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BAPTISM IN THE SEA.
At God's command they quit the land, Like Israel's hosts of yore, The waves divide As side by side They humbly leave the shore.
And as I stand to-day and gaze Upon the wave-washed strand, And watch the foam Come tossing home To die upon the sand,
The thoughts arise of other years, Of precious hopes long past— Our friends and foes, Our joys and woes, On life's great ocean cast.
And dearer than all other days That breathe of you, my wife, I hold the one When you begun Your higher, purer life.
