Epitaph: And all our sighs be hushed in peace

Siblings William Radley Arrison (d. 1844) and Amelia Isabella Arrison (d. 1844) died within days of each other. They are buried side by side in a Franklin County, Ohio cemetery.

William Radley,
son of
Alexander & Jane Arrison
died Dec. 3, 1844;
aged 5 ys. 7 ds.

Amelia Isabella,
daughter of
Alexander & Jane Arrison
died Dec. 8, 1844;
ae, 2Ys. 4 mo. & 6ds.

Their epitaph is the poem (with a gender change) “On Two Little Sisters” by Maria James, who wrote her poetry in the early 19th century as “a young woman in service to” a prominent family in Rhinebeck, New York. [1] Here is the original:

Sleep, little sisters, side by side,—
No chance, no change can now divide;
Together in the dust you lie,
Together tread the courts on high.
If once the eye of faith could see
Your full, complete felicity,
How would our sad repinings cease,
And all our sighs be hush’d in peace.

[1] James, Marie. Wales, and Other Poems. New York: John S. Taylor, 1839.

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Blendon Central Cemetery, Franklin County, Ohio