Scripture Verse

Come, ye children, hearken unto me. Psalm 34:11

Introduction

portrait
Fanny Crosby (1820–1915)

Words: Fan­ny Cros­by, in The Sil­ver Spray, by How­ard Doane (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: John Church, 1868), num­ber 89. Writ­ten for the First [Bap­tist Sab­bath] School, In­di­an­apo­lis, J. R. Os­good, [Su­per­in­tend­ent].

Music: W. How­ard Doane (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Howard Doane (1832–1915)

Lyrics

We are a band of mer­ry child­ren,
Full of glee, full of glee,
Like the spring­time in its beau­ty,
Glad are we, glad are we;
Bright is the bu­sy world around us,
Bright with flow­ers, bright with flow­ers,
Smiles from the sun­ny vale above us,
Come with the hours, come with the hours.

Refrain

We are a band of mer­ry, mer­ry child­ren,
While to the Sun­day school we cling,
We are a band of mer­ry, mer­ry child­ren,
Tried and true, tried and true.

Happy am I, the bird is sing­ing,
Wild and free, wild and free,
While to the song with hearts we ec­ho,
So are we, so are we;
O! there is joy in ev­ery blos­som,
We may share, we may share,
While we adore the hand that made it,
Pure and fair, pure and fair.

Refrain

Happy am I, the wind is sigh­ing,
Thro’ the shade, thro’ the shade;
Sweet is my home the dai­sy mur­murs,
In the glade, in the glade;
Thus we can say in days of child­hood,
Full of glee, full of glee,
Blending our hearts with na­ture’s voic­es,
Blest are we, blest are we.

Refrain