"It shall be a royal mansion, A fair and beautiful thing, It will be the presence-chamber Of thy Saviour, Lord and King.
"Thy house shall he bound with pinions To mansions of rest above, But grace shall forge all the fetters With the links and cords of love.
"Thou shalt he free in this mansion From sorrow and pain of heart, For the peace of God shall enter, And never again depart."
Sharers of a common country, They had met in deadly strife;Men who should have been as brothers Madly sought each other's life.
In the silence of the even, When the cannon's lips were dumb.
Thoughts of home and all its loved ones To the soldier's heart would come.
On the margin of a river, 'Mid the evening's dews and damps, Could be heard the sounds of music Rising from two hostile camps.
One was singing of its section Down in Dixie, Dixie's land, And the other of the banner Waved so long from strand to strand.
In the land where Dixie's ensign Floated o'er the hopeful slave, Rose the song that freedom's banner, Starry-lighted, long might wave.
From the fields of strife and carnage, Gentle thoughts began to roam, And a tender strain of music Rose with words of "Home, Sweet Home."
Then the hearts of strong men melted, For amid our grief and sin Still remains that "touch of nature,"
Telling us we all are kin.
