Broadside ballads entitled 'Those Wedding Bells Shall Not Ring Out', 'The Flight of Ages', 'Sing Again that Sweet Refrain', and 'Just as the Sun Went Down'

Transcription

The Flight of Ages

SING   AGAIN   THAT   SWEET   REFRAIN
Those   Wedding   Bells shall   not   Ring   Out
JUST   AS   THE   SUN   WENT   DOWN

Those Wedding Bells shall not Ring Out.

A sexton stood one Sabbath eve within a belfry grand,
Awaiting signal from the church with bell-rope in his hand,
As in the house of worship stood a young and happy pair,
To pledge their troth for evermore each other's love to share.
The holy man then spake these words?"Before you're joined
for life,
Has any person aught to say 'gainst you as man, and wife?"
Then down the aisle there came a man with quick and eager
tread,
And pointing to the trembling bride these words he calmly said

CHORUS

"Those wedding bells must not ring out, she is another's bride
I saw her at the alter rail, we stood there side by side,
She cannot claim another's hand?she dare not break the
law's command,
A guilty wife you see her stand! Those bells shall not ring
out!"
The minister was speechless and the bridegroom stood amazed,
The congregation spell-bound sat, and thought the man was
crazed.
The bride had not a word to say, but simply hung her head.
"Who is this man?" the preacher asked, "I know him not,"
she said.
"Then ring the bells," the bridegroom cried, the man knealt
to entreat,
The sexton swung the chimes, aloft the bells rang clear and

sweet.
But scarce their music had begun when forth there came a

shout,

"Stand back! I say, they shall not ring, those bells shall not
ring out."

CHORUS?

"Those wedding bells shall not ring out, I swear it on my life,
For we were wedded years ago?and she is still my wife!
She shall not break her vows to me?she's mine through all
eternity,
She's mine till death shall set her free?those bells shall not

ring out ."

A shriek of woe, a glit'ring blade, a lurch, a flash, a dart-?
And, like the lightning's stroke the blade had reached her

trembling heart,
"You' ve killed his bride, Oh God !" they cried! He swung the

gleaming knife,
And pierced his own heart as he gasped, nay, not the bride,

my wife.

Two forms lay cold within the aisle, the husband and the bride
As once in life he claimed they stood in wedlock side by side.
His vow was kept, the bells had ceased, and with his dying

breath,

These words once more he murmured ere his lips were closed
in death?

The Flight of Ages

I heard a song, a tender song,

'Twas sung for me alone,
In the hush of a golden twilight,

When all the world was gone ;
And as long as my heart is beating,

As long as my eyes have tears,
I shall hear the echces ringing

From out the golden years.
I have a rose, a white, white rose.

'Twas given me long ago,

When the song had fallen to silence,
And the stars were dim and low ;

It lies in an old book faded,
Between the pages white,

But the ages cannot dim the dream
It brought to me that night.

I have a love, the love of years,

Bright as the purest star,
As radiant, sweet, and wonderful,

As hopeless and as far;
I have a love, the love of years,

It's light alone I see,
And I must worship hope and love,

However far it be.

It is the love that speaks to me

Is that sweet song of old,
It is, the dream of golden years,

Those petals white unfold:
And every star may fall from heaven,

And every rose decay,
But the ages cannot change my love

Or take my dream- or take my dream away.

Copies can always be had at 'the Poets' Box,

Sing again that Sweet Refrain.

A music hall was crowded in a city o'er the sea,

Brilliant lights were flashing everywhere,
Songs and witty sayings filled the audience with glee,

For the minster from the sunny South was there.
The minstrel sang a song about his old plantation home,

Upon the Swanee River, far away,
When the aged darkie who had sat in silence and in gloom,

Arose, and this is what they heard him say?

"Oh sing again that sweet refrain?dat's what de ole folks say
It brings me back to slavery days, befo' I was called away.
Upon de Swanee Ribber's banks?dat's whar I used ter roam,
Now I'se ole and grey and far away from de ole folks at home!

The minstrel sang the song again; his eyes grew bright with
tears;

The aged darky sat with head bowed low ;
And something in his heart awoke, had slumbered there for
years?

'Twas the memory of a mother, long ago!
The hall resounded with applause, and as the curtain fell,

The aged darkie tottered on his way ;
He was thinking of the minstrel and the song he sung so well,

And the words that made him rise and say :?

Oh, sing again that sweet refrain, &c.

Just as the Sun went Down

after the din of the battle's roar,

Just at the close of day,
Wounded and bleeding lay upon the field,

Two dying soldiers lay.
One held a ringlet of thin grey hair,

One held a lock of brown,
Bidding each other a last farewell,

Just as the sun went down.