I recently shared a poem written by my 2nd great grandfather, Washington Marion Crawford. While discussing this poem with my cousins, one shared a comment about his having a copy of Josie’s ledger of poetry. This comment reminded me that I have the actual ledger. In remembering this ledger, I realized that I hadn’t done enough to share with future generations.

When the Internet was young, I did transcribe some of these poems and contributed them to the Kansas Memory project. However, I did not submit all of the poems. Evidently, I also had never scanned the ledger. I have since scanned the ledger and created a document with the scanned image on the left and the transcription on the right. This PDF file has been uploaded as a memory to Josie Hammond’s profile on FamilySearch. I’ve also uploaded Josie’s Ledger to Archive.org. Thus, I’m hoping that her ledger will be preserved well into the future.

Mercies

As I sat beside the ocean
The old song came to me
“There’s a wideness to God’s mercy.
Like the wideness of the sea.”
As I watched the waves come rolling.
Never ending, never s􀆟ll;
So God’s mercies roll upon those
Who strive to do this will.
Tho we say we see the ocean
Human eye ne’er sees it all.
So God’s wonderous love and mercy
Is more than enough for all.
But some􀆟mes a rock, upstanding
Parts the waters as they come.
Breaks the smooth incoming current,
Throws it back in seething foam.
So our human wills set, stubborn
In defiance of this plan
Breaks the steady flow of blessings
God would gladly sent to man
Let us then keep our wills humble.
Always try his will to see.
When all wills are all then submissive
Earth a paradise will be.