Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-23
MEANINGLESS HYMNS.

4
| fev. Mr.. Fuck of Ncwburgh.
From the New York Sun.
| Interest in the subject of hymns and
church music has Leen stirred up by {.
| comparatively trivial incident which is re-
| ported from Poughkeeps According to
The report the Rev. Mr. Tuck of Newburgh
| aroused considerable comment by publicly
protesting against the singing of hymn
| Dy WI thompson, entitled Drifting With
| the Tide One of the verses runs as fol-
| lows:
| We are folting on the ocean,
| Drifting, drifting with the tide.
| Far from home and far from kindred,
| u er the boIDdleSS we ride.
| Giant waves, like wondrous mountains,
| Rise ard fall with noisy sound:
| on we glide. through foaming fountains,
| on were drifting, ocean bound
When Mr.. Tuck heard this sung he
| raised his hands above his head and shout
| ed, For Gods sake, never sing that piece
again. 1t IS also alleged that he expressed
| the opinion that Drifting With the Tide
was devoid OF meaning, imperfect in meter
| and full of absurd figures. and that it
should have no place In a church hynnal
| The report adds that some of Mr.. Tuck's
audience were shocked at his denuncia-
tio'n of the hymn that they declared that
he was irreNerent.
Several clergymen and others who arc
familiar with the subject were asked yes
| terday to express their opinion OF the
hymns that are generally sung in church.
| the Rev Mr.. Tuck objected. Most of them
agreed in characteriZing much of the mt
| sic sung in churches as mere empty sound.
| and not particularly pleasant or harmon
1cuS sound at that. On the other hand, 1t
| was said that there are any number of
coed hymns in existence and that the
| poor ones could be avoided by judicious
selection. The pastor of one church in
which congregational singing is the rule
said:
| Il am not familiar with the hymn men
; tened in this report bat it is apparently
one of class against which anybody
would be justified in protesting Where
| there are so many simple, yet strong and
| uplifting hymns, there is no reason why
| worshipers should spend their time on
| silly or stupid songs. And yet most hymn
! books abound in the latter"
| Picking up a small hymnal and turning
| the leaves at random he said.
Here is fair sample of what may be
| card in many churches" The piece Sc
| lected was THE Hebrew Captive" and
| was written in the ordinary ballad style,
| with the following refrain:
Are re, your windows open toward jerusalem.
For the coming of the King in His glory.
Are you watching day by day?
What meaning does that convey. 1
should like to know? If Mr.. Tuck is pro-
| testing against songs of that order 1 fully
agree with him.
Gustave Schirmer. who is engaged in the
publication Of music, said: There is no
| cur churches are very poor, whether you
consider the words or the music. a great
| deal of church music is being published all
the time. Some of it is excellent, is
very poor. In general, it may he said that
| the music in American churches is inferior
in quality to that heard abroad. The lat
ter is more severe and some of il is CLASH
cal. The muNc in New York churches is
better on the average than in other parts
of the country In some of the smaller
churches almost the only songs used
Iuere ballads, and in many cases operate
and other popular airs have been adapted
for church use. In such cases the words
are considered of secondary Importance,
and they are often meaningless.
IN some churches the music is valued
orly for its drawing power. That is, where
you will find the quartet solo choir and
where everything else is sacrificed to the
necessity of permitting the singers 10 dis
play the fine qualities of their voices
Probably no other man in America is as
Well versed in hymnoloey as the Rev. Chas.
S. Robinson. DR.. Robinson has made a
careful study Of hymns, ana has published
twenty-five hymn books, the aggregate cir
culation of which runs up into the millions.
When he saw the particular verse OF
Drifting With the Tide which Mr.. Tuck
had quoted for the subject of his remarks,
Dr. Robinson said: THAT isn't hymn at
all. at least not as it stands there. A hymn
Is a religious song, and there is no religion
In that. Stiil.'1 don't believe that protest
ing against it is likely to do much COOL,
for such things Will probably continue to
be written and sung in spite of protests.
And, after all. they are harmless The
only thing to be said about them is that
they are not religious songs, and do not
belong in hymn book. There many
81 CHI, and some of them are widely surg.
This Drifting reminds me of ore. We
Are Sailing Ger the Sea, Homeward
Bound All you know when you get
through singing that is that you have been
out sailing on the sea. And on Sunday,
too continued the doctor, laughing.
" Hold the Fort is familiar thing, and
it is sung in nany churches, but it is not
a hymn. Another of the same kind begins
Forward. Christian Soldier and ends with
the refrain, 'Toiling on, toiling on They
don't mean anything, and yet worthy peo-
pie stand alp and get black in the face
shouting ut these lines
THE one or two examples given above af-
ford only slight Indication of the absurd
lengths which are sometimes reach ID. l
once attended meeting held ostensibly in
the interests of temperance and religion,
which went far anything L re-
call The last speaker at this meeting
closed his remarks by saying that the only
thing to do in the good cause of temper
ance was to go on. Then he said: We will
close with hymn to the tune of Aud
Lang Syne"' He led the hymn. and this
was it:
Go on, go on, go on, go on go on; go on, go on,
Gwan, e'wan go on. go on. so on,
G wan, s'wan, 20 on 90 on,
| Gwan s'wan. so on, go on go on 20 on, go on,
Five hundred people stood up and sang
that and what is worse, they seemed to
enjoy it and to think it appropriate. Do
! YOU know how many of the things that find
their way into hymn books are written?
You know that when a butcher wants to
| steer a refractory calf or pig in a certain
| direction he takes it by the tail That's
| the way this writing of miscalled hymns is
| conducted. A man will play or whistle %
| hum a tune ard thinks tfat he has impro-
vised en- air. Then he takes this little
| melody and builds into it lot of words
which he naturally considers of less i'm
portance than the air. The result is labeled
| a hymn and many persons seem satisfied
| to accept it as such on the authors state
ment without further question.
| .'To get down to bedrock in this matter
| continued Dr. Robinson, ''it seems to me
thai it is only necessary to keep in mind
| the fact that hymn-sinSng is, or should be,
| a part of the worship of God AS l said at
| the beginning. a hymn is a religious song.
| and nothing that fails to meet this detin-
| ton should find a place in hymn book"
|