If you know a version of "Deacon Foster's Pew", please feel
free to email me at
.
Thanks! Jack Horntip
Deacon Foster's Pew
I sit here thinking, Will, of you
and many days gone by.
The old church where so oft we sang
together you & I.
But thoughts of one rehearsal night
will constantly arise.
Till I can read my tithe clear
to mansions in the skies
I'm thinking of that rainy night
the rest had hurried home.
And we in Dea. Fosters' pew
were sitting all alone.
You were a seeker then dear Will
but not of things above.
The length, bredth, hight & debth
of everlasting love.
I was on the anxious seat
uncertain how to move.
Within thine arms of love enclosed
thy constancy to prove.
And Oh, the promises you made
you my own dear Will.
What peaceful hours I once enjoyed
how sweet the memory still
Oh what sweet words of love you spoke
and kissed away the tears
And how I trembled at the thought
lest someone should appear.
But when you you turned the lights all out
to guard against surprise
I bid farewell to every fear
and wiped my weeping eyes.
And when you fixed the cushions up
and I reclined at ease
The pulpit pillow 'neath my head
and you on bended knees.
With your warm kisses on my lips
how could I stay your hand
The veil was lifted and by faith
you viewed the promised land.
Oh. what rapture feelings
thrilled through my veins
I cried, Oh Lord, my heart is touched
you shouted out Amen.
My very soul was all ablaze
I thought that I could see
The land of rest, the souls' delight
The Heaven prepared for me.
I thought a charge I had to keep
with fear and shame
How anxiously I waited Will,
till I come 'round again.
In my distress I vainly strove
to check the falling tears.
The precious blood gushed freely fourth
and
concurred all my fears
But that was many years ago
and I've no doubt that you
Remember still that rainy night
in Deacon Foster's pew.
But Oh my first experience
will near forgotten be
Till I shall read my tithe
clear to mansions in the skies
The descriptions and photos of Alice Jane Eastman were retrieved from Dave Curtin's webpages on 2007-09-30. The scan of the manuscript letter is from Dave Curtin in an email received on 2005-06-27. According to Dave, this letter is in Alice's handwriting and it was discovered by Dave in Alice's correspondence.
| Deacon Foster's Pew
My grandmother's sister, Alice, wrote a poem about a rainy night in the
church. I found it in an unposted envelope bearing the date April 1st 1896.
Much has changed in a hundred years. But some things never do. I only knew
my mother's Aunt Alice as an old woman in a nursing home many years ago. The
paper this poem was written on was crumbling with age. As I read her poem, a
hundred years disappeared and a most personal passionate right of passage at
the end of her girlhood emerged. Alice titled her poem, Deacon Foster's Pew.
|
|
|
|
| Alice Jane Eastman - 1896 1872-1962 |
Children of Charles11 and Emma Eastman:-
- Alice Jane12, b. March 22, 1872 d. March 9, 1962. m. Fred Sawyer
|
|
|
Alice Jane Eastman |