No. 13 from CHOICE QUARTETS
"Dawning of the Better Day" (14 Apr 1869)
Words by L. J. Bates
Music by Joseph Philbrick Webster, 1819-1875

Chicago, IL: Root & Cady, 67 Washington St.
Plate No. 5496
[Source: am1237@Mills]

1. 
By the holy mysteries 
Darkly known by sage and seer, 
By the omens of the skies, 
This must be the Happy Year; 
Freedom glorious in her pride, 
Claims the nation’s second birth,— 
Glowing like a blushing bride, 
On the disenthralled earth.

CHORUS [sung [twice?] after each verse]
[Overlapping voices]
[SA]
Bloom of June and green of May, 
Strew your sweets along her way, 
Happy hearts and happy homes, 
Laugh and sing, for morning comes,— 
[TB]
The bloom in June and green of May, 
Come strew your sweets along the way, 
Oh happy hearts and happy homes, 
Oh laugh and sing, for morning comes,—
[SATB]
Dawning of the better day, 
Dawning of the better day. 

2. 
By the Word to prophets known, 
By the sacred Way and Plan, 
Angels lift the burial stone 
From the Brotherhood of Man: 
And the New Earth clad in peace,— 
Brighter hopes, and bluer skies, 
Blushing fresh from love’s release, 
Glows before our longing eyes.

3. 
By the pure sweet tenderness 
Of the love of human kind, 
By the thrill of happiness 
In the patriot soul and mind, 
Bright’ning like the growing day,— 
Lo! some glorious deed is near, 
So the weak and poor shall say 
“’Tis indeed the Happy Year.”