I've got a penny dear mamma

1 "I've got a penny, dear mamma!"
So cried a little boy;
"And fivepence which I've in my box,
Makes sixpence for a toy;
I never was so rich before;
I've sixpence; when shall I have more?"

2 "But, Henry, love," the mother said,
"If you will list to me,
I'll tell you how that sixpence, dear,
Much better spent may be!"
And then she took the prattler up,
And placed him gently on her knee.

3 "My child, there's many a boy and girl,
Living across the sea,
To whom the Church her missions sends,
That they may Christians be;
And, through the Saviour, find the road
That leads to the right hand of God."

4 The child sat silent for a while,
And then look'd up, and said,
"Toys soon do break, don't they, mamma?
We'll help Christ's word instead."
And jumping off his mother's knee,
He fetch'd his sixpence cheerfully.

5 "But will it help the work, mamma,
So small a sum?" he cried;
"I would it were a dollar more,"
And then he deeply sigh'd.
"But I shall soon a man become,
And then can give a greater sum."

6 Reader, that little boy henceforth
His pence and half pence saved,
And never, from that time, I hear,
Has he for trifles craved.
Like him, who'll save their half pence, too,
For heathen souls?--My dear, will you?

Source: Linden Harp: a rare collection of popular melodies adapted to sacred and moral songs, original and selected. Illustrated. Also a manual of... #97a