<h2><SPAN name="GRANNIES_MESSAGE_TO_JACK" id="GRANNIES_MESSAGE_TO_JACK"></SPAN>Grannie’s Message to Jack</h2>
<div class="poetry">
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><span class="letra">Y</span>OU’RE sending Jack a letter, dear—<br/></span>
<span class="i2">To-day he’s twenty-one,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And plainly I can read your pride<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And joy in the dear son.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">He wants a message—Ah, if I<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Could take his hand in mine<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Instead of putting all my love<br/></span>
<span class="i2">In one poor little line.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">But write out clear and let it read<br/></span>
<span class="i6"><i>To Jack, away from home,</i><br/></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Old Grannie says, get ready,</i><br/></span>
<span class="i6"><i>For the Kingdom come.</i><br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">You’re smiling daughter as you write,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">But Jack won’t smile that way,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">His mind will just go flying back<br/></span>
<span class="i2">To thoughts of yesterday;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Before he got so big and strong,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And oh, so very nice,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">When he was Grannie’s white-haired boy<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Just dreaming of the skies.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_201" id="page_201"></SPAN>{201}</span><br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">So write out clear, and let it read,<br/></span>
<span class="i6"><i>To Jack, away from home,</i><br/></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Old Grannie, says get ready</i><br/></span>
<span class="i6"><i>For the Kingdom come.</i><br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Somehow the letters that we get<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Don’t seem to come from him,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And often when I’ve read them through<br/></span>
<span class="i2">My poor old eyes are dim,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">He talks too much of worldly things—<br/></span>
<span class="i2">My Jack was never proud,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Of wealth and fame, and power to win,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And going with the crowd.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">So write out clear, and let it read,<br/></span>
<span class="i6"><i>To Jack, away from home,</i><br/></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Old Grannie says, get ready</i><br/></span>
<span class="i6"><i>For the Kingdom come.</i><br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">You think his birthday calls for more<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Than one poor little line,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Nay, there are those who love him less<br/></span>
<span class="i2">To make him wishes fine;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">My words go from a faithful heart,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">They’re true, and they are warm,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">There’s loving wisdom in them, too,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">To keep my boy from home.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_202" id="page_202"></SPAN>{202}</span><br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">So write out clear, and let it read,<br/></span>
<span class="i6"><i>To Jack, away from home,</i><br/></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Old Grannie says, get ready</i><br/></span>
<span class="i6"><i>For the Kingdom come.</i><br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">I’d like to see him as he reads,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">His blue eyes brimming o’er,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And good thoughts rising white and strong<br/></span>
<span class="i2">To be forgot no more;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Heaven will be nearer to his heart<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Than it has been for years,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">For he will read in these few words<br/></span>
<span class="i2">My love, my hope, my prayers.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">So write it clear, and let it read,<br/></span>
<span class="i6"><i>To Jack, away from home,</i><br/></span>
<span class="i4"><i>Old Grannie says, get ready</i><br/></span>
<span class="i6"><i>For the Kingdom come.</i><br/></span></div>
</div></div>
<p class="c"><ANTIMG src="images/deco.png" width-obs="25" alt="[Decorative image unavailable.]" /></p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_203" id="page_203"></SPAN>{203}</span></p>
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