Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-06-05

tu6 Olu Udll0u. Dukuo WAOs0 VIZ 0eSS~ teSssN~
Brown modernized it. As Burns wrote it, it
includes the river plainly enough:
aJenny's a. wet, puir bodie, :,
Jenny's seldom dry;
She drag it a. her petticoatie
COMM thro' the Rye.
Rye is spelled with capital B., The air
is nearly pentatonic-the only = which oc-
ours in the melody being very Characteristic
and effective.
The following is the origin Of Longfellow's
Hanging the Crane:"
A dozen years ago, shortly after the mar
riage of Mr.. T. B. Aldrich, Mr.. Longfellow
visited the young couple and took tea with
them at their charming little house In Bos-
ton. The supper was laid on . very small t..
Bile, indeed, but the poet, always yigilant in
his search for new ideas, took the smallness
of the table as theme for discussion, and
associating the idea with an old Acadian Gus
tom, then and there spun the thread Of his
future poem.
Gas the family increases" " said he to AID
rich, "the size of the table must be increased.
When, after long years, the children have
grown up to manhood and womanhood and
have left the fold, the large table will again
be replaced by the small one for the two old
folks who fingered at home. Here you have
picture of life, Of the growth of the family;
as you are now entering upon literary ca.
reer, and have already written some good
essays, why not write an essay on the subject
in hand p
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. Longfellow, "which / pro-
posed to you long time agof" II have
thought Of it hundred times" replied Mr..
Aldrich, "but cannot make anything out Of
it." "The subject reverts to me, then, said
the venerable poet, and be at once began to
write: =
"The lights are out and gone are all the guests"
He completed the poem and sent it to Mr..
Bonner, receiving in return the princely COM
pensation of thousand dollars, In the en-
suing 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.
It would be appropriate, in this connection,
to refer to Bishop Heber, whose other poems,
whose learned Brompton lectures and able
articles in the Quarterly Repis,D, are weighted
down by q single matchless missionary hymn.
It came about in this wise:.
While he was Rector at the Episcopal
Church at Hodnet, in Shropshire, he paid q
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..
Shipley was to deliver discourse in behalf
of the "Society for the Propagation ofsthe
Gospel in Foreign Lands" Knowing his
son-in-law's happy gift in rapid composition,
he said to him: write something for to
sing at the missionary service tomorrow
morning"
Short notice that, for man to achieve his
immortality. Heber retired TO another part of
the room and in little time prepared three
verses of the popular hymn commencing
"From Greenland's icy mountains"
DR.. shipley was delighted with the produc-
ton, but Heber was not satisfied. "The
sense is not complete" he said. In spite of
Dr.. shipley's earnest protest, Heber retired
for few moments longer, and then, coming
back, read the following glorious bugle blast
which rings like the reyeille Of the millenial
morning; l!i1.,t ,,,, !. ,u,na. -. .,o,v
And you, ye waters roll,
Till like sea Of glory, 80 ts.
It spreads from pole to polel
Till DER our ransomed nature,
The Lamb for sinners slain,
~ Redeemer, King, Creator,
In bliss returns foreign"
The next morning the people Of #rexhsm
rL,,ob l;o%o,,oI +ha e rof laa roo1 &c
lyric which has since been echoed by millions
Of voices around the globe.
No profane hymn-tinker has ever dared to
lay his bungling finger on single syllable of
those four stanzas, which the Holy Spirit
moved Heber to write. zsfE
On that Sabbath morning he caught the
first strain Of his own immortality. He
"builded better than he knew" He did
more to wait the story of Calvary around
the earth than if he had preached like Apol-
los, or had founded board of missions. "In
the monthly concerts held in New England,
in frontier cabins, on the decks of missionary
ships bound to Ceylon's isle, and in the vast
assemblies of American boards, Hebe's trum-
pet hymn has been sung with swelling voices
and gushing tears"
Cowper's great Hymn of Providence, too,
had history. He wrote it after those two
sweet devotional gems, 20, for Closer Walk
with God," and "There's a Fountain Filled
with Blood" A foreboding impression of
another attack of insanity began to creep over
him. The presentiment grew deeper; the
clouds gathered fast.
He even meditated selfdestruction, and left
his quiet cottage to drown himself in the
river. He was under a pail Of
Overwhelming gloom. Just while those black
clouds of despair were darting their vivid
lightnings into his soul, the grandest inspira-
ton of bis life broke upon him, and he began
10 sing out these wonderful words:
"God moves in mysterious way,
His wonders to perform,
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm"
For several years Cowper's splendid intel.
ect was to be under total eclipse. The
penumbra was already darkening its Disc
But in full view of the impending calamity,
The inspired son of song chanted forth those
strains Of holy cheer:
"Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, :.
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind frowning providence
He hides smiling face"
Cowper never could have sung that sublime
anthem of victory except under the immedi-
lte inspiration of f'spower from on high" The
storm was coming but Cowper's eye of faith
'aw "Jehovah riding above the Storm. This
natchless hymn Of providence which God put
nto the soul of his afflicted servant has been
. "song of the night" to millions of people
lnder the discouraging clouds Of adversely.
H. n.