Are All the Children In?

Our Mom loves poems and she would often quote this poem when we were growing up. She especially used the title line when we were driving off somewhere in our big 15-passenger van. She had to make sure we were all accounted for! :) It was so special for me to find this poem and made me reminiscent for those days in the "old house on the hill." Also, as a mother now, I can certainly relate to a mom's yearning for her children's presence, and most of all yearning for their hearts to be at home with the Father.


Are All The Children In?
By Florence Jones Hadley

I think oft-times, as the night draws nigh,
Of an old house on the hill,
Of a yard all wide and blossom-starred,
Where the children played at will.
And when the night at last came down,
Hushing the merry din,
Mother would look around and ask,"
Are all the children in?"

The years have come and gone since then,
And the old house on the hill
No longer echoes to childish shout,
And the spacious yard is still.
But I see it all, as the shadows creep
Where old memories merge and blend,
And I seem to hear her ask again,
"Are all the children in?"

I wonder if when the nightshades fall
On the last short earthly day,
When we say good-bye to the world outside
All tired with our childish play,
When we reach the shore of that other land
Where the folks so long have been;
Will mother ask, as she did of old,
"Are all the children in?"