No secret woes, my child, oppress our hearts, The cause, alas, is known to neighboring nations And even remotest climes have heard of Israel Her highly favored tribes, her grievous sins And the just vengeance of offended heaven We hid thy country’s sufferings from thy knowledge Wishing to spare thy youthful mind from anguish We would not blast the opening bloom of youth By unfolding scenes which riper reason shuns As filled with woes too mighty to be borne But since thy gentle spirit feels such alarm I briefly will relate the direful tale Which fills with keen distress all Jacob’s race. Thy infant mind can scarce retain the time When Jephthah lived, first of the race of Gilead Till envious hate of his most cruel brethren Drove him amidst their desert wilds and forests To seek that shelter Israel would not give Here we have lived a peaceful, happy life. The rude inhabitants, thy father’s virtues Have humanized, refined and taught the worth Of civil laws and righteous government. _Their barbarous manners softened into virtue_, They look to Jephthah as friend, a father, And next thyself and country share his love. To me was left the pleasing, anxious task, Of teaching thy young mind the path of knowledge And if a sigh has e’er escaped my lips When thinking what my early fortune promised Twas for thy sake, bred in this lonely station, Whose birth was hailed first of the maids of Gilead. ELIZABETH. My dearest mother, let no thought of me Disturb the tranquil hours of this sweet vale What is there to be envied midst the great Can costly domes or splendid garbs avert The shafts of envy or the touch of pain Or make one honest heart respect their owners Had my dear father still remained in Israel The affairs of state befitting his high rank Would with unceasing care have filled his mind And robbed domestic life of half its comforts. The frequent woes which harass Jacob’s race Would perhaps e’er this have laid him with his fathers And made the humble shepherd’s lot our envy. BETHULAH.