[Cover page, only, "The Rain on the Roof"] 
"Rain on the Roof" (1861)
Sung with immense success at the 
Social Concerts of 
Ossian E. Dodge
Words by Coates Kinney. 
Music by James Gowdy Clark, 1830-1897
Arranged by F. M. Pease

Chicago: H. M. Higgins, 117 Randolph St.
Engraver: Pearson [of] New York
[Source: 129/128@Levy]

1. When the humid shadows hover 
Over all the starry spheres, 
And the melancholy darkness 
Gently weeps in rainy tears; 
When a joy to press the pillow 
Of a cottagechamber bed, 
And to listen to the patter 
Of the soft rain overhead!

CHORUS [sung after each verse]
Hear it patter, (patter,) tinkle, (tinkle,) murmur, 
as it falls upon the roof, 
Hear it patter, (patter,) tinkle, (tinkle,) murmur, 
as it falls upon the roof.

2. Ev’ry tinkle on the shingles 
Has an echo in the heart; 
And a thousand dreamy fancies 
Into busy being start, 
And a thousand recollections 
Wave their brigtht hues into wool, 
As I listen to the patter 
Of the rain upon the roof.

3. Now in fancy comes my mother, 
As she used to, years agone, 
To survey her darling dreamers, 
Ere she left them till the dawn; 
O! I see her bending o’er me, 
As I list to this refrain 
Which is played upon the shingles 
By the patter of the rain.

4. Then my little seraph sister, 
With her wings and waving hair, 
And her brighteyed cherub brother— 
A secret angelic pair! 
Glide around my wakeful pillow, 
With their praise or mild reproof, 
As I listen to the murmur 
Of the soft rain on the roof.

5. And another comes to thrill me
With her eyes delicious blue;
And forget I, gazing on her,
That her heart was all untrue;
I remember but to love her
With a rapture kin to pain,
And my heart quick pulses vibrate
To the patter of the rain.

6. There is naught in Art’s bravuras,
That can work with such a spell
In the spirit’s pure, deep fountains,
Whence the holy passions well,
As that melody of Nature,
That subdued, subduing strain
Which is played upon the shingles
By the patter of the rain.