The Christian — Hymns for Social Worship

I'm but a stranger here

No. 485
Metre 6s & 4s.
Tune OAK.
Words Thomas R. Taylor.
Music Lowell Mason.
Key G major
Singing key F major
Time 4/4
3 stanzas

Words

I'm but a stranger here,Heaven is my home;Earth is a desert drear,Heaven is my home;Danger and sorrow standRound me on every hand,Heaven is my Fatherland,Heaven is my home.

What though the tempest rage,Heaven is my home;Short is my pilgrimage,Heaven is my home.Time's cold and wintry blastSoon will be overpast;I shall reach home at last,Heaven is my home.

There at my Saviour's side,Heaven is my home,I shall be glorified,Heaven is my home.There 'll be the good and blest,Those I love most and best,There, too, I soon shall rest;Heaven is my home.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «485» (large), tune name «OAK. 6s & 4s.» centred over the music (condensed capitals), «LOWELL MASON.» at the right (capitals and small capitals); same page and running head as hymn 484. Stanza 1 is interlinear, between the staves, with «1.» before the braces: its first four lines are printed in two rows in braces under the repeated section of the music («{ I'm but a stran-ger here, Heaven is my home; / Earth is a des - ertdrear, Heaven is my home; }»: first and second time — «ertdrear,» is squeezed without a word space in the print), then «Dan-ger and sor-row stand» and, on system 2, «Round me on ev - ery hand, Heaven is my Fa - therland, Heaven is my home.». Stanzas 2–3 are printed as text in two columns below the music, under the reference line «655, 766.» in italics (= may also be sung to the tunes of hymns 655 or 766); «Thomas R. Taylor.» in italics after stanza 3. In the text stanzas, lines 2, 4 and 8 are indented. The print sets a thin space before «;» («home ;», «overpast ;», «rest ;»); it is closed up here. «There 'll» (stanza 3) is printed with a space before the apostrophe and is kept so. «Saviour's», «Heaven» (one syllable in the music) as printed. Pencil annotations of the exemplar beside the hymn number are not printed matter and are not transcribed. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.