Scripture Verse

Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness. Psalm 65:11

Introduction

portrait
Henry S. Perkins (1833–1914)

Words: Mi­not J. Sa­vage, in The Shin­ing Ri­ver, by Hen­ry Per­kins & Will­iam O. Per­kins (New York; Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts & Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Ol­iv­er Dit­son, 1875), page 115, alt.

Music: Kear­ney Hen­ry S. Per­kins, 1875 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Minot J. Savage (1841–1918)

Lyrics

The sleigh bells jin­gle in their glee,
The joy­ous child­ren shout;
And so with harm­less rev­el­ry,
The good old year goes out;
For God, who in the year gone by
Hath blessed us ev­ery day,
And led us through its flow­ery path,
And win­ter’s snowy way.

Refrain

The sleigh bells jin­gle in their glee,
The joy­ous child­ren shout;
And so with harm­less rev­el­ry,
The good old year goes out.

Our hearts are mer­ry as the bells,
While, with our voic­es clear,
We sing the song that hope fore­tells,
And wel­come the New Year.
For God, who in the year gone by
Did bless us ev­ery day,
Will lead us in the steps we take
Along our for­ward way.

Refrain

Then jin­gle, jin­gle, clear and sweet,
Each voice and bell in tune;
The years run on with hur­ry­ing feet,
Now win­ter, and now June.
But God doth give us all the year,
And all the years we’ll sing,
They lead us to a coun­try where
The whole year long is spring.

Refrain

illustration
George Henry Durrie, 1853