The Washington herald., 1915-02-13
fanny CROSBY
IS DEAD At %
Blind Hymn Writer Death
Occurs at Bridge
port, Conn.
BLIND SINCE CHILDHOOD
Wrote 5000 Hymns. Including Res
cue the Perishing" and Safe in
the Arms of Jesus"

| he AIMS OF jesus.
Bridgeport. Conn. Feb. IL
Down ty the human heart.
Crushed by the tempter
| Feelings re bound that gace TesiOrC,
Touched by loving heart.
Weakened Cy kindness.
Chords that were broken will vibrate once
more.
Millions Of church-going people have
sung Rescue the Perishing' and Safe
in the Arms OF Jesus" possibly without a
thought of the blind. but gifted woman
who wrote them, but if you should utter
the name Fanny Crosby the chances
are that the tunes or the words Of one
Of these beautiful hymns would run
through the mind. To insure her fame
it was sufficient to have written either of
them. Fanny Crosby died today at her
home in Bridgeport, Conn. in her ninety
fifth year
| How Hymn Was Written.
One night, years ago. when the mis-
sion of Jerry McAuley, reformed river
pirate and drunkard. was gathering in
! its harvest from the fotsam and jet
sam of the river front districts. Miss
| Crosby was in the audience. When the
| call for the rcpentant ones went forth
a seedy and bcdraggled sinner STUN
! bled forward toward the platform on
| which sat Miss Crosby and the mis-
sonaries
Told that a man had come forward
Miss Crosby peered through her almost
/ totally blind eyes and said, Lead me
to him
! Tenderly she cIasped her arm around
the sOdden man and as tenderly she
whispered in his ears. Tears Coursed down
! the mans cheeks and he cried like a
child.
. Mrs Crosby went hOme' with the in
cident fresh in her mind and before she
/ retired she sat down and penned the
! imnemorahle Rescue the PerishinE." a
vrse of which appears at the head of
this account. That was Fanny Crosby.
Author of Fully 5000 Hymns.
Her hymns arc rema rkable for this one
virtue-that they were all written from
7 the heart and in her day she was the
author of fully 500 of them. They are
. treasured wherever the Protestant Church
/ is known
/ Possibly Safe in the Arms of Jesus"
T and Rescue the Perishing'' are best
known. but Blessed Assurance Jesus Is
Mine" and that one. the refrain Of which
, is And I Shall See Him Face to Face
and Tell the story Saved by Grace" are
scarcely less familiar
Each hymn has its little story. Miss
q thought and the hymn unfoded itself
, like 2 delicate flower. There came ono
morning to hNr Manhattan home W. II.
Doane. who had written the music for
many of her hymns. He said he had
forty minutes to catch a train: that he
had some music for which he wanted
Miss Crosby to write a hymn. He
hunrned the beautiful simple tune. Had
he suggestion. Yes" he replied.
safe in the Arms of Jesus"
Write min Forty Minutes.
Miss Crosby clapped her hands in rap
ture. "Oh. what a beautiful thought"
she exclaimed. She went to her rooms
and wrote:
safe in the arms Of Jesus.
Saf. On His Gentle breast
There by His love o'ershsdoued
Sweetly my soul shall res.
I'm the forty minutes she completed
eight verses.
They all had the old Methodist swing
and that subtle quality which moved the
hearers.
When she was a very little girl. i'm
proper treatment for fever left her so
blind that she could only distinguish be
tween night and day. but though she
walked in darkness. within her there was
light and she was only eight when her
first attempt at rhyme revealed her char
acter:
Oh. what happy soul an !.
Although caunot 81;
] resolved that in this world
Conteuted l will b.
Fanny Crosby was born in Putnam
County, y. Y. on March "a. lS2n. When
she was six weeks old she was made
permanently blind when her parents fol-
lowed the advice of an unskilled physi-
clan and pOulticed her eyes.
When she was fifteen years old she
entered a school for the blind in New
York at which she later became one OF
the teachers.
In 1855 she married one Of her former
pupils. Alexander van Alstyne. He was
well educated. having graduated from
the College of Schenectady. He was n
musician, philosopher and deep student
of human nature. He died in 1902. He
insisted that she keep her literary nams
of Fanny Crosby. and that is why she is
widely known by that rather than as
Mrs. Van Alstyne.
1t was in 1864 that she first began to
write hymns. While hundreds of hymns
are recognized as coming from her pen
because they are signed Fanny Crosby"
people do not generally know that she
used many other nom de plumes as
well