"Don't Speak to Me Coldly, Dear Friend" (1867)
Ballad
Words by Sanford Fillmore Bennett, 1836-1896
Music by Joseph Philbrick Webster, 1819-1875

Chicago, IL: Lyon & Healy, Clark & Washington Streets
Boston, MA: Oliver Ditson & Co.
Philadelphia, PA: C. W. A. Trumpler
New York, NY: C. H. Ditson & Co.
Cincinnati, OH: John Chuch Jr.
Chicago, IL: Western News Co.
Plate No. 195
[Source: am1243@Mills]

1. 
Don’t speak to me coldly, dear friend! 
The days have been many and long 
In which I’ve had faith in the hand 
That clasped with warm pressure my own! 
My trust in thy generous heart 
Has never grown weak or declined 
When Fortune has thrown us apart, 
Or proved in her dealings unkind.

2. 
Don’t speak to me coldly dear friend! 
We’ve sat at the same friendly board, 
And, when some ill wind might attend, 
Divided with each our small hoard; 
The same cup has given us cheer; 
The one joy has gladneded us two; 
Together, for many ayear, 
We’ve dared both to suffer and do.

3. 
Don’t speak to me coldly dear friend!
The journey of life is not long,
And why should not kindness attend
What hours to us yet may belong?
Kind words are too few, I have found,
And hard ones too plenty by far;
Why thistles encumber the ground,
When lilies of love might grow there.

4. 
Don’t speak to me coldly dear friend,
If sometimes I heed not the right;
Temptations will always attend,
And sometimes an act shows their blight;
The head, not the heart’s in the wrong,
And one word of kindness from you
Will feel in my heart the old song,
And prove that e’en erring, tis true.