Epitaph: To Heaven a cherub born

There are a handful of zinc monuments in Somerset Cemetery. The zinc marker at the grave of Katie L. McCarty (d. 1882) stands out for its statue of a praying child, but the sweet epitaph deserves attention as well.

 

KATIE
L.
M^cCARTY,
daughter of
F. E. & S. F. M^cCARTY
died aug. 26, 1882
13^YRS, 4^MOS, 19^DYS.

SLEEP ON MY SWEET ONE!
SLEEP! SO EARLY GONE;
TO EARTH A CHILD IS LOST,
TO HEAVEN A CHERUB BORN.

The epitaph is taken from the final verse of a poem by J. H. Warland, “The Mother to Her Child.” I found it published in The Mourner’s Chaplet, a collection of American poems published in 1844. Here is the final verse in full:

Hark! Thy last breath and sighs
   Upon thy mother’s bosom! thou dost but sleep
And shall awake again in Paradise.
   Then who, oh! who would weep?
Sleep on, my sweet one! Sleep! So early gone;
   To earth a child is lost—to Heaven a cherub born!

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Somerset Cemetery, Perry County, Ohio