One Rubber Plant Cannot Make A Home
One rubber plant can never make a home,
Not even when combined with brush and comb,
And spoon, and fork, and knife,
And graphophone, and wife,
No! Something more is needed for a home.
One rubber plant can never make a home;
One day did not suffice for building Rome.
One gas-log and a cat
Can’t civilise a flat;
No! Something more is needed for a home.
—Anon.
Blest Be That Spot
Blest be that spot, where cheerful guests retire
To pause from toil, and trim their evening fire;
Blest that abode, where want and pain repair,
And every stranger finds a ready chair;
Blest be those feasts with simple plenty crowned,
Where all the ruddy family around
Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail,
Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale,
Or press the bashful stranger to his food,
And learn the luxury of doing good.
—Oliver Goldsmith.
Service Carries Its Own Reward
I built a chimney for a comrade old,
I did the service not for hope or hire—
And then I traveled on in winter’s cold,
Yet all the day I glowed before the fire.
—Edwin Markham.
Alternate Reading: Daniel 1: 8-21.