Simple Gifts 2.0

Curious to see if AI could come up with a song/poem that combines some of the lyrics in "Simple Gifts" with my feelings about the place my Shaker ancestors called home, I asked my ChatGPT assistant to provide three verses using words and phrases I provided. After a bit of finessing, here is the end result:

On the river where golden light does play,

Waters gently weave as daylight fades away,

We walk with grace at the golden hour's sway,

Amid oaks and hickories in verdant array.

 

When true simplicity is gained,

No shame in bending, no need for fame,

As we turn, turn, our spirits alight,

‘Til by turning, turning, we find the light.

 

In earnest embrace, we search to find the key,

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

Where burdens fade and worries take flight,

With the gift of simplicity, our hearts can unite.

 

In the place just right, our dreams ignite,

'Tis in the valley of love and delight,

As we turn, turn, our spirits alight,

‘Til by turning, turning, we come round right.

A little Shaker music and dancing for your Tuesday

Performed at Hancock Shaker Village in 2013. Songs performed are listed in the end credits.

On This Date in 1829 ...

Lawson Runyon [age 21], son of Emley and Lydia departed Pleasant Hill.

Lawson's hymn "Contentment" appears on page 231 of Paulina Bryant's hymn book begun 1854, recording earlier hymns.

Lawson went to Hot Springs, Arkansas following his departure from Pleasant Hill. There, at age 37, he married a seventeen year old native American woman, Emily Ross, on May 25, 1845.

Lawson left Pleasant Hill four months after his younger brother Robert Comstock Runyon left. Robert married Betsy Thompson, a Cherokee, and they named their son Lawson.

On This Date in 1845 ...

Amy Runyon served as a teacher, nurse and children's caretaker at Pleasant Hill. Like William and Vincent Runyon, she was musically inclined. We have one example of a completed composition by Amy Runyon, dated May 25, 1845. It appears in Benjamin Dunlavy's song book....

Page from Benjamin Dunlavy's song book with music composed by Amy Runyon May 25, 1845 (Clark, p.57)

On This Date in 1846 ...

from "The Shaker Spiritual" by Daniel Patterson

Lucinda Shain (Schoen) received her song -- a typical Shaker gift --on March 22, 1846, from "Br. Vincent Runyon and others of our deceased friends, who played it on their instruments of music." Vincent, a believer of British and Huguenot stock, had died only five days before, at the age of fifty-six. Both he and Lucinda, who was then 44, had come to Pleasant Hill with their parents and their siblings in its first wave of converts. Through most of Lucinda's life, William [Runyon] was the dominant musician at Pleasant Hill. In the gift of singing he had no equal there. For more than fifty years his "shrill, melodious voice rang with clarion tones, through the consecrated halls & sacred sanctuaries of this holy hill, cheering the minds & thrilling the hearts of the pious worshippers & beholders."

A Shaker Christmas Song

Hail, hail, the beautiful morn hath dawned
The joy of angels and men; 
The star of the east, with beauty beyond 
All others has risen again. 
Awake, disciples of Christ, and sing,
Your robes of gladness put on,
And precious gifts and offerings bring
Our loved Redeemer to crown.

Not gold, nor myrrh, nor frankincense sweet
Our Savior asks from our hands, 
But hearts that with love and tenderness beat 
To bless and comfort his lambs.
Go seek and feed my wandering sheep,
Forgive the erring and lost, 
Thus prove your love for me, and thus reap
The precious fruits of the cross

Source: J. P. Maclean, The Society of Shakers. Rise, Progress and Extinction of the Society at Cleveland, OH. Published in: Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications. Volume IX. The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, Columbus 1901 (online at Google Books)

On This Date in 1844

October 19, 1844 - Emley Runyon [age 66] died at Pleasant Hill, was a member of the Church when it first organized in June 1814. Was an Elder & Deacon alternately four or five years. (Bio) "We again witnessed a solemn scene of death. Brother Embly Runnion's [sic] funeral commenced at 10 o'clock and was attended by many of our heavenly Parents and thousands of holy Angels and purified souls.  

The scene was solemn indeed, as was manifested by an incessant flow of tears during the occasion. The following hymn was sung:

                       Awake my soul, O do not slumber
                       Time doth swiftly pass away
                       Arise and join that faithful number
                       Who'll stand the trying day

                       Lo, how soon earth's splendid pleasures
                       Will all fade and be no more
                       Then O my soul secure a treasure
                       That ever will endure"

~Charleston manuscript - Filson Club in Hutton, p.54

It’s not *a* gift to be simple

It’s the gift.

Elder Joseph Brackett's "Simple Gifts" is a dance song written in 1848 at the Shaker community in Alfred, Maine. The original words written by Elder Joseph are as follows:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight. 

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

'Till by turning, turning we come round right.

 
These details and more fascinating facts on “Simple Gifts” and other Shaker music are available from music scholar Roger Lee Hall at American Music Preservation. You can also listen to a few renditions of the song, hosted by the Running After my Hat blog, here, here, and here.

Attributed to Elder Joseph Brackett of the Alfred Shaker Ministry, June 28, 1848. Manuscript penned by Eldress Mary Hazzard of the New Lebanon Shaker Ministry. Alfred Shaker Museum