Give the stranger happy cheer

S. Foster

Give the stranger happy cheer,

When o'er his cheek, the teardrops start,

The balm that flows from one kind word

May heal the wound in a breaking heart.

Scorn not the grief that his breast may outpour

It may be for loved ones on some distant shore.

Oh! give the stranger happy cheer,

When, o'er his cheek, the teardrops start,

The balm that flows from one kind word

May heal the wound in a breaking heart.

Give the stranger happy cheer,

While forms familiar 'round ye stand,

Ye may not know what weight of woe

The wanderer bears in an unknown land.

Around ye no blessings more sweetly may fall

Than those which the way-wearied exile may call.

Oh! give the stranger happy cheer.

When, o'er his cheek the tear-drops start,

The balm that flows from one kind word

May heal the wound in a breaking heart.

Give the stranger happy heer.

Where e'er you find him, wan and weak,

'Twere little cost, 'twere nothing lost

To all a smile o'er his care-worn cheek.

Your kindness for years in his memory may rest

To gladden his footsteps and comfort his breast.

Oh! give the stranger happy cheer,

When, o'er his cheek the teardrops start,

The balm that flows from one kind word

May heal the wound in a broken heart.