Effie Waller Smith

Effie Waller Smith Poems

Effie Waller Smith Biography

Effie Waller Smith (January 6, 1879 – January 2, 1960) was an African-American poet of the early twentieth century. Her published output consisted of three volumes of poetry: Songs Of the Month (1904), Rhymes From the Cumberland (1904), and Rosemary and Pansies (1909). Her poetry also appeared in the publication, Harper's Weekly, as well as in various regional newspapers. Effie Waller was born to former slaves in the rural mountain community of Chloe Creek in Pike County, Kentucky. Her father, Frank Waller, migrated to the East Kentucky mountains sometime after the Civil War, having spent most of his early life as a laborer on a Virginia plantation. Her mother, Sibbie Ratliff, was born and raised in East Kentucky and met the former Virginia slave in the early 1870s. Frank Waller established himself as both a blacksmith and a real estate speculator soon after his arrival in the Chloe Creek community. This mountain community was unique in comparison to other communities of the time in that it was racially integrated. This condition, coupled with Waller's early training as a blacksmith while still a slave, helped him to become financially successful and to win the respect of his neighbors, both white and black. The Wallers, realizing the hardships caused by their own limited education, decided that their children would receive the best quality education available to them at the time. Effie Smith stopped publishing her work in 1917 at the age of 38. Her husband, Deputy Sheriff Charles Smith, had been killed in 1911 while serving a warrant; they had been married two years. Effie Smith left Kentucky for Wisconsin in 1918 and is buried in the city of Neenah.)

The Best Poem Of Effie Waller Smith

The Preacher's Wife

God bless his wife, the preacher's wife,
Wherever she may be;
A cheerful joy, a comfort and
A blessing, all is she.

Whether from humble cottage, or
From mansion great and grand,
Where ease and luxury she left
To travel o'er the land,

With him, her Christlike husband,
Who doth labor for the cause,
And faithfully doth bear aloft
The banner of the Cross.

In village and in town is he,
And on the hill and plain,
Through forests vast, through swollen streams,
He goes in sun and rain.

Oft persecuted, oft despised,
His fare is rough and hard,
But God he seeks to please, not man,
In God is his reward.

And tho' it may not be the lot
Of her, the preacher's wife,
To mingle as her husband does
In ruder ways of life,

But hers it is to visit and
Cherish the sick and weak;
And nurse them in affliction's hour
And words of comfort speak.

And other's burdens nobly bear,
The sorrowing hearts to soothe,
And with affection's loving hand
The dying pillows smooth;

And in the Sabbath school repeat
The story's oft been told;
And lovingly and gently lead
The lambs to Jesus's fold.

What tho' her life may trials have,
Her pathway checkered be,
Will not a golden crown of life
Be giv'n to such as she?

Far, far away from childhood's home,
'Mongst other scenes and skies,
These pure and unfamed women live,
And for their Master die.

All over our dear land to-day
Are graves where rest their dust;
With their work done they dreamless wait,
The Rising of the just.

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