The father laboured all day long that his children might be fed,
And, one by one, their household things were sold to buy them bread.
That father, with a downcast eye, upon his threshold stood,
Gaunt poverty each pleasant thought had in his heart subdued.
"What is the creature's life to us?" said he: "'twill buy us food.
"Ay, though the children weep all day, and with downdrooping head
Each does his small task mournfully, the hungry must be fed;
And that which has a price to bring must go to buy us bread."
It went. Oh! parting has a pang the hardest heart to wring,
But the tender soul of a little child with fervent love doth cling,