MADAM WILLIAMS,

She was a link that bound us to the past,—

To the great days of Washington, when men

Loving their country better than themselves

Show'd to the world what patriot virtue meant.

She on the knee of her majestic sire

Drew to her listening heart when life was new

Those principles that made his honored name

Synonymous with wisdom, and the might

Of holy truth.

So when in woman's sphere

She took her post of duty, still in all

The delicate proprieties of life,

The inner sanctities of household weal,

In social elegance, and in the deeds

That christian pity to the poor extends,

She was our model; and we saw in her

The perfect lady of the olden time.

Thus on the pleasant hill-top where she dwelt

In her green-terraced home, o'ercanopied

By graceful elm, mid evergreens and flowers,

The years stole over her, and slowly wrote

Their more than fourscore on her faded scroll,

While the kind care of unexhausted love

Guarded her long decline.

And now she sleeps

Where thro’ the riven snows, the quickening turf

Gives emblem of the never-ending Spring,

That wraps the accepted soul in robes of joy.