Lines to the Memory of Little Lillie Campbell
Of Cleveland, Tenn.

Papa, Mama, please come here your little Lillie is sick,
My mouth is parched, my throat is dry, some cool water quick,
My little dresses and my doll, no longer are required,
I want to rest upon my couch, Lilly is so tired.

The little darling from cholera infantum had only taken her bed,
The day before the twentieth of June, and on which the above was said.
Stricken down by stern and rude disease, the little sufferer lay,
With torturing thirst and racking pain, that their love could not allay.

Day by day she weaker grew, hour by hour life ebbed
Until the thirtieth day of June, her little soul it fled,
Up to the blessed home on high; up to the realms of bliss
Where Jesus ever smiles on her, where the angels she can kiss.

Two years she stayed with us below, two years minus two days,
Just long enough to win our hearts by her sweet childish ways.
When he who bade us suffer them to come, and not forbid,
Took our bright jewel from this earth, and left a void instead.

Will she never come to us again, our lonely hearts to cheer,
Must we submit resignedly to the loss of one so dear.
Oh, God, why dost Thou punish us, ‘tis more than we can bear,
Unless upheld by Thy strong arm, in this our sore despair.

Weep not, dear parents, for thy child, submit to the chastening rod,
It is all intended for your good, to draw you nearer to God.
Those that He loves He chasteneth—gold must be cleansed with fire,
Then where the dross is greatest, more heat does it require.

True consolation you both have, by Him above ‘tis given,
The meek and lowly here on earth shall meet their loved in heaven,
Then when your hearts are saddened, as in visions Lilly you see,
Resolve, through faith God helping you, with her one day you’ll be.

J. F. C.