A COMPLETE EDITION

OF THE

WORKS OF NANCY LUCE,

OF WEST TISBURY, DUKES COUNTY, MASS.,

CONTAINING

God's Words—Sickness—Poor Little Hearts—Milk—
No Comfort—Prayers—Our Saviour's Golden
Rule—Hen's Names, Etc.

NEW BEDFORD:
MERCURY JOB PRESS.
1875.

COMPLETE WORKS

OF

NANCY LUCE.

GOD'S WORDS.

The Lord has put down

In the Bible; He says:

The sin in the world,—

It grieves him to his heart.

The Lord he forbiddeth

All cruelty to dumb creatures,

And helpless human too.

He will cut the sinners asunder hereafter.

God says: "Ye shall not afflict any helpless or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry."

Human, they cannot get into heaven,

Without they do God's commandments, in deeds, words, and thoughts,

To human, and dumb creatures too.

Consider how you would feel yourselves to be crueled.

The greatest sin is to cruel the poor harmless dumb creatures,

They cannot speak, nor help themselves,

The next sin is to cruel sick human,

The next sin is to cruel any who cannot help themselves.

The Lord give human his word,

To do justice to the afflicted and needy,

To all poor sufferers, human and dumb creatures too,

To be tender and kind to all.

O may our sympathizing hearts,

In generous pleasures know,

Kindly to share in others' joy,

And weep for others' woe.

O Charity, thou heavenly grace,

All tender, soft and kind;

A friend to all the living race,

To all that's good inclined.

The Lord takes pleasure in them,

Which will not hurt dumb creatures, nor human,

In not any way whatever,

Have holy hearts, tender and kind.

The wicked shall their triumph see,

And gnash their teeth in agony,

They and their envy, pride, and spite,

Sink down to everlasting punishment.

The full rank of evil one wants all to be cruel,

To the poor harmless dumb creatures,

And cruel to sick human too,

And take the advantage and cruel all.

The full rank of evil one wants all to be murders,

And lie, rob, cheat, and steal,

And deceit, and contraryness, and so on,

And plague every body they can.

The good God of heaven,

Will cast off such sinners,

To their double rank,

Punishment hereafter.

Poor thoughtless sinners,

Going on in sin,

Minding the evil one,

Their punishment they will have hereafter.

God has given human his word,

To have no evil conduct,

And no evil speaking,

And no evil thoughts.

God wants all to be tender and kind,

Soft be our hearts, their misery to feel,

And swift

Our hands to aid.

This world a place of misery,

Some of the worst of sinners have destroyed my head,

I cannot bear it up, O my misery,

Their heart is made of stone, to do such a thing.

O Lord, my God of heaven, I pray for Thy holy spirit to go in all the needy hearts in the whole wide world around. O that they may be tender and kind to all the poor harmless dumb creatures, and sick human too, and others too. The sinners will have their punishment according to their sins, if they will not have the Holy Spirit.

O Lord, my God of heaven, I pray Thee, enable me what to do, and what to say, and what to think, day after day. O Lord, my God, be with me.

Love God with all your soul and strength,

With all your heart and mind,

Be faithful, just, and kind,

Have tender feelings in your heart.

Deal with another as you'd have

Another deal with you,

What you're unwilling to receive

Be sure you never do.

The wicked shall see it, and grieve away,

And gnash with their teeth, and melt away,

The desire of the wicked shall perish away,

And away they will go, to punishment great.

They slay the helpless,

They murder the fatherless,

God will hold up the fatherless child,

If it is His own.

O God, the father of the fatherless,

Have mercy on me,

Deliver me from the wicked.

God says, depart from evil, and good they must do.

Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make your paths straight.

Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father in heaven also is merciful.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts: turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; consider your ways.

I am cast down to the dust of the earth,

With trouble, trials, and sickness,

I am grieved to my heart for sin in the world,

For the poor harmless dumb creatures,

And for the best human too.

Lines composed by Nancy Luce about poor little Tweedle Tedel Beebee Pinky, when she was a little chicken. And you will find more reading in the book about her.

When poor little heart Pinky,

Was about six weeks old,

She was taken with the chicken distemper,

Chickens died off all over this island.

She was catching grasshoppers, and crickets,

In the forenoon smart,

At twelve o'clock she was taken sick,

And grew worse.

At one o'clock she was past opening her eyes,

And could not stand,

Her body felt cold

And stiff to my hand.

I give her a portion of epsom salts,

With a little black pepper in it,

I wept over her that afternoon,

I prayed to the Lord to save me her life.

I sat up that night,

With her in my lap,

Till eleven o'clock that night,

Then she seemed to be better.

Then I put her in a thing, a good soft bed,

And lay down and spoke to her often,

Say how do you do, little dear, she answered me quick,

Then I knew she was better.

The next day I gave her

Warm water to drink,

The third day she was herself,

Got well and smart.

She remained well four years,

And laid me pretty eggs,

Then the Lord thought best to take her from the evil to come,

Without being sick but a very little while.

When I was raising poor little dear in my lap,

And it rained on the window,

She would look at the rain,

And put her head under my cape.

And take it out every once in a while,

And look at the rain,

And put it under my cape again,

Up most to my shoulder.

Poor cunning little dear,

My heart is broken for her,

She and I loved each other so well,

And she had more than common wit.

That dear little heart,

Remembered four years,

Ever since she was a little chicken,

I know it by many things.

Her dear friend is left in trouble, and undergo sickness too.

Them that knew me once, know—me—no—more,

Her death renewed me to seek for God,

To land in heaven hereafter.

NANCY LUCE

West Tisbury, Dukes County, Mass., 1872.

PRAYER.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, my God of heaven,

Grant me I beseech Thee, O Lord,

Send Thy holy spirit into all the needy hearts,

In the whole wide world around,

Convince them of sin, give them the holy spirit,

O that they may be kind and tender

To the poor harmless dumb creatures,

They cannot speak, nor help themselves,

O Lord, prepare the inhabitants of the earth

To live in this world and in the world to come.

O Lord, I beseech Thee, protect me from committing sin,

O Lord, help me to watch and pray,

O Lord, I give Thee thanks for what blessings I have,

O Lord, can thou deliver me from sickness, trouble and trials?

O Lord, stand my friend in this world and in the world to come.

O Lord, that the professing inhabitants may not fall back

And go to sinning again. O that they may be true Christians,

The holy spirit, love and tender kindness for dumb creatures

And human too, love God and land in heaven,

O Lord, enable me to have the holy spirit all the days of my life,

O Lord, grant me I beseech Thee,

I pray for Thy kingdom to come, to destroy all sin,

For the poor harmless dumb creatures,

And for sick human too.

And for all the troubled in the wide world round,

Human and dumb creatures too,

For thine is the kingdom and the glory forever. Amen.

SICKNESS.

Sickness distressing, by trouble and trials,

Walk, stir, or do a little in the house,

It hurts me very bad,

And I cannot ride to have comfort.

My head a misery place all of my time,

And part of my time in great misery,

And noise sets my head

In a dreadful condition.

Most nothing hurts me,

And most nothing beats me out,

I am dreadful worn down with long sickness,

And trials, and sometimes trouble too.

Sick I do feel all my whole time,

And misery feelings from head to feet.

A number of years,

I have undergone great sickness.

Some of my diseases are cured a few years ago,

And some of them helped some,

And some of them patched along,

And some of them not any better at all,

But I am dreadful wore down with long sickness.

A common thing in my sickness,

Milk my cow, take care of my hens,

In such misery, I felt as if I must fall at every step,

But I must do it, I must do it.

Oh, Thou who dry'st the mourner's tear,

How dark this world would be.

If when deceived and wounded here,

We could not fly to Thee.

When sore afflictions press me down,

I need thy quickning powers,

Thy word that I have rested on,

Shall help my heaviest hours.

POOR LITTLE HEARTS.

A sketch of two Poor little Banties,

They died with old age, over twelve years ago,

Poor little Ada Queetie died over thirteen years ago, in 1858.

Poor little Beauty Linna died over twelve years ago, in 1859.

O my Poor deceased little Ada Queetie,

She knew such a sight, and her love and mine,

So deep in our hearts for each other,

The parting of her and her undergoing sickness and death,

O heart rending!

She and I could never part,

Do consider the night I was left,

What I underwent, no tongue could express,

Weeping the whole night through.

Poor little Ada Queetie's sickness and death,

Destroyed my health at an unknown rate,

With my heart breaking and weeping,

I kept fire going night after night, to keep Poor little dear warm,

I kept getting up nights to see how she was,

And see what I could do for her.

Three her last days and nights,

She breathed the breath of life here on earth,

She was taken down very sick, then I was up all night long,

The second night I was up till I was going to fall,

Then I fixed her in her box warm, close by the fire,

Put warm clothes under, over and around,

And left fire burning and lay down, with all my clothes on,

A very little while, and got up and up all the time.

The third night I touched no bed at all,

Poor little heart, she was struck with death at half past eleven o'clock.

She died in my arms at twelve o'clock at night, O heart rending!

I could been heard to the road, from that time till daylight,

No tongue could express my misery of mind.

She had more than common wit,

And more than common love,

Her heart was full of love for me,

O do consider my Poor little heart.

She was my dear and nearest friend, to love and pity me,

And to believe that I was sick,

She spoke to me, and looked at me most all the time,

And could not go from me.

Poor little heart, she used to jump down to the door to go out,

She would look around, and call to me to go with her,

She found I could not go, she would come in again,

She loved her dear friendy so well she could not go out and leave me.

O my dear beloved little heart, she was my own heart within me,

When she was well and I was sick, and made out to sit in my chair,

She knew I was sick, because I didn't say but a very little to her.

She would stand close to me all the time,

And speak to me, I could not take her eyes off my face,

And look as grieved as it her heart must break,

She was so worried for me,

And if I was forced to lay down,

Then she was more worried than ever.

When Poor little heart happened to be out the room,

And I was forced to lay down,

She would come and peek at me, and take on,

As if her heart must break,

And come straight to me and lament my cause,

And would not go from me,

Her feelings was so deeply rooted in her heart for me.

They was brought from Chilmark to New Town,

And remained there one year

For me to get able to take care of them.

And then they was brought to me.

Poor little Ada Queetie,

She used to do everything I told her,

Let it be what it would,

And knew every word I said to her.

If she was as far off as across the room,

And I made signs to her with my fingers,

She knew what it was,

And would spring quick and do it.