New-York tribune., 1901-04-20
WHAT THE READERS SAY

NAMES USED WITHOUT AUTHORITY.
-H low WRITES THAT NEITHER HE NOR Nes
LOW HAS CONSENTED TO AP-
PEAR AS PATRON
=, the Editor of The Tribune.
o,-. Nv attention has been called to a parapranh
T., Tribune of recent date. in which 1t is stated
,,st among the patrons of entertainment for
ne heneht Of the Mary Fisher Home Association.
a. he given at the Waldorf-Astoria on Friday
.nrl 2S are Mr. and Mrs. Seth Low. I write TO
.av that Mrs Lows and mine are used in
this connection without authority. We have not
been consulted in ;, regard TO the entertainment:
neither have We given our names as references for
tps tpNseW~York, April ls 1901.
THE TRUE STATUS OF AN OLD HYMN
CORRESPONDENTS COMMENTS on HYMNS OLD
AND NEW"
n ne Editor Of The Tribune.
cir NAV be allowed room for a few corrections
10 the interesting article on Hymns Old and New"
,ubished in your last Sunday issue? The author.
while speaking of the well known 20 fiji filie,"
STYLES IL perhaps the most wildly and festiveiy
rediaval of Latin hymns" Now. surely the ex-
nression strikes very harsh when we re-
member the character of the larger portion of
medieval hymns that have come down TO us I'm
foubtedlv doggerel was written in those days as
written and sung with apparent delight in religious
assemblies during the last sixty years and yet
who could call the Victorian age the age Of
ugious doggerel? Considering what the prominent
medieval hymns were, wildly is of the last
adverbs would expect to find used in criticsing
them. Undoubtedly there festive hymns
for festivals. for Christmas. 'Puer natus in
Bethlehem" with its Alieluia refrain. and the
"stabat Mater Specosa." a paraphrase of the far
more widely known ''Stabat Mater" for Passion
,-i-l,
zion could look upon their festive character
"sild' or derogating from their beauty.
In regard TO the Easter hymn itself. 20 fill ct
sie" your author says 'it has dropped out of use
because It would not translate decorously.'' If
he will read the version in DR.. Morgan Dix's
manual of the Christian Life published in 1852
and in its eighth edition about twenty years ago
he will find a translation concerning which higher
nreise can assuredly be given than "decorous- 1t
must always be reremhered that simplicity reither
imnlies doggerel nor excludes beauty, as some Of
Wordsworth's critics used 10 insist .,
Ancient and Modern is probably more seneraay
KNOW ahah a aes have Numbered millions and it
is used. not only in England itself. but in Soutn
English Church has been set up 1t has, through IT.
hymns and more especially its nusc edteq py he me
whole ny hymG0ISSsg oISs OF 6T Christian Soldiers
asun of MY Soul with the music appropriate TO
them are sung by children who never heard of the the
book was allowed for use in the Episcopal Church
here years, but afterWard was uroppeu
in favor Of the authorized hymnal-most unfortu-
nately many of US think
II is still retained churches, however, and
II your author will visit ST. Ignatiuss any Easter
morning he Will hear it sung as processiona ana
find il taking a foremost place among the Easter
hvrnns in the book referred to and sung TO the
original music. There are twelve verses In the
Latin as given In Latin Hymns" edited by Pro-
fessor March and all these are translated in DR..
Dx's manual. Bishop Youngs Great HYMNS OF
the Church. gives only ten verses in original and
translation, and Hymns Ancient and Modern" only
nine as many as would usually be sung.
The particular which your author objects
TO he quotes in a somewhat doggerel and certainly
most unsatisfactory translation. The good old
New-England deacon amended
"Oh let my heart in tune be found
Like Davd's harp of solemn sound
and requested the choir to sing
Oh, let my heart be tuned within
Like David's sacred VIOLIN.
~ his action threw discredit the original
writer DR.. DiX's manual gives the translation or
the verse which offends your author as below, and
] close my overlong letter with the confident as
eerton that the most carping critic would find 1t
difncult to assert that IL was not tidecorouS':
THE dearly loved Apostle John
Ran foremost; Peter following
First entered in-but Christ was gone.
New-York. April T. leoI. JUNIUS.