Bible Songs — Temperance Songs

Sleeping on Guard

Out from the camp-fire's red glowing,

No. 1387
Tune SLEEPING ON GUARD.
Words Arthur W. French.
Music Frank M. Davis.
Key D-flat major
Singing key B major
Time 6/8
3 stanzas

Words

Out from the camp-fire's red glowing,Cheerfully shedding its light,On to the pickets we're going,For the long watches of night;Let us be careful that slumberPress not our eye-lids too hard,—Surely not one of our numberMust be found sleeping on guard.

Chorus.

Yes, sleeping on guard, Sleeping on guard,Sleeping on guard,No! surely not one of our numberMust be found sleeping on guard.

Yonder Rum's camp-lights are burning;Hark to the revelry there!Waiting the conflict returning,Scouts are abroad ev'rywhere;We must be watchful and ready,See ev'ry entrance is barred,Keeping our heads cool and steady;—All is lost, sleeping on guard.

Our aim is vigilance ever,We can allow no defeat;True hearted soldiers will neverJoin in the coward's retreat;Wary and watchful be keeping,Tho' the task be e'er so hard,Knowing what dangers come creepingWhen we are sleeping on guard.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1387» (large, left), title «SLEEPING ON GUARD.» centred (condensed capitals and small capitals, «Sleeping on Guard.»); under it, centred, the epigraph «"Therefore let us not sleep, as do others ; but let us watch and be sober."—2 Thess. 5 : 6.» (old-style figures; the words are those of 1 Thessalonians 5:6, the print says «2 Thess.» — kept as printed); on the next line «ARTHUR W. FRENCH.» at the left (the words) and «FRANK M. DAVIS.» at the right (the music), capitals and small capitals. No meter, no tune name other than the title, no reference line. All three stanzas are interlinear, numbered «1.»–«3.», between the staves of systems 1–3; each printed line of words carries about two verse lines, given here one verse line per line (eight verse lines per stanza). Stanza 2's «returning,» is divided at the end of system 1 («re-» / «turning,»): joined. Syllable hyphens of the interlinear words are joined («care-ful», «revel-ry», «vig-i-lance», «ev-er», «al-low», «de-feat», «go-ing», «nev-er», «re-treat», «Wa-ry», «Sure-ly»; «ev'ry-where» → «ev'rywhere», «ev-'ry» → «ev'ry»); the print's own compound hyphens stay («camp-fire's», «camp-lights»), and so does «eye-lids», whose hyphen may be either (kept as printed). «CHORUS.» (bold capitals) stands over system 4; the chorus is printed once: in system 4 an upper line with dots where a syllable is held («Yes, sleep-ing on guard, . . . . . Sleep-ing on guard, . . .»), sung by the soprano, and under it, shifted to the right, the echo line «Sleep-ing on guard,» sung meanwhile by alto, tenor and bass; system 5 one line for all voices. The chorus is given here once, after stanza 1: first the upper line (its hold dots, which are not words, left out), then the echo line, then the line of system 5. No stanza is printed as text under the music. Under the music, centred: «Copyrighted 1880 by J. E. White.» and the folio «595». The print sets a thin space before «;» and «!» («burning ;», «there !», «No !»); it is closed up here; curly quotes and apostrophes are written straight. Spelling and punctuation are the print's («Rum's» with a capital R; «True hearted» in two words; «Tho'»; «e'er»; «hard,—»; «steady;—All»; no comma after «never» at the end of stanza 3 line 3).