Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-03-25
BLIND, hYlnI||N| WRITER .
BEGINS z 951H Year

bridgeport, conn.,, March "a
Fanny Crosby, the famous blind hymn
writer, entered upon her ninety.tifth
year today, having been born March
"a, 1920. Miss Crosby makes hel
home with a niece. in this city. This
afternoon a reception was given in
her honor by the members of the
Fanny Crosby Circle of Kings Daugh
tors. From all parts of the country
hundreds Of felicitous messages ar
rived during the day congratulatine
the famous hymn writer on her
birthday.
Miss Crosby, whose full name is
Frances Jane Crosby Van Alstyne
has been by far the most prolific and
meritorious writer of hymns of the
hpersent. age, having written more
than 5000, Of which many. have won
universal popularity. s.
She has been totally blind since
her infancy. At the age OF Is she was
sent to the Institute for the Blind in
New York City to be educated. She
made such rapid progress in all
branches that a few years later she
was appointed a teacher in the insti
| tuition She remained there about ten
years.
Even during the earlier student
days Miss Crosby had shown consid
cradle ability as a writer of verse
and later several volumes of hel
poems were published. One of hel
poems which first attracted public at
tentiOn was written by her in vel
come to Henry Clay on the occasion
of visit of the celebrated statesman
to New York.
! Miss Cr0sby's first songs were of q
secular nature and 1t was not until
she had reached the age of forty.f
that she wrote her first hymn. Born
with. great poetical gifts and filled
with ardent religious fervor, she put
her whole soul into her hymns and
Fit is not. surprising that their simple
ity, tender, sentiment and mel0dious
5eanty have won worldwide popular
lily. .... ;s3 I.
The most popular among the thou
sands of Miss Crosby.s hymns un
doutbedly are "safe in the Arms Of
Jesus" "Jesus, Keep Me Near the
Gross" and Jesus the Water of Life
Win Give" Two of her secular songs
which were vastly popular in theil
day were Hazel Dell' and There
Music in the Air." s.
I Many stories have been told to II
Illustrate the facility with which Miss
Crosby did her work Of composition
Once. while a pupil at the Institution
for the Blind she was required to
write some lines Sof blank verse. She
neglected the task until her teacher
4 reminded her and told her she would
not get her dinner until she had writ
ten the verses. In less than an hour
Miss Crosby had commenced and
completed the poem.
Safe il the Arms of Jesus. which
Is probably the most popular of her
hymns, was composed by her while
W. HI Doane, who had written the
music for many of her hymns, was
waiting to take train. he was sit;
ting at the piano, softly playing the
music for which he wished her to find
words and in twenty minutes the
/ famous hymn was completed.
At nfnety.four years og age Miss
Crosby is in the enjoyment Of re.
markable vfgor mentally, though
there has been a noticeable increase
in her physical infirmities Of late /.
Nevertheless, her condition the past
year has been such as to permit her
to appear as public speaker at sew.
eral places in New York State and
New England.
KING AND KAISER 70 MEET.
Vienna, March 24.-Emperor vii.
liam. who is on his way to his villa
on the island of Corfu, will be met at
Venice tomorrow by King Victor
Emmanuel. The diplomatic world Is
inclined to attach considerable sig.
nificance to the meeting of the Ger.
man and Italian rulers at this time.
Vienna understands the meeting to
have. been arranged designedly, for
the purpose Of strengthening the links
in the chain binding Germany, Aus.
tria and Italy In the Triple Alliance,
with q view to the possible necessity
for further, concerted action by the
g, n ?