THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.
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“ Resting,” and her verse, so comforting to mourning hearts, or those going through the furnace of any affliction, fill numerous volumes; to say nothing of her booklets, and poems in illuminated and illustrated souvenir style. Among her best known and cherished songs, sung everywhere, are: “ I gave My life for Thee;” “ Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee;” “Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord is King-! ”
Among the song collections for use in temperance meetings, and they are numerous, with two-thirds of the contents by women, Anna Gordon’s “ White Ribbon Hymnal,” and “ Marching Songs for Young Crusaders,” deserve mention, as does “ White Ribbon Vibrations,” by Mrs. Flora H. Cassell, of Nebraska.
Frances E. Willard, chieftain of the temperance hosts, and Mary B. Willard, her sister-in-law, though making no pretentions as poets, have written some rare verse that will live.
The cluster of Easter and Resurrection carols, by Mary Lowe Dickinson, cannot be excelled. One might dare challenge the world to produce a better set than those by this graceful and forceful, consecrated daughter of the King. There is a ripple of love and devotion in them throughout. %
It was in 1841 that the Electress of Brandenburg wrote, “Jesus Lives,” which was translated from the German into English by Frances Elizabeth Cox, the author of “ In some way or other the Lord will provide.”
Jane Taylor’s “ Far from mortal cares retreating;” “ Come to the hour of prayer;” Ellen M. Gates’ “ I will sing for Jesus,” set to music and first sung by Philip Phillips; “The Home of the Soul;” “Your Mission” (the great favorite of President Lincoln;” “ If we knew;” “ Beautiful Hands;” “The Prodigal’s Return;” Anna L. Warner’s “ In heavenly love abiding,” are among those that cannot be passed by.
Clara H. Scott is the only woman in the world, so far as known, to compile and publish an anthem book. Her “ Royal Anthem Book,” of some three hundred pages, has met with great favor among church choirs, and her “ Oh, when shall I be free?” and “Te Deums,” are sung all over the United States.
May Riley Smith’s “ Tired Mothers” and “If” have brought comfort to many. Who does not know them, and that they belong to her, though often seen anonymously in the papers? Her “Sometimes” was once credited to Helen Hunt, whose verse all admit to be of a very high order. When asked if she was the author, she replied in the affirmative. “ One day,” she went on to say, “ I was on the cars, going from Chicago to Springfield” (which latter was then her home), “and I noticed a lady and gentleman in front of me, the former of whom held in her hand the portrait of a lovely child. As she talked of the original, gone to her heavenly home, tears fell fast, and ofttimes she kissed the picture of the beautiful child. I grew sober, and then sad. Taking a pencil and crumpled bit of paper from my pocket, I composed that poem.” Or, rather, it seemed to compose itself; she simply wrote it down as it rapidly came to her.
Just a few lines of one of her gems:
“If we knew the baby fingers,
Pressed against the window pane,
Would be cold and stiff tomorrow,
Never trouble us again:
Would the bright eyes of our darling Catch the frown upon our brow?
Would the print of rosy fingers Vex us then, as they do now?”
Next to Fanny Crosby, perhaps Miss M. PL Servoss, of Chicago, has furnished as many acceptable hymns as any one woman in this country. They are found in thirty- nine or forty different collections, accompanied by the name, M. E. Servoss, and for years the author was supposed to be a man. She interprets a high plane of religious