The Handcart Song

Children’s Songbook #220

Original music and lyrics by John McAllister
New verse by Lucile Reading

When pioneers moved to the West,

Pioneer Songbook
With courage strong they met the test.
They pushed their handcarts all day long,
And as they pushed they sang this song:
For some must push and some must pull,
As we go marching up the hill;
So merrily on our way we go
Until we reach the Valley-o!

Come, Come, ye Saints

Hymn #30
Words by William Clayton—Music English Folk Song
Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
‘Tis better far for us to strive our useless cares
from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell—
All is well! All is well!
Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
‘Tis not so, all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we’ll have this tale to tell—
All is well! All is well!
We’ll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away in the west.
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints will be blessed.
We’ll make the air with music ring, shout praises
to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we’ll tell—
All is well! All is well!
And should we die before our journey’s through
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again to see the saints
their rest obtain,
Oh, how we’ll make this chorus swell—
All is well! All is well!
 To Be a Pioneer Whenever I Think
Children’s Songbook #218
Words and Music by Ruth Muir Gardner

You don’t have to push a handcart,

about Pioneers
Children’s Songbook #222
Leave your family dear, Words by Della Dalby Provost
Music by A. Laurence Lyon
Or walk a thousand miles or more
To be a pioneer! Whenever I think about pioneers,
You do have to have great courage, I think of brave women and men.
Faith to conquer fear, I like to remember that children
And work with might for a cause that’s came, too;
right
I would like to have been a child
To be a pioneer!
then.
We are marching,
ever marching (2x)
Marching onward,
ever onward
We are pioneers!

Little Pioneer Children Pioneer Children Sang as

Children’s Songbook #216
Words and Music by A. Laurence Lyon
Little pioneer children gathering
berries for food;
See the pioneer children hunting
chips for wood.
Gladly helping each other, merry
and happy were they,
Walking along, moving along, on
their way.
they Walked
Children’s Songbook #214
Words and Music by Elizabeth Fetzer Bates
Pioneer children sang as they
walked and walked and walked
and walked. (2x)
They washed at streams and
worked and played.
Sundays they camped and read
and prayed.
Week after week, they sang as
they walked and walked and
walked and walked and walked.