Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.

Occasional Poems

Hymn of the Children

Sung at the anniversary of the Children’s Mission, Boston, 1878.

THINE are all the gifts, O God!

Thine the broken bread;

Let the naked feet be shod,

And the starving fed.

Let Thy children, by Thy grace,

Give as they abound,

Till the poor have breathing-space,

And the lost are found.

Wiser than the miser’s hoards

Is the giver’s choice;

Sweeter than the song of birds

Is the thankful voice.

Welcome smiles on faces sad

As the flowers of spring;

Let the tender hearts be glad

With the joy they bring.

Happier for their pity’s sake

Make their sports and plays,

And from lips of childhood take

Thy perfected praise!