Songs for the old and young;
Songs to stir like a battle-cry
Wherever they are sung.

Not for the clashing of sabres,
For carnage nor for strife;
But songs to thrill the hearts of men
With more abundant life.

Let me make the songs for the weary,
Amid life’s fever and fret,
Till hearts shall relax their tension,
And careworn brows forget.

Let me sing for little children,
Before their footsteps stray,
Sweet anthems of love and duty,
To float o’er life’s highway.

I would sing for the poor and aged,
When shadows dim their sight;
Of the bright and restful mansions,
Where there shall be no night.

Our world, so worn and weary,
Needs music, pure and strong,
To hush the jangle and discords
Of sorrow, pain, and wrong.

Music to soothe all its sorrow,
Till war and crime shall cease;
And the hearts of men grown tender
Girdle the world with peace.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was an African American woman born in 1825.
Her novella The Two Offers was the first short story published by an African American.
At 25 she became the first woman professor at the Union Seminary and she later worked as a lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery Society.
In 1866 she spoke at the National Women’s Rights Convention.
She tried to “teach men and women to love noble deeds by setting them to the music of fitly spoken words.”
This week saw the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day.

by Holly Smith