William Baxter The Dying Mother's Message (1865)

 

T H E

L A D I E S '   R E P O S I T O R Y .
J A N U A R Y,   1 8 6 5 .

 

T H E   D Y I N G   M O T H E R ' S   M E S S A G E .
BY REV. WILLIAM BAXTER.
UPON a couch of pain
    A dying mother lay,
While friends around with anguish saw
    Her life fast ebb away.
She looked upon that tearful throng,
    The aged, young, and fair,
But looked in vain for one dear face--
    A face that was not there.

She knew her end was near,
    Yet dreaded not to die,
But wished her well-beloved son
    Might meet her dying eye;
That she might lay her hand once more
    Upon that son's bright hair,
And breathe o'er him ere life should close
    An earnest, fervent prayer.

Her pulse grew fainter still,
    And dimmer grew her eye,
And keener grew the anguish of
    The loved ones standing by;
Then flashed her eye, as if she saw
    The pearly gates appear,
And, pointing up, "Tell him," she said,
    "Tell him to meet me there."

She calmly fell asleep,
    Her earthly course was run,
But from his heart ne'er passed away
    Her message to her son;
And when the toils of life are o'er
    He hopes to breathe this prayer:
"Receive me to thyself, O God,"
    And meet his mother there.

 

[The Ladies' Repository 25 (January 1865): 40.]

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

      William Baxter's "The Dying Mother's Message" was first published in The Ladies' Repository: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Literature and Religion, Vol. 25, No. 1, January 1865, p. 40. This volume, edited by I. W. Wiley, was published in Cincinnati and Chicago by Poe and Hitchcock and in New York by Carlton and Porter.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 18 April 2000.
Updated 28 June 2003.

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