Scripture Verse

Go…teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matthew 28:19

Introduction

Words: J. S. Thomp­son, in the Af­ri­can Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Hymn and Tune Book (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Af­ri­can Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Book Con­cern, 1898), num­ber 728.

Music: Dick­er­son I. N. Par­ker, 1898 (🔊 pdf nwc) (re­peats last four lines of each stan­za).

If you know Thomp­son or Park­er’s full name, or where to get their pho­tos,

Lyrics

Oh, may the days of child­hood
Be ever free from care.
Like song­sters in the wild­wood,
Sing prais­es ev­ery­where.
Let child­ren sing the glo­ry
Of God, the heav’n­ly King,
And tell the same old sto­ry
Of Christ’s own of­fer­ing.

Let child­ren feel they’re want­ed
To la­bor, love and pray,
To fight the foe un­daunt­ed
In child­hood’s ear­ly day.
Each child, what­e’er his sta­tion,
Can take an ac­tive part
To save a hea­then na­tion,
To pu­ri­fy their heart.

Then child­ren send the sto­ry
Across the migh­ty sea,
’Twill gain a crown of glo­ry
For all eter­ni­ty.
Then let the days of child­hood
Be ev­er free from care,
Like song­sters in the wild­wood,
Sing prais­es ev­ery­where.