Introduction
Born: November 2, 1834, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Died: September 3, 1917, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at her home on Austin Street.
Buried: Harmony Grove Cemetery, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Born: November 2, 1834, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Died: September 3, 1917, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at her home on Austin Street.
Buried: Harmony Grove Cemetery, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Harriet was the daughter of David Kimball and Caroline Rebecca Swett.
A Roman Catholic, she wrote both sacred and secular verse. In 1890, she won the first prize of $100 from the Hospital Saturday and Hospital Sunday Association for writing the best hymn suitable to be sung in churches and synagogues
(New York Times, October 21, 1890).
She was the chief founder of the Cottage Hospital in Portsmouth, where she was living as of 1915.
Speechless Sorrow sat with me;
I was sighing wearily;
Lamp and fire were out; the rain
Wildly beat the window-pane.
In the dark I heard a knock,
And a hand was on the lock.
One in waiting spake to me,
Saying sweetly,
I am come to sup with thee.
All my room was dark and damp;
Sorrow,
said I, trim the lamp,
Light the fire, and cheer thy face,
Set the guest-chair in its place.
And again I heard the knock;
In the dark I found the lock:
Enter, I have turned the key—
Enter, Stranger,
Who art come to sup with me.
Opening wide the door he came,
But I could not speak his name;
In the guest-chair took his place,
But I could not see his face.
When my cheerful fire was beaming,
When my little lamp was gleaming,
And the feast was spread for three,
Lo, my Master
Was the Guest that supped with me!
Harriet McEwen Kimball
Poems, 1889