Ah me, why did they build my house by the road to the market
town?

Ah me, why did they build my house by the road to the market
town?

Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by;
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Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by;
They are good, they are bad; they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish,--so am I;
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
And be a friend to man.

Unbidden guests Are often welcomest when they are gone.

Unbidden guests Are often welcomest when they are gone.

The first day a guest, the second day a guest, the third day a calamity.

The first day a guest, the second day a guest, the third day a calamity.

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like read more

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where highways never ran,--
But let me live by the side of the road,
And be a friend to man.

My master is of churlish disposition
And little recks to find the way to heaven
By doing read more

My master is of churlish disposition
And little recks to find the way to heaven
By doing deeds of hospitality.

No one can be so welcome a guest that he will not become an
annoyance when he has stayed read more

No one can be so welcome a guest that he will not become an
annoyance when he has stayed three continuous days in a friend's
house.
[Lat., Hospes nullus tam in amici hospitium diverti potest,
Quin ubi triduum continuum fuerit jam odiosus siet.]

Be it not in thy care. Go,
I charge thee, invite them all; let in the tide
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Be it not in thy care. Go,
I charge thee, invite them all; let in the tide
Of knaves once more; my cook and I'll provide.

Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men;
that I might leave my people, and read more

Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men;
that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all
adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.