The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1908-08-21
IRA D. SANKEY'S
VOICE HUSHED FOREVER
The Greatest Singer Of Revival
Hymns Dead. &.

| w" AOIk Especially Ira ~.
Sankey. the singing evangelist, who
was for many years coworker with
the late Dwight L. Moody, died
| Thursday night at his home in
| brooklyn, aged 68 years. Five
| years ago he was stricken with
| blindness, and since that time he
had lived in retirement in Brooklyn.
He received large income from his
publications and had acquired a con-
| siderable estate.
Mr.. Sankey was born in the little
town of scarborough, Pa, ON Au-
gust 20. 1910. His father, David
Sankey. served his State at one time
as member of the Senate. When
young Sankey was II years of age
his parents moved to the nearby
city of Newcastle. where the young
man became interested in religious
work. He got to be class leader
in, the Methodist Episcopal Church
there and later leader of the choir.
The work of the Young Mems Chris
tian Association of Newcastle also
attracted him and he was for num-
Der OF years president of the asso-
citation branch in that place. When
the sounds of civil strife were first
heard in the clamorous days of 1851
young Sankey forgot all else but his
country and enlisted in the Twelfth
Pennsylvania Infantry. His subse-
Quent career proved that he could
fight for his country as we'll as sing
to, the glory of his God.
Joined With Moody.
1t was not until 1870 that Mr..
Sankey met Dwight l.. Moody. In
that year Mr.. Sankey went as dele
gate of the Young Mems Christian
Association to the international con-
vention of the association, held in
the first time the two young mens
famously linked. They were fast
friends from the very first, and
about six months afterward the two
men became associated in the evan.
gelistic work that became so sue
cessful. Their first preaching was
done in Chicago. The Moody and
Sankey services began with a half
hour of song by those assembled,
after which Mr.. Moody would preach
a short sermon. He would then call
upon Mr.. Sankey to sing some hymns
apropos t the theme upon which
he had preached The magnetic per
sonality OF the singer, his full, round
voice and the heartrending simplicity
of the hymns usually sung by Mr..
Sankey rarely failed to make deep
impression on his hearers.
In 1871 the two friends went to
Great Britain and started the first
series of memorable Moody and San
key evangelistic campaigns there.
The songs of Philip Phillips, the first
singing evangelist" OF P. P Bliss
and Sankey's own compositions
made up the greater part of the,
hymnal that he drew upon during
those first years OF evangelistic work
in Chicago and Great Britain. On
little organ that Mr.. Sankey car
ried with him wherever he went in
those early days he composed his
hymns and played his own accom-
paniments at all tho meetings.
Loved That Little Organ.
Mr.. Sankey kept that little organ
till the day of his death. 1t was
his greatest pleasure and recreation
after he was stricken with blindness
TO be led into his library and to the
little bench before the keyboard,
where he would spend happy hours
playing the beloved old tunes and
singing the dear, well-known old
hymns.
For nearly 40 years this little or
gan was his constant companion. He
carried it all over the earth. No
other musical instrument played SO
important a part in the religious
history of the world. Under the in
spired touch of Mr.. Sarkey tiled
the singing in little Western towns,
where only a few were gathered,
and it led 10000 voices in Agri.
cultural Hall in London. Next to
the members of his family he loved
the little organ more than anything
else he possessed. Battered it is
by many miles OF travelling; the yell
low ivory keys are worn thin as d
wafer, yet only Mr.. Sankey's fingers
touched them. On this he composed
all the songs that added to his fame.
And not only did Mr.. Sankey COM
pose his own songs on this organ;
not only did he use it in nearly all
the meetings in which he took so
prominent a part, but on 1t he tried
the songs of others, which were in
cluded with his own in the books
that he edited song books that have
had a circulation exceeding that of
any publication with the exception
of the Bible.
Mr.. Sankey played on this organ
long before he dreamed OF becoming
an evangelist. He always loved mu-
sic, and he could not remember when
he did not sing. He bought the or
gan not long after he returned from
the Civil War, and he composed 500
Gospel hymns upon it.
Brains Spattcred On Wife.