This song is available on Jonathan Sprout's
American Heroes #3

Jane Addams (1860-1935) established a settlement house for poor immigrants in Chicago when she was 29 years old.  The success of this community center, known as Hull House, inspired the creation of hundreds of centers across America.  Though sometimes harshly criticized by the newspapers, she worked tirelessly for more than forty years, teaching the less fortunate how to help themselves.  A national woman’s rights advocate and an international leader in the peace movement, she was eventually known as America’s greatest living woman.  In 1931, this “First Lady of Peace” became the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

On an early fall day she first opened the door
At Hull House, Chicago’s west side.
With the hungry, the helpless, the sick and the poor,
That’s where she would reside.
She became Sister Jane to the immigrants there
As she taught them the skills to survive.
Bringing strength to the weak with respect and great care,
Miss Jane Addams came alive.
Finally there was laughter.
And the love in that neighborhood grew.
And if yu’d asked why she moved there,
She’d probably say

Refrain:
It was the least I could do --
The most I could give.
In my heart, I knew
It was the only way I could live --
The least I could do.

In the year 1917, the world was on fire
As battle cries blazed through the land.
But her passion for peace was so strong a desire,
She made a lonely stand.
And when all the fighting was over,
And the winds of war no longer blew,
If you’d asked why she stood her ground, she’d probably say

Refrain

Always working for justice
And one of the few
Who would say, if you asked,
Why she lived life that way

Refrain

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Used with permission.

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