Erected
In memory of
ELIZABETH SOUTAR
West Port
who died the 16th December 1834
aged 67 years
______
She was gifted with a great memory
possessed a mind well stored with the
Holy scriptures & although blind
for many years composed a number
of poems on religious subjects.
She was much respected by all who
knew her.
______
???? badly eroded
The Gospel was her joy and song,
Even to her latest breath;
The truth she had maintain;d so long,
Was her support in death.
Now my dear friends you well do know,
Christ is the living way;
The hope of glory only can,
Support the dying day.
Riches and honour will prove vain,
When death to you draws nigh;
And two religion only can,
Give comfort when you die. _ E. SOUTAR.
Source: The Book of the Howff, ©Libraries, Leisure and Culture
Dundee, Local History Centre & is
reproduced with kind permission.
ELIZABETH SOUTAR, a blind
poetess, who died in the end of 1834, bequeathed £5 to the Kirk Session of
Dundee, £3 to the Female Society, and 10s. 6d. to the Clothing Society. This
money was acquired principally by selling to benevolent individuals poems of her
own composition, and chiefly upon religious subjects. These she was accustomed
to muse on and hum over to herself in solitude, until she obtained the aid of
some female visitor or friendly town missionary to transfer them to paper. The
New Year was generally improved by her in a serious, monitory strain, and she
had actually printed her last, and one of her best, poems on 1835, though she
did not live to see the commencement of this year. Denied by Providence the
power of vision, she was yet a woman of great intelligence and ardent piety ;
and, like other blind persons, she evinced a singular quickness in discovering
her visitors, not only by the sound of their voices, but by the tread of their
feet.
Source 4
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