Upon the river Mersey
The wind was blowing strong,
And big waves tossed the steamer
As she made her way along.
A little girl was sitting
Close to her mother’s side,
Who never had been tossed before
Upon so rough a tide.
“Oh, Mother, I am so afraid
When the boat goes up and down;
I hope she will not sink, Mother,
I should not like to drown.”
“Fear not, my little darling,”
The mother’s voice replied;
“The boat is strongly built, dear,
She will reach the other side.”
That afternoon to Willie,
Her brother five years old,
When sitting by the fireside,
She all her story told.
And this is what the brave boy said,
When she spoke of her fear,
“‘Twas very wrong to trouble so,
For God is always near.
“He made the men who made the ship,
He made the water too;
And though the waves were very rough,
He’d strength to bring them through.
“And this is what you should have said,—
‘Please, God, if ‘tis Thy will,
Make the rough waves be quiet,
And the noisy wind be still.’
“And He could then have done it, Sis,
As He did it once before;
For His disciples tossed about
A long way from the shore.”
It pleased me very much to hear
My little boy speak so;
I pray that his firm faith in God
Through life may with him go.
ML 07/18/1954