Inspirations

Hearth and Home

“Blest be that spot where cheerful guests retire

To pause from toil, and trim their evening fire;

Blest that abode, where want and pain repair,

And every stranger finds a ready chair:

Blest be those feasts with simple plenty crown’d,

Where all the ruddy family around

Laugh at the jest pity or pranks, that never fail,

Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale,

Or press the bashful stranger to his food,

And learn the luxery of doing good.

— Oliver Goldsmith

Home

The dearest spot of earth to me

Is home, sweet home!

The fairy land I long to see

Is home, sweet home!

There how charmed the sense of hearing!

There where love is so endearing!

All the world is not so cheering

As home, sweet home!

I’ve taught my heart the way to prize

My home, sweet home!

I’ve learned to look with lover’s eyes

On home, sweet home!

There, where vows are truly plighted!

There, where hearts are so united!

All the world besides I’ve slighted

For home, sweet home.

-W. T. Wrighton

Odell Shepherd

Benjamin Franklin