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Home  »  The Poetical Works In Four Volumes  »  Hymn of the Children

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.

Occasional Poems

Hymn of the Children

  • Sung at the anniversary of the Children’s Mission, Boston, 1878.


  • THINE are all the gifts, O God!

    Thine the broken bread;

    Let the naked feet be shod,

    And the starving fed.

    Let Thy children, by Thy grace,

    Give as they abound,

    Till the poor have breathing-space,

    And the lost are found.

    Wiser than the miser’s hoards

    Is the giver’s choice;

    Sweeter than the song of birds

    Is the thankful voice.

    Welcome smiles on faces sad

    As the flowers of spring;

    Let the tender hearts be glad

    With the joy they bring.

    Happier for their pity’s sake

    Make their sports and plays,

    And from lips of childhood take

    Thy perfected praise!