Classic Poem

Go set the table, Mary, an' let the cloth be white:
The hungry city children are comin' here to-night:
The children from the city, with features pinched an spare,
Are comin' here to get a breath of God's untainted air.

They come from out the dungeons where they with want were chained;
From places dark an' dismal, by tears of sorrow stained;
From where a thousand shadows are murdering all the light:
Set well the table, Mary dear, an let the cloth be white!

They ha not seen the daisies made for the heart's behoof;
They never heard the rain-drops upon a cottage roof;
They do not know the kisses of zephyr an' of breeze;
They never rambled wild an' free beneath the forest trees.

The food that they ha' eaten was spoiled by others' greeds;
The very air their lungs breathed was full o' poison seeds;
The very air their souls breathed was full of wrong an' spite:
Go set the table, Mary dear, an' let the cloth be white!

The fragrant water-lilies ha' never smiled at them;
They never picked a wild-flower from off its dewy stem;
They never saw a greensward that they could safely pass
Unless they heeded well the sign that says, " Keep off the grass. "

God bless the men and women of noble brain an' heart,
Who go down in the folk-swamps an' take the children's part —
Those hungry, cheery children that keep us in their debt,
An' never fail to give us more of pleasure than they get!

Set well the table, Mary; let naught be scant or small;
The little ones are coming; have plenty for em all.
There's nothing we should furnish except the very best
To those that Jesus looked upon an called to Him an' blessed.