Bible Songs — Scriptures, Law, Sabbath

Hold to the Helm

Hold to the helm, sailor, when the skies are clear,

No. 1301
Tune HOLD TO THE HELM.
Words F. E. B.
Music F. E. Belden.
Key C major
Singing key B major
Time 4/4
3 stanzas

Words

Hold to the helm, sailor, when the skies are clear,Hold more firmly when the storms appear;Begin the watch ere you leave the shores of youth,And always keep hold of the helm of truth.

Chorus.

Hold to the helm, hold to the helm,Hold to the guiding helm of truth;Hold to the helm on the sunny seas of youth,And all through the voyage let us hold to the truth.

Thousands have launched on the changeful sea of lifeWho have perished in the awful strife;Thousands to-day flaunt a broad profession sail,But where is the helm for the fearful gale?

Greater the danger, the broader flies the sail,Trusting this alone, you're sure to fail;Signal the life-boat before the waves o'erwhelm,And ask for the Bible, the guiding helm.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1301» (large) at the left, title «HOLD TO THE HELM.» centred (capitals and small capitals); under it three Scripture epigraphs run on over two lines (given below; thin spaces around the colons of the references closed up); «F. E. B.» (the words) at the left and «F. E. BELDEN.» (the music, capitals and small capitals) at the right above system 1; «With energy.» in italics over the first bar; «CHORUS.» in bold capitals above the fourth system; «Copyrighted 1886 by F. E. Belden.» centred under the music, folio «512» below it. The song runs over to the next page under the heading «HOLD TO THE HELM.—Concluded.» (two systems: the rest of the chorus, ending with a double heavy bar), folio «513». No meter, no tune name other than the title, no reference line. The three stanzas are interlinear under the melody staff of the first three systems, numbered «1.»–«3.» in system 1; the CHORUS is printed once and is sung after every stanza. Each printed line of words carries more or less than a verse line; the verse lines are given here one per line, by the rhymes (clear/appear, youth/truth; life/strife, sail/gale; sail/fail, o'erwhelm/helm) and the capitals that open them. Stanza 3 sets «BIBLE» in a capital and small capitals («BI-BLE,»); it is written «Bible» here. The print sets a thin space before «;» and «?»; it is closed up here. Words divided under the notes are joined («sail - or», «change - ful», «Great - er», «dan - ger», «broad - er», «firm - ly», «ap - pear», «per - ished», «aw - ful», «a - lone», «Be - gin», «Sig - nal», «al - ways», «pro - fes - sion», «be- / fore» across the system break, «fear - ful», «guid - ing», «sun - ny»; the tight «Thou-sands» and «o'er-whelm» are syllable divisions too). «to - day» is the book's «to-day»; «life - boat» is written «life-boat», the period's spelling of the compound (see uncertainties.md). Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's; apostrophes and quotation marks are written straight. The song «1302 STAND BY THE LAW.» (next page, words only) is headed «MUSIC—"HOLD TO THE HELM."».