Mrs. Abigail Mowry

A Birthday Surprise

   Monday afternoon, Jan 7th, a number of ladies laden with baskets and bundles surprised Mrs. Abagail Mowry at her residence on Mechanic street.  The occasion was her eightieth birthday.  After congratulations and an enjoyable social time, the following poem, written by Lucy A. Balcom, was read:

Ah well, at length you remember,

The length of eighty years,

And yet, forgetting all the pain,

How short the time appears!

You were once of a busy household.

Brothers and sisters dear,

Up in the morning early

With voices, and words of cheer.

The youth that followed childhood

Came on, and you gave your heart

To one known well and truly,

How could you live apart?

Then a new home received you, 

You were a proud young wife

Each day had its share of duties

Belonging to married life.

The children, how you loved them!

Working for them the live-long day;

Yet the labor was given ungrudging.

So the years they melted away.

Death came and took the father,

A widow's sorrow now.

And you lived among your kindred

With its mark upon your brow.

You are older, fewer the treasures,

Than you had in life's young day,

And you think of the glad re-union

In the land not far away.