ROCKED IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP. BY EMMA WILLARD.
Reading edition
Emma Willard, the American educator and author, was one of a family of seventeen children. Her maiden name was Hart. She was born at Berlin, Conn., in 1787. She began teaching in the village school and later became principal of a girls’ college at Westfield, Conn., and after her marriage to Dr. John Willard in 1814, opened a boarding school at Middlebury, Conn, into which she introduced new methods and new studies. The school was removed to Troy, N. Y., and became the Troy Female Academy. Retiring from the school in 1858, Mrs. Willard spent the remaining years of her life in revising her text books and writing a volume of poems. She died in 1876.
Rocked in the cradle of the deep. I lay me down in peace to sleep; Secure I rest upon the wave, For Thou, O Lord, hast power to save.
I know Thou wilt not slight my call, For Thou dost mark the sparrow’s fall; And calm and peaceful is my sleep, Rocked in the cradle of the deep.
And such the trust that still were mine, Though stormy winds swept o’er the brine, Or though the tempest’s fiery breath Roused me from sleep to wreck and death.
In ocean’s caves still safe with Thee, The germ of immortality; And calm and peaceful is my sleep, Rocked in the cradle of the deep.