Page:Poems of home and country (IA poemsofhomecount01smit).pdf/155

 'Tis their right, throughout the strife

Of this weary, toiling life,

To be gentle, loving, sweet,

And receive from us, the strong, -

Be the struggle brief or long, -

Shelter 'mid the dust and heat.

'Tis their right in days of pain,

To calm the fevered brain,

Kind as the gentle rain

Or summer dew;

And to find in us relief

In days of toil and grief,-

Like them, patient, mild, and true.

We yield to them the right

To be witty, brave, and bright,

In repartee to shine;

Better than sparkling toys,

To be mothers to our boys,

Famed for quiet or for noise,

Be the youngsters one or nine.

'Tis their matchless right, we claim,―

Their glory and their fame,

Not for foreign joys to roam;

But to break the clouds of sadness,

To strew earth's paths with gladness,

To be the sunlight of the home.

'Tis their right in love to stand,

With tender heart and hand,

And to watch beside the bed,