What the Dollar Does

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W E scarce conceive the weight it bears, along life's
      busy road;
To one it seems to beckon on, to others seems a goad;
It eases up the weal and woe, it buys the daily bread,
And when the day of toil is past gives place to lay the head.

It gives the children clothes to wear and pays the schooling
     bill
And paves the way for budding youths, life's concrete road
     to fill
With wisdom; to cement the truth, on youth's impressive
     brain,
That after years may reproduce and make it young again.

It has a charm to lead men on, to good and bad 't is true;
The former toward the ripening fields pure as the morning
     dew;
The latter to the heavy road, which shows the place of sin,
Where pitfalls gape unceasingly, where drop the misers in.

The nation's peace it often buys, when warring factions bend
Their strength against some other power, perhaps a former
     friend ;
But money, earth's great argument, comes rolling down the
     line
And quite dissolves the great brigade; for home they mark the
     time.

The furrows which the farmer turns, so strangely seem to
     hold
The life to quicken all mankind; its scroll may here unfold;
The canvas and the paint-brush here, and pictures far ahead
With visions of the harvest time; the reaping then instead:
If we shall wisely cultivate the acreage we possess
Abundant harvests sure await, which will our efforts bless
And all the good the Dollars do, is but to pave the way
Along the path--probation's morn, until the light of day.
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