We Can Make Home Happy


THOUGH we may not change the cottage

For a mansion tall and grand,

Or exchange the little grass-plot

For a boundless stretch of land

Yet there's something brighter, dearer

Than the wealth we'd thus command.

Though we have no means to purchase

Costly pictures rich and rare

Though we have not silken hanging!

For the walls so cold and bare,

We can hang them o'er with garlands,

For the flowers bloom everywhere.

We can always make home cheerful,

If the right course we begin,

We can make its inmates happy,

And their truest, blessings win;

It will make the small room brighter,

If we'll let the sunshine in.

We can gather round the fireside,

When the evening hours are long

We can blend our hearts and voices

In a happy, social song

We can guide some erring brother

Lead him from the path of wrong.

We may fill our home with music,

And with sunshine brimming o'er,

If against all dark intruders

We will firmly close the door

Yet should evil shadows enter,

We must love each other more.

There are treasures for the lowly,

Which the grandest fail to find,

There's a chain of sweet affection,

Binding friends of kindred mind

We may reap the choicest blessings

From the poorest lot assigned.




—Belle May.