The Coolidge examiner., 1932-08-05

talent and won many medals for scholarship.
At the age of seventeen years he entered Har-
ward college, with Oliver Wendell Holmes,
James Freeman Clarke and Samuel May among
his classmates. o. w. Holmes wrote poems for
their class reunions In one of them, entitled
The Boys" was a Quatrain about Doctor
Smith:
And there's nice youngster OF excellent pith;
Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith !;
But he shouted a song for the brave and the
Just read on his medal, My country. of thee"
While In college young Smith added to his
income by tutoring, reporting and transating
the last eventually bringing him the chance to
see those German songs. After he was grad
uated from Harvard in 1929, he spent some
time as a reporter.
But the call to the ministry proved stronger
than the call of Journalism, and he pursued his
studies in the seminary of Andover There he
wrote other hymns, religious in character. The
best known of these is THE Morning Light Is
Breaking" and Blessed Be the Tie That Binds"
In his lifetime he wrote total of 80 hymns.
Smith graduated from the seminary in
1882 and a short time later became pastor Of
the Baptist church In Watervile, Maine. He
was also professor of modern languages in Wa
terville, later Colby college. Ten years later he
was called to the church at Newton Centre
Mass, where he was pastor for II years He
was for six years editor of the Christian Re
view, Boston; and for 16 years edited the Mis-
sionary Magazine, also preparing other literature
for missionary distribution. This involved trans
lating languages, of which he could read u or
10 easily AT the age of eighty-fve years he Wis.,
tied a daughter, bringing along Russian gram
mar and Russian Bible, delighted because he
had begun to master a new tongue.
Doctor Smith and his wife travelled extensive
ly later writing books on missions and one or
two biographies. His son, D. A. w. Smith, be-
came president Of a seminary in Rangoon,
Burma.
In April, 1895, Doctor Smith was honored with
children's service one afternoon and an eve
ming meeting at which the governor of the
commonwealth presided Seven months later.
on the train en- route to preach at little town
in Massachusetts, Doctor Smith died peacefully
while sitting beside a friend
Although some Americans object to Amer
lea" because it has the same tune as the Eng
lish national anthem "God Save the King" the
fact is that the air is not the air of Englands
national anthem alone. For Germany, Switzer-
land and Denmark sing the familiar strains, as
well as who sing America" The first line
of those German words at which Smith glanced
after he had been attracted by the simple and
natural movement" of the music are Hell dir
i'm Siegeskranz" Switzerlands national anthem
begins, "Rufst du, mein Vaterland" while the
Danes sing, Hell dir, dem Liebenden."
There has been considerable dispute as to
the origin of the air and concerning this one
authority TIE Encyclopedia BRITANNICA says
1.-The most celebrated of all national anthems
is the English God, Save the King which is
said to have been first sung as his own COM
position by Henry Carey in 1740; and version
was assigned by w. Chappell popular Music)
to the Harmonic Anglicana of 1742 or 1743,
but no copy exists and this is now doubted.
words and music were printed in the Gen
tleman's Magazine for October, 1745. There has
! been much controversy as to the authorship,