{"id":4768,"date":"2007-03-05T22:22:58","date_gmt":"2007-03-06T03:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/?p=4768"},"modified":"2016-05-03T21:34:42","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T01:34:42","slug":"pull-for-the-shore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/archives\/4768","title":{"rendered":"“Pull for the Shore”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Suddenly the tall man knew what to do. He linked his long arm in the little man’s fat arm, and they came down the sidewalk together, singing… — Little Town on the Prairie, Chapter 6, “The Month of Roses”<\/em><\/p>\n

Come forward, come forward and be saved! Come to salvation! Repent, ye sinners! Stand up, stand up and sing! Oh, lost lambs! Flee from the wrath! Pull, pull for the shore!… — Little Town on the Prairie, Chapter 23, “Schooltime Begins Again” — Little Town on the Prairie, Chapter 6, “The Month of Roses”<\/em><\/p>\n

     
\nW<\/span>ords and music to “Pull for the Shore” were by Phillip P. Bliss in 1873 for his hymnal Sunshine for Sunday Schools<\/em>. Philip Paul Bliss (1838-1876) was born in Pennsylvania to poor parents. He married a musician and poet, and under his wife’s influence, he studied how words and music went together. After moving to Chicago following the Civil War, he served as chorister and Sunday School Superintendent of the First Congregational Church of Chicago. Bliss had a wonderful singing voice and was a gifted public speaker; he became an evangelist in 1874 and toured the northeast. He wrote many hymns, publishing Sunshine for Sunday Schools<\/em> in 1873 and Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs<\/em> in 1875. “Pull for the Shore” was included in both collections.<\/p>\n

After spending Christmas 1876 with his mother, Bliss and his wife were returning to Chicago when a bridge collapse wrecked their train. He survived the initial impact but died when he returned to the wreckage in an attempt to rescue his wife.<\/p>\n

Nineteenth century evangelists often used the sea as an image of life. In many hymns, Christians are constantly being told to “throw out the lifeline” and “be guided” by the Great Pilot. Bliss’s most famous hymn, “Hold the Fort for I am Coming” was inspired by the famous message signaled by General William T. Sherman during the Battle of Atlanta: “Hold the fort. I am coming.” <\/p>\n

In Little Town on the Prairie<\/em>, Laura Ingalls Wilder used the hymn in two situations: sung by Tay Pay Pryor (Tom Power) and a friend while drunk in town, and by Rev. Brown during a revival. The first made Laura laugh so hard “that tears ran out of her eyes,” and while the revival was an uncomfortable experience for her, she could only remember the earlier singing of the song, so she found amusement in Reverend Brown’s singing of it. “Pull for the Shore” is not mentioned in any of the Pioneer Girl<\/em> manuscripts. In the existing manuscript for Little Town on the Prairie<\/em>, Wilder’s revival scene is more abbreviated than in the published version, and Laura Ingalls doesn’t relate the song to its earlier mention. She wrote: \u201cWe will sing once more and this is the last call,\u201d [Reverend Brown] said finally. \u201cIf there are any here who repent and want to be saved, let them come forward and give me their hands while we sing.\u201d And his loud voice led all the other voices…<\/p>\n

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\r\n\t\t\t\t\tPULL FOR THE SHORE<\/strong><\/p>\n


1. Light in the darkness, sailor, day is at hand!\n
See o’er the foaming billows fair haven’s land,\n
Drear was the voyage, sailor, now almost o’er,\n
Safe within the life boat, sailor, pull for the shore.<\/p>\n


[refrain] Pull for the shore, sailor, pull for the shore!\n
Heed not the rolling waves, but bend to the oar;\n
Safe in the life boat, sailor, cling to self no more!\n
Leave the poor old stranded wreck, and pull for the shore.<\/p>\n


2. Trust in the life boat, sailor, all else will fail,\n
Stronger the surges and fiercer the gale,\n
Heed not the stormy winds, though loudly they roar;\n
Watch the bright and morning Star, and pull for the shore!<\/p>\n


2. Bright gleams the morning, sailor, uplift the eye;\n
Clouds and darkness disappearing, glory is nigh!\n
Safe in the life boat, sailor, sing evermore;\n
“Glory, glory, hallelujah!” Pull for the shore.<\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

\r\n\t\t\t\t\tPULL FOR THE SHORE<\/strong>\n
(from Little Town on the Prairie<\/em>, Chapter 6)<\/p>\n


Pull for the shore, sailor!\n
Pull for the shore!\n
Heed not the stormy winds–\n
Though loudly they roar!\n
Pull for the shore, sailor–\n
Heed not the stormy winds–\n
Though loudly they roar!\n
Pull for the shore!<\/p>\n

     \n     \n
PULL FOR THE SHORE<\/strong>\n
(from Little Town on the Prairie<\/em>, Chapter 23)<\/p>\n


Pull for the shore, sailor!\n
Pull for the shore!\n
Heed not the stormy winds,\n
Though loudly they roar.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE<\/a> to listen. <\/p><\/blockquote>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

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   <\/p>\n

<\/a>   \n<\/a>   \n<\/a>   <\/p>\n

Click on the images above to view a copy of early sheet music of “Pull for the Shore.” <\/p>\n

This music is archived in the Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music Collection at the Library of Congress. The Collection contains more than 62,500 pieces of historical sheet music registered for copyright: more than 15,000 registered during the years 1820-1860 and more than 47,000 registered during the years 1870-1885.\n   <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

     
\n
\n“Pull for the Shore”<\/strong> (LTP 6, 23)
\n     “Pull for the shore, sailor, pull for the shore”
\n     “Though loudly they roar”
\n     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunshine for Sunday Schools hymn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[631],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4768"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4768"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10742,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4768\/revisions\/10742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}