How frail the thread!

(Written by Whitmore Winslow at the age of 14.
 He passed away unexpectedly at 21 years old.)

How short is time, and what a small portion
is allotted to man to prepare for another world!

And yet how careless is he of that time!

How frail the thread upon which life hangs!

A few hours' illness may carry him away into
a world of endless happiness, or of endless woe!