The Devil’s Mirth by Margaret E. Sangster, Jr.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Feb 4, 1913

The Devil’s Mirth

By Margaret E. Sangster, Jr.

When the lights are shaded and glowing, And the gold and diamonds shine; When the dancing feet are slowing ’Neath the weight of the foaming wine; Then the people toil in the dark and cold (For they have no time to grieve): ’Tis the same sad story, never old; And the devil laughs in his sleeve.

When the snow is drifting in crystals gay, That fall on velvet and fur; In the light of lamps that mark the way Through the night’s dark, gloomy blur, There are other streets where people sigh, That are dusky and round about; Where the women faint and the children die, While the devil’s laugh rings out.

For the devil laughs at sorrow, And the devil smiles at wo; When there can be no to-morrow, And there is no place to go. Ah, if there is heaven o’er us (And we know that it is on high), Will the good Lord look down for us, And hark to His children’s cry?

— Margaret E. Sangster, Jr., in “The Christian Herald.”