Bishoff, Lydia A. Lines to my Husband
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03523.40.29 Author/Creator: Bishoff, Lydia A. Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph manuscript Date: 1861-1877 Pagination: 2 p. ; 31.6 x 20.2 cm. Order a Copy
The poem describes the feelings of a wife as she contemplates being replaced by another after her death. "The love which once I called my own/To her will then be given," Bishoff writes, later describing how "My children will then be taught/ To call her mother dear." Presumably, Bishoff is referring to her own familial situation, as she was Major David Stemple Jr.'s second wife, and took over the duties of mothering the seven children Stemple had by his first wife, Elizabeth Wotring (who died in 1862).
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