replace anchor text with jquery

i want to replace the text of a html anchor:

<a href="index.html" id="link1">Click to go home</a>

now i want to replace the text 'click to go home'

i've tried this:

alert($("link1").children(":first").val());
alert($("link1").children(":first").text());
alert($("link1").children(":first").html());

but it all gives me null or an empty string