OvertheRiverandThroughtheWood

For Thanksgiving
Words: Lydia Maria Child, "The New-England Boy's Song About Thanksgiving
Day" inFlowers for Children, Part II (New York: C. S. Francis & Co.,
Boston: J. H. Francis, 1844, 1854), pp. 25-28.
For more information, see: The Woman Who Wrote The Winter Favorite (from
about.womenshistory) and Lydia Maria Child (from the Dictionary of
Unitarian & Universalist Biography; all links open in a new window at
another site)
The poem appeared in Flowers for Children, Vol. 2 in 1844
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer
MIDI and derived Noteworthy Composer score from Laura's MIDI Heaven
Over the river, and through the wood,
To Grandfather's house we go;
The horse knows the way
To carry the sleigh
Through the white and drifted snow.
Over the river, and through the wood,
To Grandfather's house away!
We would not stop
For doll or top,
For 't is Thanksgiving Day.
Over the river, and through the wood,
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes,
And bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.
Over the river, and through the wood,
With a clear blue winter sky,
The dogs do bark,
And children hark,
As we go jingling by.
Over the river, and through the wood,
To have a first-rate play
Hear the bells ring
Ting a ling ding,
Hurra for Thanksgiving day!
Over the river, and through the wood
No matter for winds that blow;
Or if we get
The sleigh upset
Into a bank of snow.
Over the river, and through the wood,
To see little John and Ann;
We will kiss them all,
And play snowball,
And stay as long as we can.
Over the river, and through the wood,
Trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground,
Like a hunting-hound,
For 't is Thanksgiving day!
Over the river, and through the wood,
And straight through the barnyard gate;
We seem to go
Extremely slow,
It is so hard to wait.
Over the river, and through the wood
Old Jowler hears our bells;
He shakes his pow, [sic]
With a loud bow-wow,
And thus the news he tells.
Over the river, and through the wood
When Grandmother sees us come,
She will say, Oh dear,
The children are here,
Bring a pie for every one.
Overtheriver,andthroughthewood
NowGrandmotherscapIspy!
Hurraforthefun!

Isthepuddingdone?

Hurraforthepumpkinpie!
Note:
The original poem as published in the 1854 edition of Flowers for
Children, Part II, pp. 25-28.
WilliamL.Simon,ed.,ReadersDigestMerryChristmasSongbook(1981)

Atonetime,"OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods"wasafavoritesong
oftheThanksgivingseason.Itdetailedthedelightsofasleighrideto
Grandmothershouseandthegoodiesthatwouldbefoundthereby
childrenandadultsalike.Butovertheyears,thisjollytune,whichprobably
datesfromthe1870s,hascometobeassociatedwithChristmasinstead.
Inanoldbookofcarols,thereexistsapublishedversionofthesongthat
datesbackto1897andbearsthename"Edw.Trotter,Rev."ascomposer,
buttheattributionissomewhatsuspect.Thebookalsoincludes"TheFirst
Noel,'andtheReverendMr.Trotteralsolistedhimselfascomposerofthat
carolandofseveralothertraditionaltunesinthecollection.Nevertheless,
"OvertheRiver"musthavebeenfamiliarenoughthatmembersofTrotters
congregationwouldhaveforgottenitsactualcomposerandbeenwillingto
accepttheirpreacherswordthathewroteit.(Or,possibly,hedid.).

The original, 12-verse poem is virtually never heard. Ordinarily, a six-

verse (or less) version is sung. The poem was first published in 1844;
these lyrics came from an 1854 edition of the book by Ms. Child. It has
been freely adapted into a Christmas song, Over the River and Through
the Woods - Grandmother.
Here's a pair of interesting coincidences. Lydia Maria Child and James
Lord Pierpont, author of "Jingle Bells" ("One Horse Open Sleigh") were
both born in Medford, Massachusetts. Both were Unitarians.
Each year, Gene Keyes kindly provides to me a link to a Christmas carol
which he has translated into Esperanto. This year, the song is Over the
River and Through the Woods, (Trans la Rivero kaj Tra l' Arbar). Links
to all of his Christmas carols can be found at Yuletide Carols-Jula
Karolaro. Thanks, Gene!

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