Will Carleton

To appreciate heaven well
'Tis good for a man to have some fifteen minutes of hell.

To appreciate heaven well
'Tis good for a man to have some fifteen minutes of hell.

Thanksgiving-day, I fear,
If one the solemn truth must touch,
Is celebrated, not so much
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Thanksgiving-day, I fear,
If one the solemn truth must touch,
Is celebrated, not so much
To thank the Lord for blessing o'er,
As for the sake of getting more!

And that was the way
The deuce was to pay
As it always is, at the close read more

And that was the way
The deuce was to pay
As it always is, at the close of the day
That gave us--
Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!
(With some restrictions, the fault-finders say)
That which, please God, we will keep for aye
Our National Independence!

Boys flying kites haul in their white winged birds;
You can't do that way when you're flying words.
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Boys flying kites haul in their white winged birds;
You can't do that way when you're flying words.
"Careful with fire," is good advice we know
"Careful with words," is ten times doubly so.
Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead;
But God Himself can't kill them when they're said.

Underneath an apple-tree
Sat a maiden and her lover;
And the thoughts within her he
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Underneath an apple-tree
Sat a maiden and her lover;
And the thoughts within her he
Yearned, in silence, to discover.
Round them danced the sunbeams bright,
Green the grass-lawn stretched before them
While the apple blossoms white
Hung in rich profusion o'er them.