No. 130 O Tell Me No More, Ol 301
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
O tell me no more of this world’s vain store;
The time for such trifles with me now is o’er.
A country I’ve found, where true joys abound,
To dwell I’m determin’d on that happy ground.
The souls that believe, in Paradise live;
And me in that number will Jesus receive:
My soul, don’t delay, he calls thee away;
Rise, follow thy Savior, and bless the glad day.
No mortal doth know what he can bestow,
What light, strength, and comfort; go after him, go!
Lo! onward I move, to a city above;
None guesses how wondrous my journey will prove.
The text is attributed to “John Gambold, of England.” I find the tune to be a relative of a ‘Lord Randal’ variant which Sharp (i., 43, G) found in eastern Tennessee. The resemblance of the two tunes runs throughout; but in the last four-measure phrase (going with the worldly sentence “I’m sick to the heart and I fain would lie down”) they are practically identical. ‘Rose’ in this collection is a variant of this tune, notated in the folk manner of singing.