Familiar Songs - Their Authors & Histories

300 traditional songs, inc sheet music with full piano accompaniment & lyrics.

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THE PILGRIM FATHERS.
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The breaking waves dashed high,
On a stern and rock-bound coast; And the woods against a stormy sky,
Their giant branches tossed: And the heavy night hung dark,
The hills and waters o'er, When a band of exiles moor'd their bark,
On the wild New England shore.
Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted, came ! Not with the roll of the stirring drums,
Or the trumpet that sings of fame ; Not as the flying come,
In silence and in fear, They shook the depths of the desert's gloom,
With their hymns of lofty cheer.
Amidst the storm they sang!
And the stars heard and the sea! And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang,
To the anthem of the free!
The ocean eagle soared
From his nest by the white waves' foam, And the rocking pines of the forest roared;
This was their welcome home !
There were men with hoary hair
Amidst that pilgrim band: — Why had they come to wither there,
Away from childhood's land? There was woman's fearless eye,
Lit by her deep love's truth ; There was manhood's brow serenely high,
And the fiery heart of youth.
What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine ? The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought a faith's pure shrine. Aye ! call it holy ground,
The spot where first they trod, They have left unstained what there they found,
Freedom to worship God.
CHEER, BOYS, CHEER.
The words of this spirited song were written by Charles Mackay; the music was composed by Henry Eussell. In 1843, Russell went home, and sang with great suc­cess in England, Scotland, and France. During that visit he composed music for several songs of Charles Maekay's, which he rendered with great effect, at Niblo's, in New York, on his return. The London Athenaeum, in 1856, said: "Dr. Charles Mackay has been voiceless for some years. Echoes of his old music are still common in the streets where youngsters delight to warble ' Cheer, boys, cheer! and in merry meeting-places, where folks are fond of anticipating 'The good time coming."7
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