Navigation Menu+

“Life Let Us Cherish”

Then he took his fiddle out of its box. He played for a long time in the twilight, while Laura and Mary sat close to him and Ma rocked Carrie nearby… – He played ‘The Campbells Are Coming, Hurrah! Hurrah!’ Then he played ‘Life Let Us Cherish.’ And he put away the fiddle … — On the Banks of Plum Creek, Chapter 26, “Grasshopper Eggs”

     
Life Let Us Cherish” was originally a song entitled “Freut Euch des Lebens,” written in 1796 by Swiss poet Johann Martin Usteri and composer Hans Georg Nageli. It became immensely popular in America as “Life Let Us Cherish.”

Johann Martin Usteri (1763-1827) was born in Zurich and died in Rapperwil. It is unclear whether he was responsible for the entire composition or just the first verse. Usteri was one of the first Swiss poets to write in his native dialect. Hans Georg Nageli (1773-1836) was a Swiss composer and music critic who was a champion of Swiss folk songs.

In the existing manuscript for On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote that the last song Pa played before leaving to find work in the harvest fields was one she didn’t know. “What is that, Pa?” she asked. “That is ‘Life Let Us Cherish’,” Pa told her. “Take care of the old fiddle, Caroline. It puts heart in a man,” he said.

LIFE LET US CHERISH

1. Life let us cherish while yet the taper glows,
And the fresh flower pluck ere it close;
Why are ye fond of toil and care,
Why choose the rankling thorn to wear,
And heedless by the lily stray,
Which blossoms in our way.

2. When clouds obscure the atmosphere,
And fork’d lightnings rend the air,
The sun resumes his silvery crest,
And smiles adorn the west.
And heedless by the lily stray,
Which blossoms in our way.

3. The genial season soon is o’er,
Then let us quit the shore,
Contentment’s cell it is life’s rest,
The sunshine of the breast.
And heedless by the lily stray,
Which blossoms in our way.

4. Away with every toil and care
And cease the rankling thorn to wear,
With manful heart the conflict meet,
Till death sounds his retreat.
And heedless by the lily stray,
Which blossoms in our way.

CLICK HERE to listen.

   

       

Click on the above images to view a copy of period sheet music of “Life Let Us Cherish.”    

     

“Life Let Us Cherish” (BPC 26)