%images; ]> scsm-000037 Do not leave me mother darling : the last words of little Tad Lincoln ; song with chorus ad lib / words by Robert B. Johnson ; music by Frank M. Davis, author of Bear it gently to my mother, Prisoners return, Weep no more o'er allies grave, &c. ...: a machine readable transcription. STERN COLLECTION OF LINCOLNIANA, Library of Congress Selected and converted. American Memory, Library of Congress.

Washington, DC, 2006.

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 Rare Book & Special Collections Division, Library of Congress. Public Domain

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 2008/04/18
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Do Not Leave Me Mother Darling.

(The last words of “Tad” Lincoln to his mother, as she left the room in a paroxysm of grief, were, “Do not leave me mother darling.”)

Do not leave me, mother darling, Give me one fond, parting kiss! Beck'ning me, I see the angels In their home of heavenly bliss. I am getting weaker mother, And I soon shall cross the shore; Let me rest my eyes upon you; Mother do not shut the door!

Chorus: Do not leave me mother darling! For I soon shall cross the shore; Let me rest my eyes upon you; Mother do not shut the door.

Mother dear have you forgotten, When the war was in the land. And my father was the chieftain Of the glorious Union band; And the drummer boy whose brother Was court martialed in the war Why, you're crying! do not leave me! Mother do not shut the door!

“Just because the poor, sick stripling Slept an hour while standing guard. He must die and leave poor mother; Heaven help us! it is hard!” Then my father, good kind hearted, Told him he need cry no more. God has heard your fervent praying For he never shuts the door!

Mother dear, bend low and listen; What the Savior say's tis true. And he said, “as ye show mercy, Mercy I will show to you.” Now I see my father pleading, As the drummer boy of yore, Softly mother! see the angels Holding wide open the door!