
Heaven, eternal life and sweet repose!