Introduction

Words: Mary A. Lath­bury, in Lit­tle Pil­grim Songs, by Mrs. Wil­bur F. Crafts & Hu­bert P. Main (New York: Big­low & Main, 1883), num­ber 87.

Music: East­er Song L. L. B. (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know the com­pos­er’s full name, or where to get a good pho­to of him (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

These hand mo­tion in­struc­tions were pub­lished with the hymn:

Verse 1, Snow-drops—hands held in front, in ho­ri­zon­tal po­si­tion. Lift your ti­mid heads hands raised per­pen­di­cu­lar­ly from the wrists. How he rose, etc. arms gra­du­al­ly ris­ing un­til their full length is reached. Do so each time these words are sung as a chor­us.

Verse 2. Ring your bells, and tell the sto­ry—right arms in front, raised a lit­tle, and curved to rep­re­sent a stem of lil­ies; imi­tate the ring­ing of bells by shak­ing the hand in re­gu­lar mo­tion up and down.

Verse 3. Wak­en, sleep­ing but­ter­flies—right and left hands, palm op­posite palm, fin­ger-tips touch­ing, fingers sligh­tly curved, to rep­re­sent the chry­sa­lis. Burst your nar­row pri­son—hands op­ened slight­ly, with quick mo­tion. Spread your gol­den wings—hands op­en, thumb to thumb. Spread your gol­den wings and rise—hands raised above, and moved to rep­re­sent fly­ing.