the shadow, cold in death
I yet will sing with fearless breath,
As comes to me in shade or sun,
"Father, Thy will, not mine, be done."

The attempts to _evangelize_ "Nearer, My God, to Thee" by those who
cannot forget that Mrs. Adams was a Unitarian, are to be deplored. Such
zeal is as needless as trying to sectarianize an Old Testament Psalm.
The poem is a perfect religious piece--to be sung as it stands, with
thanks that it was ever created.

_THE TUNE._

In English churches (since 1861) the hymn was and may still be sung to
"Horbury," composed by Rev. John B. Dykes, and "St. Edmund," by Sir
Arthur Sullivan. Both tunes are simple and appropriate, but such a hymn
earns and inevitably acquires a single tune-voice, so that its music
instantly names it by its words when played on instruments. Such a voice
was given it by Lowell Mason's "Bethany," (1856). (Why not "Bethel,"
instead, every one who notes the imagery of the words must wonder.)
"Bethany" appealed to the popular heart, and long ago (in America) hymn
and tune became each other's property. It is even simpler than the
English tunes, and a single hearing fixes it in memory.

"I NEED THEE EVERY HOUR."

Mrs. Annie Sherwood Hawks, who wrote this hymn in 1872, was born in
Hoosick, N.Y., in 1835.

She sent the hymn (five stanzas) to Dr. Lowry, who composed its tune,
adding a chorus, to make it more effective. It first appeared in a small
collection of original songs prepared by Lowry and Doane for the
National Baptist Sunday School Association, which met at Cincinnati, O.,
November, 1872, and was sung there.

I need Thee every hour,
Most gracious Lord,
No tender voice like Thine
Can peace afford.

CHORUS.
I need Thee, Oh, I need Thee,
Every hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Saviour,
I come to Thee!

One instance, at least, of a hymn made doubly impressive by its chorus
will be attested by all who have sung or heard the pleading words and
music of Mrs. Hawks' and Dr. Lowry's "I need Thee, Oh, I need Thee."

"I GAVE MY LIFE FOR THEE."

This was written in her youth by Frances Ridley Havergal, and was
suggested by the motto over the head of Christ in the great picture,
"Ecce Homo," in the Art Gallery of Dusseldorf, Prussia, where she was at
school. The sight--as was the case with young Count Zinzendorf--seems to
have had much to do with the gifted girl's early religious experience,
and indee