Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by J. HAMILTON, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. J. FAGAN & SON, STEREOTYPERS, PHILADELPHIA. WQR 20JUN 3+ Introduction. A FEW of the poems contained in this volume have already appeared in print as "Gleanings for Letters;" others of them have been selected by friends, and sent to me for the same purpose. But many of them have not been published before; being the effusions of earnest and devout minds, speaking aloud the sentiments breathed in the sick chamber; or, when the heart was crushed with sorrow, joyful through hope, or jubilant with praise. I found my collection had become quite a little heap,—wafted hither by the breath of friendship, or the desire to do good. And it occurred to me that I could not do better than to spread it out in a book; hoping that some hearts might be cheered, comforted, and refreshed by its contents, as they journeyed heavenward. April, 1864. J. H. (iii) |