Bible Songs — Missionary Songs

While the Days are Going By

There are lonely hearts to cherish,

No. 1241
Tune WHILE THE DAYS ARE GOING BY.
Words George Cooper.
Music Ira D. Sankey, by per.
Key A-flat major
Singing key A♭ major
Time 4/4
3 stanzas

Words

There are lonely hearts to cherish,While the days are going by;There are weary souls who perish,While the days are going by;If a smile we can renew,As our journey we pursue,—O, the good we all may do,While the days are going by!

REFRAIN

Going by, going by,Going by, going by;O, the good we all may do,While the days are going by!

There's no time for idle scorning,While the days are going by;Let your face be like the morning,While the days are going by;For the world is full of sighs,Full of sad and weeping eyes;Help your fallen brother rise,While the days are going by.

All the loving links that bind us,While the days are going by,One by one we leave behind us,While the days are going by;But the seeds of good we sow,Both in shade and shine will grow,And will keep our hearts aglow,While the days are going by.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: no running head on p. 459 (the page opens with the hymn); hymn number «1241» (large, left), title «While the Days are Going By.» centred (condensed capitals and small capitals); under it, centred, the epigraph «"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."—Eccl. 9 : 10.» (old-style figures); on the next line «GEORGE COOPER.» at the left (words) and «IRA D. SANKEY, by per.» at the right (music). No meter, no tune name other than the title, no reference line. All the words are interlinear: system 1 carries six lines in three braces («1. { … }», «2. { … }», «3. { … }»), the two lines of each brace sung to the same music before and after the end-repeat sign; systems 2–3 carry one line per stanza; «REFRAIN.» is printed over its first note, with an echo in small type for the lower voices («going by, going by, going by, going by;»). Printed vertically in the left margin beside the last system: «Copyright 1881, by Ira D. Sankey.»; centred under the music: «Words by per. S. T. Gordon & Son,». The refrain is printed once; it is given here after stanza 1. The words divided under the notes are joined here («lone-ly», «wea-ry», «cher-ish», «per-ish», «i-dle», «scorn-ing», «morn-ing», «lov-ing», «be-hind», «go-ing», «re-new», «jour-ney», «pur-sue», «weep-ing», «fall-en», «Go-ing» → «lonely», «weary», «cherish», «perish», «idle», «scorning», «morning», «loving», «behind», «going», «renew», «journey», «pursue», «weeping», «fallen», «Going»); the divisions are in `lyrics_syllables.txt`. Words set without a word space in the tight lines («Whilethedays», «willgrow», «Helpyour», «heartsaglow») are separated. The print sets a thin space before «;» and «!»; it is closed up here; curly quotes and apostrophes are written straight («There's»). Spelling and punctuation are the print's.