Funerary poem from Glasgow, c. 1856 -- familiar to anyone?

[Andrew Cunningham]

Something that came down to me in Canada, from (ultimately) my great great great grandmother was a leaflet (below) containing a poem commemorating her Glaswegian brother's six dead children. The children had died between the ages of about 6 months and 4 1/2 years, three in January 1849, two in July 1852 and the last in May 1856. I assume this dates from around 1856.

It also contains a rather interesting poem apparently written specially for the occasion. The first letters of each line spell out the title: Lines on the Death of Mrs. McArthur's Children.

I was curious whether any of the experts here have seen anything like this before or whether poems like this might have been a tradition of some sort. It has always struck me that this is an unexpectedly well-crafted poem. Were there people, I wonder, who made a living writing this sort of thing? Was this a "stock" poem with the lines for "McArthur" being the only ones that were specially produced for the occasion? I don't expect anyone would know, but perhaps someone out there has seen something similar. Produced in this form, they seem unlikely to have survived in great numbers. I seem to recollect finding this in the pages of the family Bible that was brought over from Glasgow to Winnipeg.

http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1533

Dear flow'rets of earth we shall meet you again.
E're long we shall follow the path you have trod,
And united remain near the throne of our God.

...

How lone we feel now, but not long we'll remain,
Until, little sleepers, we'll join you again.
Refreshed by this hope, let us prayerfully go,
Securing that peace never felt here below.

<document link removed from post and copy of image placed in TS gallery, link added. LesleyB>

[paddyscar]

Hi Andrew:

I've seen bits of poetry similar to this, but hadn't given them much thought, beyond someone having written them personally for family members. Yahoo searches both in UK and Canada provide a startling number of current service providers for just such memorials.

I'll be interested to see what responses you get to your question. I often wonder how those families survived the repeated losses.

Frances

[nancy]

Hi Andrew,what a lovely thing to have,but isn't it so sad,seeing the ages of these poor kids who died?Makes you feel very humble,some of todays kids just dont realise how lucky they are!We tend to take so much for granted!



Nancy

[dizzybint]

never seen that before , nice words.. I was in the Necropolis and saw a large tombstone with five children from one family who all died days of each other. so sad. all died in the late 1800s

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings LesleyB That TS Gallery link does not work for me. Said broken link. Could you re-check it. Thanks, Alan SHARP.

[AndrewP]

Greetings LesleyB That TS Gallery link does not work for me. Said broken link. Could you re-check it. Thanks, Alan SHARP.

Hi Alan,

The TalkingScot Gallery has been out of action since last year. The Gallery software does not seem compatible with this version of the forum software. To work properly they have to be compatible to share the membership list and log-in functions. There may be a solution out there, but so far it has eluded me.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Alan SHARP]

Sorry Lesley and Andrew, if I'd looked at the date of the original posting, I would have realized the problem. Just assumed it was a recent thread. Alan SHARP.