Withered Leaves from Memory's Garland. Abigail Stanley Hanna
has Mrs. Childs said,
"Goodness and beauty live forever,"
Perhaps I should apologise for the pensive strain in which I have written, but it has been in shady places, when the body was suffering from disease, and I felt almost too weak to breathe. Dear reader, did you ever feel that you were dying? that there was but a step between you and death? How natural, at such a time, and in such a place, to contemplate the circumstances connected with the deaths of dear, departed friends.
Hoping this may lead some thoughtless one to reflection, I submit it to the investigation of a generous public.
But if I fail in this, shall I have written in vain? O, no; it is but a fulfilment in part of the great mission, "do with all thy might what thy hand findeth to do." If we have but one small talent we are commanded to put it upon usury, "that the Lord may receive his own when he cometh."
Some pieces were contributions from the pen of a loved sister, whose sentiments and principles are in unison with my own, and so they flow on together, in one common channel. Those designated by a star (*) in the Index, are from her pen.
On page 141, near the bottom, the paragraph which now reads, "You did not expect me to be found alone now, did you?" should read, "You did not expect to find me alive now," &c.
On page 272, in the 11th line from the top, in the word "rugg'd," the letter e should be substituted for the apostrophe.
These errors escaped attention in reading the proof, before it went to press.
When autumn winds are round us sighing,--
When pale flowers are 'round us dying,
It pain and pleasure to us gives,
To gather up the wither'd leaves.
The year so tasteful flung her flow'rs
In garlands gay, o'er sylvan bow'rs;
But where they hung:--so brief--
Now only hangs the wither'd leaf.
Dear reader, thus to thee I come,
With tresses blossom'd for the tomb;
And offer what the season gives,--
My faded flow'rs--my WITHERED LEAVES.
A. S. H.
Index
Shadows of the Past
Reminiscences; The Old Homestead
The Old House
The Old School House
The Grave Yard
Midnight Scenes, or, Pictures of Human Life
Picture No. 2
Picture No. 3
Picture No. 4
The History of a Household
Lines written during convalescence from Brain Fever
The Angel Cousin
Lines written at the close of the year 1842
Lines written on the New Year 1843
The Unhappy Marriage
On the year 1852
Consumption
To Mrs. A.B.
An Evening in our Village
Contemplations in a Grave Yard
A Scene on the Kennebec River
To Miss H. B----
Lines written in an Album
A Long Night in the Eighteenth Century
On Hearing a Bird Sing, Dec. 19, 1826
Variety
Henriette Clinton
The Child
On the Death of Ellen A. B----
The Order of Nature
The Seasons
Dedication of an Album
To Mrs. S. on the Death of her infant
To Mrs. S. on the Death of her Son
The first and last Voyage of the Atlantic
The Fatal Feast
To the Maiden
To Mrs. B. on the Death of her Son
O Come Back, my Brother
The Twins
On the Frailty of Earthly Things
To a Friend
The Mother and her Child
A Mother's Prayer
Lines in an Album
On the Death of a Mother
The Music of Earth
On the Death of Mrs. C.P. Baldwin
Lines written in a Sick Room, April 15th, 1855
Lines written in a Sick Room, July 20th, 1855
To a Friend
The Mother's Watch
Why should I Smile *
The Youth's Return *
To A---- *
The Beauties of Nature *
On the Death of Willie T. White *
The Human Heart *
On the Death of a Friend *
To a Friend *
Happiness *
A Picture of Human Life
Flowers *
The Old Castle *
The Myrtle *
Death
The Home of Childhood *
The Happy Land *
Devotion *
To a Friend *
Lines written upon the Death of Two Sisters
To I----
Lines for a Friend upon the 20th Anniversary of her Birthday
Human Thought
Lines written upon the Departure of a Brother
Lines on the Death of a Friend
The Power of Custom
Annie Howard
We all do Perish like the Leaf
Life Compared to the Seasons
Writing Composition
Lines written in Answer to the Question "Where is our Poet?"
My Husband's Grave
Lines written upon the Young who have recently died in our Village
Conscience
Lines written in an Album
Lines from the pen of my Husband, who is Deceased
Hope
Visit to Mount Auburn
Lines from Mary to her Father in California, with her Daguerreotype
A Reminiscence
Letter of Resignation from Mrs. Hanna to