A Chant For Ragged Schools.
Come, gentle folks, come, semple folks,1
Of high and low degree,2
And listen to our joyous song,3
And view our merry glee :4
For vice and want have fled away,5
While virtue marches on,6
And joyous are our grateful hearts7
That vice and want are gone.8
By you our infant minds are taught,9
Our infant hands are trained10
To practise useful arts, by which11
An honest living’s gained.12
And oh, how sweet the coarsest fare13
By honest labour won !14
And oh, how dear the humblest home15
That we can call our own !16
Your generous efforts God will speed17
To help us on our way ;18
From us our mothers learn to read,19
Our fathers learn to pray.20
And ’mid the dark and gloomy dens21
Of poverty’s abode,22
Each ragged child inspired becomes23
A minister of God.24
Then give us all your sympathies,25
And lend us all your aid ;26
Be sure a present sacrifice27
Shall amply be repaid.28
By you the breach is closed between29
The humble and the high,30
And, warmed by love, the earth becomes31
A transcript of the sky.32