THE PROMISE.
Reading edition
Child.
Five blue eggs hatching, With bright eyes watching, Little brown mother, you sit on your nest.
Bird.
Oh! pass me blindly, Oh! spare me kindly, Pity my terror, and leave me to rest.
Chorus of Children.
Hush! hush! hush! 'Tis a poor mother thrush. When the blue eggs hatch, the brown birds will sing— This is a promise made in the Spring.
Child.
Five speckled thrushes In leafy bushes Singing sweet songs to the hot Summer sky. In and out twitting, Here and there flitting, Happy is life as the long days go by.
Chorus.
Hush! hush! hush! 'Tis the song of the thrush: Hatched are the blue eggs; the brown birds do sing— Keeping the promise made in the Spring.
Published in Aunt Judy's Magazine, July 1866, with music by Alexander Ewing.
