← Scatter Seeds of Kindness Hymns and Tunes (1888) · No. 1395

Scatter Seeds of Kindness

Let us gather up the sunbeams,

1

Let us gather up the sunbeams,Lying all around our path;Let us keep the wheat and roses,Casting out the thorns and chaff;Let us find our sweetest comfortIn the blessings of to-day,With a patient hand removingAll the briers from the way.

Chorus.

Then scatter seeds of kindness,Then scatter seeds of kindness,Then scatter seeds of kindness,For our reaping by and by.

2

Strange we never prize the musicTill the sweet-voiced bird is flown!Strange that we should slight the violetsTill the lovely flowers are gone!Strange that summer skies and sunshineNever seem one half so fairAs when winter's snowy pinionsShake the white down in the air.

3

If we knew the baby fingers,Pressed against the window pane.Would be cold and stiff to-morrow—Never trouble us again—Would the bright eyes of our darlingCatch the frown upon our brow?Would the prints of rosy fingersVex us then as they do now?

4

Ah! those little ice-cold fingers,How they point our mem'ries backTo the hasty words and actionsStrewn along our backward track!How those little hands remind us,As in snowy grace they lie,Not to scatter thorns—but roses—For our reaping by and by!