American Old Time Song Lyrics: 12 Package Of Old Letters

Theater, Music-Hall, Nostalgic, Irish & Historic Old Songs, Volume 12

PACKAGE OF OLD LETTERS.
Copyright, 1870, by White & Goullaud.

In a little rosewood casket
That is resting on the stand,
There's a package of old letters,
Written by a cherished hand;
Will you go and bring them, sister,
And read them all to-night?
I have often tried, but could not,
For the tears would blind my sight.

Chorus.
In a little rosewood casket
That is resting on the stand,
There's a package of old letters,
Written by a cherished hand.

Come up closer to me, sister,
Let me lean upon thy breast,
For the tide of life is ebbing,
And I fain would be at rest.
Bring the letters he has written,
He whose voice I've often heard,
Read them over, love, distinctly,
For I've cherished every word.-Chorus.

Tell him, sister, when you see him,
That I never ceased to love,
That I dying prayed to meet him
In the better world above.
Tell him that I was supported,
Ne'er a word of censure spoke,
But his silence and his absence,
This poor heart hath well nigh broke.- Chorus.

Tell him that I watched his coming,
When the noontide sun was high,
And when at eve the angels sit,
Sit their star lights in the sky.
But when I saw he came not,
Tell him that I did not chide,
But I spoke in love about him,
And I blessed him when I died.-Chorus.

And when in death's white garments
You have wrapped my form around,
And have laid me down to slumber
In the quiet churchyard ground.
Place the letters and the picture
Close beside my pulseless heart,
We for years have been together,
And in death we will not part.-Chorus.

I am ready now, my sister,
You may read the letters o'er,
I will listen to the words of
Him whom I shall see no more;
And e'er you shall have finished,
Should I calmly fall asleep,
Fall asleep in death and wake not.
Dearest sister, do not weep.-Chorus.