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The Olden Time Series, Vol. 1: Curiosities of the Old Lottery - Gleanings Chiefly from Old Newspapers of Boston and Salem, Massachusetts by Henry M. (Henry Mason) Brooks
page 30 of 124 (24%)

_On the Prize of_ FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS _being drawn by the
poor Widows of Marblehead, written there._

WHENCE this increase of wealth? What bounteous hand
Grants more than sanguine Hope could e'en demand?
Nor _Chance_ nor _Fortune_ shall the merit claim,
Those fancied forms to _Folly_ owe their name:
Such airy phantoms ill deserve our lays;
A nobler object calls forth all our praise.
That Pow'r Supreme, who knows no great or small,
But looks unchang'd with equal eye on all--
Who lifts the poor from their unnoted state,
And humbles at his will th' aspiring great--
Whose hand divine hath held us in its span,
And fed, and cloth'd us since our lives began--
Hath, sure, this last rich gift in kindness sent,
To be improv'd, and not in riot spent;
A further proof of Heav'n's indulgent care,
In which our poorer neighbours ought to share.
Accept, Great God, what thankful hearts can give,
For life and health, and all the means to live!
Much thou hast added to our former store;
O keep us still as humble as before!
What thou hast lent, direct us how to use,
And teach us when to give, and when refuse.
To others freely let our bounty flow,
But not beyond Discretion's limits go.
Then let us live as useful as we can--
Grateful to God--beneficent to man--
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