Bible Songs — Missionary Songs

Sowing in Tears

Sowing in sadness through long, weary years,

No. 1259
Tune SOWING IN TEARS.
Words F. E. Belden.
Music D. S. Hakes.
Key G major
Singing key F major
Time 9/8
3 stanzas

Words

Sowing in sadness through long, weary years,Scattering seed with the fast-falling tears;O how we long for the glad harvest day,When sheaves are gathered, and tears wiped away!

Chorus.

Sowing in tears through long, weary years;Wait, only wait, till the harvest appears.

Sowing good seed as in sadness we go;Sure is the promise,—to reap what we sow;Tears only water the grain that we cast,God will bestow us the increase at last.

Sow to the Spirit, and life we shall reap,—Life everlasting, where none ever weep;Heaven will yield us a harvest of peace,When all the labors of summer shall cease.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: no running head on p. 477 (the page opens with the hymn); hymn number «1259» (large) at the left, title «SOWING IN TEARS.» centred (condensed capitals with larger initials S and T); under it the epigraph in one line, «"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy."—Ps. 126 : 5.» (old-style figures); «F. E. BELDEN.» (the words) at the left and «D. S. HAKES.» (the music) at the right above system 1, both in capitals and small capitals; under the music, centred, «By permission O. Ditson & Co.» and the folio «477». No meter, no tune name other than the title, no reference line. The three stanzas are interlinear under the top staff of systems 1–3 (three staves each: the sung staff, a treble accompaniment staff and a bass staff), numbered «1.»–«3.» in system 1 only; «CHORUS.» (bold capitals) stands over system 4 (two staves), whose words are printed once, between the staves, in a small condensed bold face; the chorus is sung after every stanza. Each stanza is given here in its four verse lines (the capitals of the print mark them) and the chorus in two. Words divided under the notes are joined («Sow-ing», «sad - - ness», «wea - ry», «Scat - ter - ing», «prom - ise,—», «on - ly», «wa - ter», «Spir - - it,», «ev - er-last - ing,», «ev - er», «Heav-en», «har - vest», «gath - ered,», «a - way!», «be - stow», «in - crease», «la - bors», «sum-mer», «ap - pears.»); «fast - fall - ing» is the compound «fast-falling»; «weary» in the chorus is printed whole under its two notes. Leader dots after «years,», «go;» and «reap,—» (system 1) and the hyphens after «sad», «seed» and «Spir» mark notes held or slurred, not words (kept in `lyrics_syllables.txt`). The print sets a thin space before «;» and «!» and around the colon of «126 : 5»; it is closed up here; quotation marks are written straight. «promise,— to» has a space after the dash under the notes; it is written «promise,—to». Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's («labors», «O how»).