ARISE

Adapted from the Mother's Day Proclamation in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, women of one country,
Will be too tender, tender to those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.
From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with Our own. Disarm! Disarm!
In the name of womanhood and humanity
Let us solemnly take counsel with each other
As to the means whereby the great human family
Can live in peace
The great and general interests of peace
Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Arise!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• womansong
• women
• asheville
• chorus
• righteous mothers

[noordin94]

Womansong is the first choir in North Carolina to perform these stirring words of Julia Ward Howe, set to music by the Righteous Mothers.

Julia Ward Howe , was a devout abolitionist, who became well-known for writing the "BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC".

A dedicated mother and feminist, in 1870 she penned a new proclamation, calling for an International Mothers Day for Peace. She urged women from around the world to rise up in an alliance of nations to oppose war in all its forms.