The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-03-13

field of rye, or any other grsini The
river Rye, at Daily, in Ayrshire, is
meant. Before the days of bridges ii
was no easy matter to cross rivers with~
out paying such penalty as has immor-
talised Jennie in the old ballad. Burns
wrote the ballad and Brown modernized
it. As Burns wrote it, it includes the
river plainly enough:
"Jenny's A. wet, puir bodie.
Jenny's seldom drJ;
She drag tt a. her petUcOatis
COMM thrO' The Rye"
BYE is spelled with capital r. The
air is nearly penta.oHjc-the ONLY T
which occurs IN the MELODY being very
Characteristic and effective.
The following is the origin OF Long
fellows " Hanging the Crane"
A d04en years ago, shortly after the
marriage of Mr.. T. B. Aldrich, Mr.. Long
fellow visited the young couple and took
tea with them st their charming little
house in Boston. The supper was laid
on a very small table, indeed, but the
peot, always vigilant in his search for
new ideas, took the smallness of the table
as a theme for discussion, aud assOciating
the IDEAS with an old Acadian custom,
then and there spun the thread of his
future poem.
CAS- the family increases" said he to
Aldrich, " the size of the table must be
increased. When, after long years, the
children have grown up to manhood and
wonanhOOd and have left the fold, the
large table will again be replaced by the
small one for the two old folks who lin
ger at home. Here you have picture
CT life, of the growth of the family; as
you are now entering upon q literary
career, and have already written some
good essays, why not write an essay on
the subject in hand :"
Mr.. Aldrich promised to think about
it. The years few by, but no essay had
appeared. Three years ago the elder and
the younger poet met again, Have you
thought of that theme, asked Mr.. Long
fellow, (Which | proposed to you long
time ago?" II have thought of 1t q
hundred times" replied AR. Aldrich,
"but l can not make anything out Of
it." "The subject reverts to me, then"
said the venerable poet, and he at once
began to write:
"The light. are Out and gone are all the
guests"
He completed the poem and cent it to
Mr.. Bonner, receiving in rsturn the
princely compensation OF a thousand
dollars. In the ensuing winter, after its
publication in the Ledger, the poem was
put into the elegant holiday volume in
which it may be said it then became
widely known
1t would be appropriate, in this con-
nection, TO refer TO Bishop Heher, whose
other poems, whose learned BrOmptOn
lectures and able articles 10 the Quar-
terly Review, are weighed down by a
single matchless missionary hymn. 1t
came about in this wise:
While he was recter at the Episcopal
church at Hodnet, in Shropshire, he paid
a visit to his father>in>law, DR.. Shipley,
the vicar of Wrexham, on the border of
Wales. On the next day, which was
Sabbath, DR.. SIMPLIFY was to deliver a
discourse in behalf of the Society tor
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Lands" Knowing his sOn-in-lsw's happy
gift in rapid composition, he said to him !:
g Write something for us to sing at the
missionary service tomorrow morning"
Short notice that, for a man to achieve
his Immortality. Heber retired to an.
other part of the room and in a little
time prepared three verses Of the pOpu-
lar hymn commencing:
81 " From Greenland's icy mountains"
DIR. Shipley was delighted with the
production, but Heber was not satisfied.
The sense is not complete" he said,
In spite OF Dr. Shipley's earnest protest,
Heber retired for a few moments longer,
and then, coming back, read the tqliOw>
ing glorious bugle blast which 1fnxs Ii ke
the reveille of tie millenisl morning:
"Wstt, watt, ye vir.ds the story,
And you, ye waters, roll,
Till, like Sea Of glory,
It spreads from pole to pole.
Till Ger Ouf ransomed nature,
The Lamb for sinners slain,
Redeener, King, Creator,
in bliss returns 10 reign
The Eext morning the people OF Wrex.
ham church listened to the first rehearsal
OF 8 lyric which has since been ecloed
bv millions of voices around the globe.
No profsne hymn. tinker has ever dared
70 Law his bungling finger on q single
SYLLABLE Of those fOu- stsnzas, which the
HOLY Spirit moved Heber to write.
On that Sabbath morning he caugh
the first strain of his own Immortality
He buiIded better than he knew" H'
did more to wait the story OF Calvar!
around the earth than if he had preached
like Apollos, or had founded board o
missions. "In The monthly concert
held in the school houses OF New Eng
sand in frontier cabins, on the decks o
missionary ships bound to Ceylon's isle
and in the vast assemblies OF America
boards, Heber's trumpet hymn hss bee
sung with swelling voices and gushiD
tears"
| Cowper's great Hymn of Providence
too. hsd a history. He wrote 1t ate
those two sweet devotional gems, I
for a Closer Walk with God, an
:; There's Fountain Filled with Blood.
A torebodinx impression OF another a
tack of insanity began tn creep over MN
The presentiRent grew deeper; I'd
clouds gathered last
Ne eyeu meditated self-destrrctiol
and left his quiet cottage to drown hin
self in the neighboring river. He W.
under a pail of overwhelming gloon
Tns. uhile those black clouds of desps
weYe darting their vivid lightnings int
his soul, the grandest inspiration OF n
lie broke upon him, and be began
SING ont these wonderful words:
"God moves in mysterious way,
His wonders to perform,
He plants His footsteps In the sea,
tho afnrro ~