Lyrics:

1. In our lovely Deseret,
Where the Saints of God have met,
There’s a multitude of children all around.
They are generous and brave;
They have precious souls to save;
They must listen and obey the gospel’s sound.

(Chorus)
Hark! Hark! Hark! ’tis children’s music–
Children’s voices, oh, how sweet,
When in innocence and love,
Like the angels up above,
They with happy hearts and cheerful faces meet.

2. That the children may live long
And be beautiful and strong,
Tea and coffee and tobacco they despise,
Drink no liquor, and they eat
But a very little meat;
They are seeking to be great and good and wise.

3. They should be instructed young
How to watch and guard the tongue,
And their tempers train and evil passions bind;
They should always be polite,
And treat ev’rybody right,
And in ev’ry place be affable and kind.

4. They must not forget to pray,
Night and morning ev’ry day,
For the Lord to keep them safe from ev’ry ill,
And assist them to do right,
That with all their mind and might
They may love him and may learn to do his will.

Text: Eliza R. Snow, 1804-1887
Music: George F. Root, 1820-1895

-History: (Source: Wikipedia)

Written By: Eliza R. Snow

Eliza Roxcy Snow Young (January 21, 1804 – December 5, 1887) was one of the most celebrated Latter-day Saint women of the nineteenth century. A renowned poet, she chronicled history, celebrated nature and relationships, and expounded scripture and doctrine. She claimed to be aplural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr., was married openly for many years to polygamist Brigham Young, and was the second general president of theRelief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1866 until her death.

Born in Becket, Massachusetts on 21 January 1804, Snow was the second daughter of Oliver and Rosetta Snow. When she was two years old, her family left New England to settle on a new and fertile farm in the Western Reserve valley, in Mantua, Ohio. The Snow family valued learning and saw that each child had educational opportunities. Eliza worked as secretary for her father in his office as justice of the peace. She gained renown for her poetry in her early twenties, publishing in local newspapers, and winning awards for her work.

Eliza R. Snow wrote poetry from a young age, one time even writing school lessons in rhyme. Between 1826 and 1832 she published more than 20 poems in local newspapers, including the Ravenna, Ohio Western Courier and the Ohio Star, using various pen names. A number of Snow’s poems were set to music and have become important LDS hymns, some of which appear in the current edition of the LDS Hymnal. One of her hymns, “Great is the Lord”, was published in the first Latter-day Saint Hymnbook in 1835, the year of her baptism. In Nauvoo, Eliza R. Snow gained unique distinction as a Mormon poet featured in local newspapers, and she was later called “Zion’s Poetess.” She continued to write poems as she crossed the plains, documenting the pioneer trail and life in Utah. The first of her two volumes of Poems, Religious, Historical, and Political appeared in 1856, followed by the second in 1877. Some of her poems include:

• “How Great the Wisdom and the Love” (text)
• “Invocation, or the Eternal Father and Mother” (“Oh, My Father”) (text)
• “Be Not Discouraged” (text)
• “My First View of a Western Prairie” (text)
• “Mental Gas” (text)
• “Think not When You Gather to Zion Your Troubles and Trials are Through”
• “O Awake! My Slumbering Minstrel”
• “Truth Reflects upon Our Senses”^[4]

One of her best-known poems, “Invocation, or the Eternal Father and Mother,” was written soon after the death of her father and just over a year after the death of Joseph Smith.^[5]. This poem, renamed “O My Father“, is included in the current LDS Hymnal.

Music By: George F. Root

George Frederick Root (August 30, 1820 – August 6, 1895) was an American songwriter, who found particular fame during the American Civil War.