The Best Use of a Penny

1 Should you wish to be told the best use of a penny,
I will tell you a way that is better than any;
'Tis not on apples, cakes, or playthings to spend it,
But away o'er the seas to the heathen to send it.
Come, listen to me, and I'll tell, if you please,
Of some poor little heathen far over the seas.

2 Their skins are quite black, for our God made them thus;
A soul, too, that never will die has been given,
But he made them with bodies and feelings like us:
And there's room for black children with Jesus in heav'n.
But few go to tell of such good things as these
To the poor little heathen far over the seas.

3 In this country poor children are well of indeed;
They have schools every day, where they sing, sew, and read;
Their church, too, on Sunday, and pastor to teach
How the true way to heaven through Jesus to reach.
Yet, sad to remember, there's so few of these,
For the poor little heathen far over the seas.

4 No schools have the Pagans for reading and singing;
No Sunday for them, with its cheerful bells ringing;
And most little blacks have no Bibles to read;
Ah! poor little children, you're ill off indeed!
But a penny each week would procure books with ease,
For the poor little heathen far over the seas.

5 O think, then, of this, when a penny is given,
"I can help a poor child on his way home to heaven;"
Then give it to Jesus, and he will approve,
Nor scorn e'en a mite, if 'tis offer'd in love.
And, O! when in prayer you to him bend your knees,
Remember the heathen far over the seas.

Source: Linden Harp: a rare collection of popular melodies adapted to sacred and moral songs, original and selected. Illustrated. Also a manual of... #88