"Give the Stranger Happy Cheer" (1851)
by Stephen Collins Foster, 1826-1864

1.
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.
Scorn not the grief that his breast may outpour,
It may be for loved ones on come distant shore.

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.

2.
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,
  While forms familiar 'round ye stand,
Ye may not know what weight of woe
  The wanderer bears in an unknown land,

3.
Give the stranger happy cheer
  Where'er ye find him, wan and weak,
'Twere little cost, 'twere nothing lost
  To call a smile o'er his care-worn check,
Your kindness for years in his memory may rest
To gladden foot-steps and comfort his breast.

Oh! give the stranger happy cheer
  Where'er ye find him, wan and weak,
'Twere little cost, 'twere nothing lost
  To call a smile o'er his care-worn check,