Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-01-09
Our Famous Songs.

body knows that John Howard Payne
wrote ''Home Sweet Home" 1t has
only been recently that his remains
were brought back to rest in his native
country. There may be some other
familiar songs whose authors are well
known but they are exceptions to the
general rule. Ask, for example, II
thousand persons who Samuel Francis
Smith is, and nine hundred and ninety
nine of them will confess their ignor-
ance And vet there is not a man,
woman or child throughout the land
who does not know his national an
them, America" 1t was of the
author that DR.. Oliver Wendell Holmes
sings in his poem, 1.-The Boys
''Aud the IS a nice fellow Of excellent
pith,
Fate tried to conceal him by naming him
Smith,
But be shouted a song FOR the brave and the
free;
Just read on his medal, MY Country for
Thee.'n
How few of the millions who have
sung "Ihe Sweet Bye and Bye" inow
that the author of the hymn whose
sweet strains have brought Il comfort
10 many stricken hearts which gold
could not provide is himself living in
straitened circumstances down in the
interior of illinois. James Hopkinson,
the author Of Hail Columbia" died
in Philadelphia in 1912. 1t was writ
ten for a young actor named Fox, who
was attached to a Philadelphia thcater
and was about to receive a benefit. He
requested Mr.. H%opkinson TO write him
some verses to be sung on his benefit
night. At that time O79S) there was
a prospect of war between France and
the United States and it occurred to
the author that he might compose q
patriotic song to arouse the national
spirit. When Fox sang it, on the night
of his benefit, it created tho greatest
enthusiasm. It's success was i~nstanta-
neous, and thus was born a song
which will live as long as our govern
ment exists. The famous Sunday
school hymn, "Shall We Gather at the
River" was composed by Rev. Robert
Lowry while pastor of a Brooklyn
church. but who now lives in retire
ment in a New Jersey hamlet. The
hymn has been sung in all the churches
and Sunday-schools Of America and
England and has been translated for
use in China, Burmah and Hindoostan
and recently in Japan. DR.. Lowry
gives the following explanation Of
how the hymn came to be written: at
was n ferociously hot afternoon in Ju-
ly, l Awhile lounging in my study
on Eth 'place, Brooklyn, totally I'M
qualified { mental work, my mind in
a state bordering on dreamland, and
with a delightful vision of country life
and flowing streams before me, that !
suddenly reused myself and instantly
recalled to mind hat considerable had
been written by hymnologisis regard
ing the River of Death With my
heart full of ratitude | at once re-
solved to write about the river of life
and the goodness and majesty of God.
1t required but a few minutes TO draft
the entire hymn, making only two or
three corrections, l think. With my
thoughts centered upon God and
heaven | sat down in the parlor at my
organ and set the lines to music that
very day" Mrs. Annie Sherwood
Hawks, the author of the widely-sung
hymn, 81 Need Thee Every Hour" re-
sides in a modest home in Brooklyn. She
is described by one who recently visited
her as a middle-aged lady, has a
strong, motherly face, and her dark
brown eyes sparkle when in converse
ton. She wrote the hymn, which has
gained such popularity, in 1872, but
thought so little of its merit that she
hid it away in an old portfolio. where
it remained tor a long time until one
day it Glanced to fall under the eye of
DR.. Lowry, the author Of Shall We
Gather at the River" BY earnest So
licitation he succeeded in getting her
reluctant permission to publish it in a
volume OF hymns. The Royal Diadem.
which was then about to be published.
The success of the hymn was instanta-
neous and il was translated into the
Spanish, German and Italian Ian
guages. Several years ago, at q not
able festival in the Vatican at Rome, it
was sung in the presence Of the pope
with fine effect. Eliza Cook, the author
of the "Old Arm Chair" still resides
in London at the age Of 67. Fanny
Crosby, who has written upward of ff-
teen hundred hymns,is poor and blind.
Thus it is that while the words of their
songs and hymns live in the hearts OF
millions, tho names of the authors are
for the most part buried in %obscurity.