Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
Private Devotion
By Phoebe (Hinsdale) Brown (17831861)I
From every cumbering care,
And spend the hours of setting day
In humble, grateful prayer.
The penitential tear;
And all His promises to plead,
Where none but God can hear.
And future good implore;
And all my cares and sorrows cast
On Him whom I adore.
Of brighter scenes in heaven;
The prospect doth my strength renew,
While here by tempests driven.
May its departing ray
Be calm as this impressive hour,
And lead to endless day.
Compressed in Nettleton’s “Village Hymns” (1824) to these stanzas, from the original poem written at Ellington, Conn., 1818.