1845 Poem by James Hadley (1774 - 1845)
to the young Hadley women in Indiana

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Photos courtesy of Betty Ann Arnold Honeycutt

This poem was composed by James Hadley when he was visiting his brothers in Indiana in 1845. Ann (Hadley) Crow sent this poem to her daughter, Tabitha Ann (Crow) Arnold in 1905 with a letter of explanation (see below). It has just recently been found after opening an old trunk that had been sealed for many years.
Lines composed on the passing away of time - addressed to the young women of the Hadley family in Whitelick (Indiana) settlement and elsewhere.
Dear young women:

The hours of time are flying fast
and youthful joys will soon be past
And scenes which now so bright appear
Will change their hue some distant year
And life will fade and youth be gone
And pleasure vanish one by one
And hope which now looks like a star
May shine in dimness faint and far
But if your heart are virtue's shrine
And that which charms you is divine
If earth has not a power so strong
To bind you at charms too long.
But, all your thought refined and pure
When Christian warfare will endure
Then will a peaceful season come
And spread its mantle o'er your home.
And age just like an autumn day
Will glide with tranquil peace away.
To please the girls these lines I wrote
Their youthful minds to cheer.
Their peace and comfort to promote
As they through life may steer.
Therefore, dear girls, humble your mind
The cross, be sure to bear
Then Jesus to you will be kind
And rest for you prepare
When you grow old perhaps you may
Look on these lines and say
Time quickly flies, alas how soon
These years have passed away
Then I'll be gone and seen no more
Nor friends nor foe much care
But you may read these verses o'er
And shed perhaps a tear to the memory of an affectionate uncle who wrote
this 7th day of 9 month 1845 in 72 years of his age whose name is written
below.
James Hadley

Ann Hadley Crow writes the following as a description of James Hadley's poem:

"This verse was written while he was in Indiana while he was on a visit to see his brothers three: Jeremiah, John and Joshua. He had settled in Ohio. He came in a one horse carriage, had company as he came in but when he went back there was no one going so he went by himself. It was some four or five days drive. He had got within a day's drive of home when someone found him out of the carriage walking, but he did not know anything. His horse was standing by. They took him and cared for him and sent his children word and they got there before he died but they did come. It made it hard for his brothers for they hated it so bad that they hadn't sent someone to go with him. Ann J. Crow"
1905 Ann Hadley Crow Letter regarding James Hadley's Poem

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