holiday

Advent 2009: “The Holy Child,” Mildred Tanner Pettit

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The text is a poem by Lydia Avery Coonley Ward (1845-1924), a wealthy (non-Mormon) patron of the visual and musical arts, who wrote dozens, if not hundreds, of sweet and largely forgotten poems. Mildred Tanner Pettit is, as we’ve seen before, the Latter-day Saint composer of “I Am a Child of God” and other LDS works.

This song appeared in the 1939 Primary songbook.


Why do bells for Christmas ring?
Why do little children sing?
Once a lovely shining star,
Seen by shepherds from afar,
Gently moved until its light
Made a manger cradle bright.

There a darling baby law,
Pillow’d soft upon the hay;
And the mother sang and smiled,
“This is Christ, the Holy Child.”
Therefore bells for Christmas ring,
Therefore little children sing.

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Regrettably, meanies have stolen content from Keepa in the past! I'm confident you will choose honesty and cite this page like this:

MLA: Parshall, Ardis E. "Advent 2009: "The Holy Child," Mildred Tanner Pettit." Keepapitchin.org, 17 Nov 2009, https://keepapitchinin.org/2009/11/17/advent-2009-the-holy-child-mildred-tanner-pettit/.

APA: Parshall, A. (2009, Nov 17). Advent 2009: "The Holy Child," Mildred Tanner Pettit. Keepapitchinin.org. https://keepapitchinin.org/2009/11/17/advent-2009-the-holy-child-mildred-tanner-pettit/

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2 thoughts on “Advent 2009: “The Holy Child,” Mildred Tanner Pettit”

  2. I’ll echo Kristine’s words: this one is fun. At least the accompaniment. The tune is eminently forgettable.

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