Why go not to the palace grand,
Where fruits and wines await the guest,
With works of art on ev’ry hand,
And bask in comfort, peace and rest?
Why go not where the flowers bloom,
And birds make music in the trees,
Where all is joy, there is no gloom,
And life and health ride on the breeze?
Is it for love of doing good,
And working out the Master’s plan,
Or doing as all others should,
To elevate our fellow man?
There is a motive in the mind,
That moves to noble, gen’rous deeds,
To sacrifice and actions kind,
And to relieving human needs.
Some ruling thought, some spirit fair,
Or inward spring I can not see,
Whate’er it is, love must be there.
O that I knew what it can be.
Arouse, my soul, increase my sight,
Awake, my muse, stay my blindness,
Ah! now I see by brighter light,
’Tis the milk of human kindness.
There is a fountain whence it flows,
A source from whence it takes its start,
Reviving hopes as on it goes,
That fountain is the human heart.
God bless the hearts that feed the stream,
That fills the soul with tenderness,
God bless the lives that yield the cream,
From the milk of human kindness.