The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-05-21

by special permission.l
out all England. Miss Elliot, then
an invalid at Tarquay in Devonshire,
was under the care of an eminent
physician, a deeply religious man,
who one day handed her one of
these leaflets and told her he felt
she would like it. Then, for the
first time did she confess the author
ship.
OH, FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES TO SING.
On Sunday, May d, 1873, Charles
Wesley was i'll with a severe attack
of pleurisy, and on this day, under
peculiar circumstances, he was soon
verified" as he termed it, ''to the
true faith" On his recovery he
sent for his friend Peter Boehler, the
distinguished Moravian, to whom
he told the story. Boehler urged
Wesley to make public profession of
the new spiritual life that had come
to him, ind insisted hat "If you had
a thousand tongues, you should pub
lish it with them all" Thus inspired
Wesley wrote this hymn, which he
called "For the Anniversary Day of
Ones Conversion" Only five of the
original eighteen stanzas have sur
vived in popular use.
MY FAITH LOOKS UP TO THEE.
When DIR. Ray Palmer was teach
ing in a private school in New York
in 1880, he wrote this hymn. He
was then in poor health and was
nearly twenty-five years of age.
1t was not prompted by any specially
inspiring circumstance. sit was
born in my heart and demanded ex-
preston" the poet once said. "There
IA not the slightest thought of
writing for another's eye. 1 gave
form to what I felt by writing the
stanzas with little effort. 1 recoI-
lect l wrote them with very tender
emotion, and as 1 penned the last
lines my eyes filed with tears.
LOVE TO STEAL AWHILE AWAY.
A well-wOrn foot path leading
from a little house near Nunson,
Massachusetts, to the borders of a
mountain stream marked the purse
that Phebe Hinsdale Brown took to
be away from the world and alone
with prayer and her Bible. IlI-na
tured gossip at her thus converting
the spot into an ~OratOry for private
worship touched her sensitive soul,
and as an impromptu answer she
wrote this famous hymn in 1918. 1t
contained originally nine stanzas and
was called AN Apology for Ny Twi-
light Rambles, Addressed to a Lady"
n swEETLY SOLEMN THOUGHT.
This hymn, by Phebe Cary, was
written in New York in 1852, when
the writer was twenty eight years
old. She says II composed it in the
little back three-story bedroom one
Sunday morning after coming home
from church, and it makes me very
happy to think that any word l
could say has done a little good in
the world " She later revised and
amended it, but the elaboration
rather weakened it than otherwise.
LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT! AMID THE EN-
CIRCLING GLOON
John Henry Newman, D. D., was
for Years cropping in his religious
views, and in his life passed through
many phases of belief, and at
last entered into the communion
of the Roman Catholic Church.
When i'll in Sicily in 1885, as
his death was feared, his servant
came to him for his last orders. To
his dmazement his master cried ont
Il shall not die, for | have not
sinEed against the light, 1 have not
sinHed against the light" This was
the burden of every meditation.
Then his strength began to return
and he departed for home. In a dead
calm, which lasted for d week. out
between the two islands of Corsica
and Sardinia, he wrote this hvmn.
which he called 1.-THE Pillar of the
Cloud" 1t was published in 1886 in
the British Magazine. He died tlftv
fO0r vaarG 1o4o-