Celebration Songs

“The Merry Month of June” 

1

The merry month of June,
Of sunny days and flowers,
Sets every heart in tune,
And leads the lightsome hours;
Glad Nature bids us all rejoice,
And we respond with hearty voice-

We hail the day, etc

 2

George Heriot's praise we sing,
On this our Founder's Day,
And floral offerings bring,
Which at his feet we lay,
In token true of thankful hearts
For all the good his gift imparts-

We hail the day, etc

 
  We hail the day with grateful mirth
Which brings to mind
George Heriot's birth,
Which brings to mind
George Heriot's birth.		 3

His name is dear to us,
Deep in our hearts enshrined,
And, as this day returns,
We gladly call to mind
The noble thought, the generous hand,
Which sought to bless his native land-

We hail the day, etc

“While gratitude fills every breast”

While gratitude fills every breast, and happy faces shine,
While memory twines her laurel wreath round Heriot’s hallow’d shrine,
Come swell the glad’ning strain,
A gain and yet again!
Awake the cheerful song of praise, let youthful rapture reign!
For loving was his noble heart, and bountiful his hand,
Whose honour’d name shall long adorn the annals of our land.

Now while our Founder’s cherished worth each youthful breast inspires,
March on, with steady step and true, like sons of hardy sires!
A cheer! – a joyful cheer,
For Heriot’s name so dear!
O fondly, in our grateful hearts, that name we will revere!
For while old Scotia rears her crest, majestic and serene,
His fame, immortal as her own, shall flourish ever green!

  • The above verses were sung until relatively recently.
  • The following verse also exists, as a middle verse between the above. Does anyone know when it was sung? Certainly not after 1940. Any information, please, to development. (For one reply, see below.)

‘Mid honest Labour’s humble homes, his Temples, wide-renown’d,
Like oaks amid the forest grove, tower gracefully around;
While Learning’s golden smile
Beams o’er the cultur’d soil,
To foster, with her gentle light, the lowly flowers of toil!
O sweetly may they blossom fair in Virtue’s kindly shade,
And may the star of Wisdom shine, ere all their beauties fade

The third verse of "While Gratitude fill every breast" was not sung between 1940 and 1948. Today is the first time I ever saw the words or even knew the verse existed. The words of "Merry Month" and "Gratitude" are burned into my brain cells! I can even still hear the opening introductory bars played by accomanying brass quartet (professionals - for most of my time at school [39-48] the school orchestra was rarely much larger than a quartet with cellist a physics teacher, the one and only "Micky Molecules" - their interval contribution to the school play almost always included the minuet from Handel's Berenice.

Francis Reid (Former Pupil 1939 - 1948)