"A traveler passed down the Jericho road,
He carried of cash a pretty fair load
(The savings of many a toilsome day),
On his Jericho home a mortgage to pay.
"At a turn of the road, in a lonely place,
Two villainous men met him face to face.
'Hands up!' they cried, and they beat him sore,
Then off to the desert his money they bore.
"Soon a priest came by who had a fold;
He sheared his sheep of silver and gold.
He saw the man lie bruised and bare,
But he passed on by to his place of prayer.
"Then a Levite, temple bound, drew nigh;
He saw the man, but let him lie,
And clad in silk, and filled with pride,
He passed him by on the other side.
"Next on the way a Samaritan came
(To priest and Levite a hated name);
The wounded man he would not pass,
He tenderly placed him on his ass.
"He took him to an inn hard by;
He dressed his wounds and bathed his eye;
He paid the landlord his full score;
If more was needed would pay him more.
"Ah! many travel the Jericho way,
And many are robbed and beaten each day;
And many there be on the way in need,
Whom Priest or Levite never heed;
And who to fate would yield, alas!
If some Samaritan did not pass."