Old Melodies

I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger

No. 1150
Tune I'M A-PILGRIM.
Words Mary S. B. Dana.
Music Arranged.
Key G major
Singing key E♭ major
Time 4/4
6 stanzas

Words

I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger;I can tarry, I can tarry but a night;Do not detain me, for I am goingTo where the fountains are ever flowing.D. C.—I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger;I can tarry, I can tarry but a night.

There the glory is ever shining!O, my longing heart, my longing heart is there;Here in this country so dark and dreary,I long have wandered forlorn and weary.

There's the city to which I journey;My Redeemer, my Redeemer is its light!There is no sorrow, nor any sighing,Nor any tears there, nor any dying.

Farewell, neighbors, with tears I've warned you,I must leave you, I must leave you, and be gone!With this your portion, your heart's desire,—Why will you perish in raging fire?

Father, mother, and sister, brother!If you will not journey with me, i must go!Now since your vain hopes you will thus cherish,Should I too linger, and with you perish?

Farewell, drear earth, by sin so blighted,In immortal beauty soon you'll be arrayed;He who has formed thee, will soon restore thee,And then the dread curse shall never more be.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «MISCELLANEOUS—OLD MELODIES.»; hymn number «1150» (large), tune name «I'M A-PILGRIM.» centred over the music (with a printed hyphen between «A» and «PILGRIM»; the index calls the tune «I'm a Pilgrim»), «ARRANGED.» at the right (capitals and small capitals); no metre and no reference line. Stanza 1 is interlinear: under system 1, in roman, «1. I'm a pil - grim, and I'm a stran - ger; I can tar - ry, I can tar - ry but a night;» (lines 1–2) and beneath it, in italics, «D. C.—I'm a pil - grim, and I'm a stran - ger; I can tar-ry, I can tar - ry but a night.» (the refrain, sung to system 1 after the «D. C.» at the end of system 2, ending at «Fine.»); under system 2 «Do not de - tain me, for I am go - ing To where the fountains are ev - er flow - ing.» (lines 3–4). Stanzas 2–6 are printed as text in two columns below the music (stanza 4 continues at the top of the right column), numbered «2» to «6» without period, four lines each, all lines at the same margin; long lines turn over («there;», «you,», «gone!», «cherish,», «thee,») and are joined here. «Mary S. B. Dana.» in italics after stanza 6. The refrain (D. C.) is printed only once, with stanza 1; it is sung after every stanza. The print sets a thin space before «;», «!» and «?» («stran - ger ;», «journey ;», «shining !», «fire ?»); it is closed up here; a missing word space after a comma («neighbors,with») and before a word («Ijourney») is the compositor's spacing and is normalized. Stanza 5, line 2 has a lower-case «i» in «with me, i must go!» (the dotted lower-case glyph, compared at 6× with the «i» of «with» and the capital «I» of «If»): kept as printed. Curly apostrophes are written straight. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's. Handwritten pen notes of the exemplar («Sung by H. S. Gurney» beside the hymn number, a note at the head of the page and another in the left margin, a stroke through «mother» in stanza 5) are not printed matter and are not transcribed (see uncertainties.md).