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In the 19th Century, Lydia Maria Child became known as an outspoken abolitionist and equal rights crusader. But she is known today primarily by a poem she wrote in 1844, "A Boy's Thanksgving Day." The poem was set to music and became the Thanksgiving song we know today as "Over the River and Through the Woods." (That's the first line of the poem.)
No one knows who wrote the melody.
Child was born in 1802 and became a well-known author and editor. In 1833, she was named America's pre-eminent woman writer. But her reputation suffered in her time when she challenged popular sentiments and became a vocal abolitionionist, a leader of the anti-slavery movement. She continued her activism after the Civil War, campaigning for rights for the freed slaves and opposing racial discrimination.
Lydia Maria Child died in 1880.
Here are the lyrics to "Over the River and Through the Woods"
Over the river and thru the wood,
To grandfather's house we go;
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,
Thru the white and drifted snow, oh!
Over the river and thru 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 thru the wood,
To have a first-rate play;
Oh, hear the bell ring, "Ting-a-ling-ling!"
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day-ay!
Over the river and thru the wood,
Trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground,
Like a hunting hound!
For this 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 --
Now Grandmother's cap I spy!
Hurrah for fun! Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
