"The
Joy of Freedom" [1865]
Song and Chorius
Words by
Geo[rge]. Lynn
Music by
M. Kuechman.

Cincinnati, OH: JOHN CHURCH JR., 66 West 4th St.
N.York: W. A. Pond & Co.
Boston: O.Ditson & Co.
Phila,: C.W.A. Trumpler. [sp?]
Chicago: Lyon & Healy.
[M 1638
  .K]
[Reg. No.] 123193]
[Plate No.] 863-4
[Engtraved by] J. J. L.
[Source: 1865-200000772@LoC/IHAS-CWM]

1. Let me sing of the blessings of freedom,
For my heart is so joyful and light,
For my fetters forever are broken,
By my starguided Northern bound flight,
Tho’ my home in the Cumberland valley,
Was the brightest that slavery gave,
Yet its promise of present and future,
Gave no hope to the heart of the slave.

CHORUS [sung after each VERSE]
For I read in the clear Northern sunshine,
And hear in the merry bird’s song,
The answer to dreams of my childhood,
In the southland of fetters and wrong.

2. Tho’ my cottage is lowly and humble,
And the wind through the chinks often blows,
And the bed on the floor in the corner,
Is scantily covered with clothes.
Yet ’tis better by far than a palace,
With slavery’s gilded estate,
For freedom in love, gives her treasures
Alike to the poor, and the great.

3. And my little ones playing around me
In their childish and innocent glee,
Are the ones that I saw in the Southland
When I dreamt of the home of the free,
And the heart with its blissful emotions,
And the voice with its tones of delight,
Bring the gifts of good will to the altar
Of freedom, and justice, and right.