Songs, Recitations and Poems (Pages 53-56)

Pages 53 - 56

Performed by the children at the fair

LIFE'S BATTLES - ELON TANDY and MELVIN WHITNEY

First Boy-The seasons come, the seasons go 
                     They go, and come again; 
                  So swift they fly, that you and I 
                      Will soon be grown up men. 
                   Our fathers will grow old and gray, 
                       While we grow tall and strong. 
                   To take the weapons they lay down, 
                        And help the world along, 
                    In the defense of right and truth, 
                        Against the false and wrong.

Second Boy-We need not wait for height or strength 
                          The battle to begin. 
                       The weak and small, or strong or tall 
                           Can moral battles win. 
                       We fit ourselves for soldiers true, 
                           At school, abroad, at home. 
                       If striving ever for the right,
                           Whatever else may come. 
                        Then let the seasons come and go, 
                           If souls as well as bodies grow.

STORY OF THE CHILDREN'S SHIP-THE "MORNING STAR."
Sent out by the Sunday School Children.

First Child

Afar from the mainland by night and by day. 
A lone little vessel, in and out, makes its way 
'Mid isles of the ocean that in beauty bright. 
Lay like glittering gems in the sun's fair light 
With their kingly palms that gracefully rise 
With feathery beauty towards the bright blue skies, 
Circling emeralds, like crescent moons, 
Enclosing the waters of smiling lagoons.

Second Child

To the eye all is beauty, but God's gifts are strown 
In lavish profusion where He's all unknown. 
And cunning and bloodshed make the heathen who dwell 
Amid deeds of darkness, we shudder to tell.

Third Child

The lone little vessel sails over the seas, 
Proclaiming the Gospel of gladness and peace. 
And isle after isle receive the glad light 
The "Morning Star" brings to scatter their night. 
And the Sunday School children on a Christian shore 
Proclaim the glad tidings again, and once more, 
That they, who in darkness and ignorance grope. 
Are gladly receiving the Christian land's hope 
Of a land far beyond their sea-girt isles 
Which basks in a loving Father's kind smiles. 
A land where grossness and error shall cease, 
And from all earth's sorrows they shall find a release.. 
And nations and peoples before Him shall fall 
The Maker, Redeemer and Lord of us all.

CHARACTER BUILDERS - ARTHUR JOHNSON

We are builders one and all, 
Of a structure great or small, 
Adding to our work each day 
Stone, or brick, or only clay, 
Or even sand to wash away.

Materials within we find 
In the chambers of the mind, 
For the buildings, strong and high, 
Which shall climb to yonder sky, 
Or weak and low as failures lie.

Character we build each day, 
As its swift hours pass away. 
Thoughts we think, and words we speak, 
What we do, and what we seek, 
Make our building strong or weak.

If we daily build aright 
They will rise pure, fair and white, 
Structures gladdening every eye. 
And helping every passer by 
To make his building grand and high.

But, if idlers in our work. 
We our duties shun or shirk, 
Then the structure, low and mean, 
Only to be shunned is seen, 
With sorrow that it e'er has been.

"WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING." - WALTER THAYER

O, no! my garden wasn't a success, 
   Though I spaded, and raked, and hoed, 
And drilled, and hilled, and bushed, and poled, 
   Made beds, and planted, and sowed.

My one squash-vine ran over the fence, 
   And then went clambering down; 
And if it bore one single squash, 
   It grew in another town.

I sowed my beets in a shapely bed, 
   And they came up as thick as hops; 
But no matter how much I thinned them out 
   They would all go to "tops."

My mother suggested greens for the fair, 
   Sister Grace said string-beans would sell
And Mabel remarked that some other boy 
   Could bring that one squash just as well.

My Early Rose potatoes refused to rise, 
   The second planting grew up tall, 
But potato-bugs watched from off the fence 
   And came down and demolished them all..

O, no! my garden was not a success, 
   But I shan't" give up beat," never fear. 
If you happen that way just come and see 
   The garden I'll have next year.

Games Area - 2012

151st Children’s Fair

James Roger diary entry

13th August 1913

Cloudy with showers in afternoon. David in Store. I cut some lots in forenoon and filled Hall lamps and got Hall ready for Grange tomorrow night. Picked one chicken for Mrs. Gordon. Got postcard from Hamish.

Upcoming Event

163rd Children’s Fair - August 17, 2024

• New Ipswich Congregational Church

• 150 Main Street, New Ipswich, NH

• 10 AM - 3 PM

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