Long years have passed since that sweet time
When first I breathed upon the air
My simple little baby prayer--
A prayer with earnestness sublime;
Since first my mother clasped my hands,
And bade me, ere I went to sleep,
Pray God my little soul to keep,
Or take to dwell in heav’nly land.
And now, tho’ years on years have fled,
And tho’ the mother’s passed away,
And tho’ my head be bowed and gray,
The little prayer that then I said
Comes floating back on angel wing,
As if, upon the other shore,
A little child had lisped it o’er
For God’s own messengers to bring.
His work in a lighter vein is fairly represented by the following: