ACKNOWLEDGMENTS COPYRIGHT material in this book is used by permission of, and by special arrangements with, publishers and authors as follows, and grateful acknowledgment is made of the courtesies granted: Houghton Mifflin Company-Poems by Whittier, Holmes, Mrs. Stowe, Alice and Phoebe Cary, Samuel Longfellow, Burleigh, Furness, and selections from Mrs. Howe's Reminiscences. Charles Scribner's Sons-Poems by Babcock. E. P. Dutton & Co.-Poems by Brooks. D. Appleton & Co.-Poems by Bryant. The Century Company-Hymn by Gladden. The Biglow & Main Co.-Hymn by Gilmore. Fleming H. Revell Company-Selections from Jackson's Fanny Crosby's Story of Ninety-four Years; and engravings of Fanny Crosby, P. P. Bliss, and Robert Lowry, from Hall's Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers. The Nunc Licet Press-Hymns by Miss Lathbury. Mrs. Robert Lowry-Hymn by Dr. Lowry. Rev. Dr. Louis F. Benson-Hymn; also newly found verse by Francis Scott Key, in Benson's Studies of Familiar Hymns. Rev. Dr. Henry van Dyke-Poem from Collected Poems, copyrighted by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Rev. Dr. F. L. Hosmer-Hymns. American Tract Society-Engravings of Holden, Hastings, and Mrs. Gates, from The Story of the Hymns and Tunes. Also cordial thanks are extended to the Rev. Roger S. Forbes, D.D., for an engraving of Samuel Johnson; to Mr. J. H. Gilmore, for an approved photograph of Dr. Gilmore; and to Mr. Horace S. Sears, for an engraving of Dr. Sears. PREFACE THE following narrative covers a period of three centuries, from the coming of the Pilgrim Fathers to these western shores down to our own times. It is scarcely more than a hundred years since hymn-writing in earnest began in America. In early colonial days the Psalms were used exclusively in religious song, and when hymns were introduced they were nearly all from the pen of Isaac Watts. But American hymnody cannot be understood without reference to the long period of psalmody which preceded it. The one has its roots in the other. This story of the American hymn, therefore, goes back to the beginning, to the Bay Psalm Book, which, during its remarkable career, exerted such a profound influence on New England worship, and then to the later Psalm Books, "accommodated" to American needs. It traces the gradual movement toward the use of hymns and describes the pioneer efforts in hymn-writing. From this point, our American hymn authors and their works are taken up individually, following the chronological order. Thus an attempt is made in a series of connected pictures to give a general view of the American hymn in the various stages of its development. The list of writers is not exhaustive, but it is believed that no composer of hymns of a standard type in general use at the present time has been omitted. The biographical sketches are designedly fragmentary, and are pursued only so far as to provide a suitable background for the study of the hymns, and to furnish such information as will aid in their understanding. I am deeply grateful for many courtesies received from the custodians of the Public Libraries in Boston and New York, of the Harvard and Andover Libraries, of the Library of the Union Theological Seminary, and of various Philadelphia Libraries, especially that of the Presbyterian Historical Society. I have been given access to priceless hymnological collections with unstinted generosity. I would also express my peculiar indebtedness to that monumental work, The English Hymn, by Dr. Louis F. Benson, for inspiration as well as information. Germantown, Philadelphia. EDWARD S. NINDE. |