They Sing of Freedom

They Sing of Freedom

They sing of Freedom! Afric's sons

Their notes of joyance sing;

And every hill and ever dale

With Freedom's echoes ring!

All sing - the children at their play,

The laborers at their toil,

They chant a merry roundelay,

And bless the fertile soil.

They sing of Freedom! Afric's sons

Their notes of joyance sing;

And every hill and every dale

With Freedom's echoes ring.

All sing! the mountains and the plains,

And sounding shores reply,

In murmurs and melodious strains,

To hymns of liberty!

The rustling lime-groves learn the song,

And fields of waving cane,

And spicy breezes waft along

A grateful, loud Amen!

All sing - the master and the slave,

The servant and the lord;

And each a thankful offering give,

For Liberty restored.

In crowds they throng the house of God,

On bended knees they pray -

Mercy has broke the oppressor's rod,

And wiped their tears away.

All sing! how beautiful is love

Within the tropic clime!

Beneath the golden orange-grove,

The myrtle and the lime!

Beneath the fragrant, cooling shade,

Where spicy breezes blow,

The hill-top and the flowery glade,

Where sparkling waters flow.

All sing! around these sea-girt isles

Content and safety dwell;

Abundance decks thy land with smiles,

And all betokens well.

The gorgeous Amidarid birds

Their glossy plumes display;

With sweeter sound the air is stirred

To hail the rising day.

All sing! the children at their play,

The laborers at their toil;

They chant a merry roundelay,

And bless the fertile soil,

They sing of Freedom! Afric's sons

Their notes of joyance sing;

And every hill and every dale

With Freedom's echoes ring!

J.P.

2:25, p. 100

1838.08.11

From the Liberator

Messrs. Thome and Kimball, in their late work entitled "A Six Months' Tour in Antigua, Barbadoes, and Jamaica, in the year 1837," remark, that on attending the examination of the Willoughby-Bay School, they observed several copies in the writing books, such as the following: "Master, give unto your servants that which is just and equal." "If I neglect the cause of my servant, what shall I do when I appear before my master," &c.

"A few years ago," say these gentlemen, "and such copies as the above would have exploded the school. - But now, thanks to God! the negro children of Antigua are taught liberty from their Bibles, from their song books and from their copy-books, too; they read of liberty, they sing of it, and they write of it. They chant to liberty in their school rooms, and they resume the strains on their homeward way, till every rustling lime-grove and waving cane-field is alive with their notes, and every hill and dell rings with free echoes."