There are few more practical and always-timely verses than this three-stanza poem.
_THE TUNE._
A very musical tune, with spirited chorus, (in _Gospel Hymns_) bears the name of the refrain, and was composed by Mr. Sankey.
A sweet and quieter harmony (uncredited) is mated with the hymn in the old _Baptist Praise Book_ (p. 507) and this was long the fixture to the words, in both Sunday-school and week-day school song-books.
"JESUS THE WATER OF LIFE WILL GIVE."
This Sunday-school lyric is the work of f.a.n.n.y J. Crosby (Mrs. Van Alstyne). Like her other and greater hymn, "Jesus keep me near the Cross," (noted on p. 156,) it reveals the habitual att.i.tude of the pious author"s mind, and the simple earnestness of her own faith as well as her desire to win others.
Jesus the water of life will give Freely, freely, freely; Jesus the water of life will give Freely to those who love Him.
The Spirit and the Bride say "Come Freely, freely, freely.
And he that is thirsty let him come And drink the water of life."
Full chorus,--
The Fountain of life is flowing, Flowing, freely flowing; The Fountain of life is flowing, Is flowing for you and for me.
_THE TUNE._
The hymn must be sung as it was _made_ to be sung, and the composer being many years _en rapport_ with the writer, knew how to put all her metrical rhythms into sweet sound. The tune--in Mr. Bradbury"s _Fresh Laurels_ (1867)--is one of his sympathetic interpretations, and, with the duet sung by two of the best singers of the middle cla.s.s Sunday-school girls, is a melodious and impressive piece.
"WHEN HE COMETH, WHEN HE COMETH."
The Rev. W.O. Cushing, with the beautiful thought in Malachi 3:17 singing in his soul, composed this favorite Sunday-school hymn, which has gone round the world.
When He cometh, when He cometh To make up His jewels, All the jewels, precious jewels, His loved and His own.
Like the stars of the morning, His bright brow adorning They shall shine in their beauty Bright gems for His crown.
He will gather, He will gather The gems for His Kingdom, All the pure ones, all the bright ones, His loved and His own.
Like the stars, etc.
Little children, little children Who love their Redeemer, Are the jewels, precious jewels His loved and His own, Like the stars, etc.
Rev. William Orcutt Cushing of Hingham, Ma.s.s., born Dec. 31, 1823, wrote this little hymn when a young man (1856), probably with no idea of achieving a literary performance. But it rings; and even if it is a "ringing of changes" on pretty syllables, that is not all. There is a thought in it that _sings_. Its glory came to it, however, when it got its tune--and he must have had a subconsciousness of the tune he wanted when he made the lines for his Sunday-school. He died Oct. 19, 1902.
_THE TUNE._
The composer of the music for the "Jewel Hymn"[32] was George F. Root, then living in Reading, Ma.s.s.
[Footnote 32: Comparison of the "Jewel Hymn" tune with the old glee of "Johnny Schmoker" gives color to the a.s.sertion that Mr. Root caught up and adapted a popular ditty for his Christian melody--as was so often done in Wales, and in the Lutheran and Wesleyan reformations. He baptized the comic fugue, and promoted it from the vaudeville stage to the Sunday School.]
A minister returning from Europe on an English steamer visited the steerage, and after some friendly talk proposed a singing service--it something could be started that "everybody" knew--for there were hundreds of emigrants there from nearly every part of Europe.
"It will have to be an American tune, then," said the steerage-master; "try "His jewels.""
The minister struck out at once with the melody and words,--
When He cometh, when He cometh,
--and scores of the poor half-fare mult.i.tude joined voices with him.
Many probably recognized the music of the old glee, and some had heard the sweet air played in the church-steeples at home. Other voices chimed in, male and female, catching the air, and sometimes the words--they were so easy and so many times repeated--and the volume of song increased, till the singing minister stood in the midst of an international concert, the most novel that he ever led.
He tried other songs in similar visits during the rest of the voyage with some success, but the "Jewel Hymn" was the favorite; and by the time port was in sight the whole crowd of emigrants had it by heart.
The steamer landed at Quebec, and when the trains, filled with the new arrivals, rolled away, the song was swelling from nearly every car,--
When He cometh, when He cometh, To make up His jewels.
The composer of the tune--with all the patriotic and sacred master-pieces standing to his credit--never reaped a richer triumph than he shared with his poet-partner that day, when "Precious Jewels" came back to them from over the sea. More than this, there was missionary joy for them both that their tuneful work had done something to hallow the homes of alien settlers with an American Christian psalm.
George Frederick Root, Doctor of Music, was born in Sheffield, Ma.s.s., 1820, eldest of a family of eight children, and spent his youth on a farm. His genius for music drew him to Boston, where he became a pupil of Lowell Mason, and soon advanced so far as to teach music himself and lead the choir in Park St. church. Afterwards he went to New York as director of music in Dr. Deems"s Church of the Strangers. In 1852, after a year"s absence and study in Europe, he returned to New York, and founded the Normal Musical Inst.i.tute. In 1860, he removed to Chicago where he spent the remainder of his life writing and publishing music.
He died Aug. 6, 1895, in Maine.
In the truly popular sense Dr. Root was the best-known American composer; not excepting Stephen C. Foster. Root"s "Hazel Dell," "There"s Music in the Air," and "Rosalie the Prairie Flower" were universal tunes--(words by f.a.n.n.y Crosby,)--as also his music to Henry Washburn"s "Vacant Chair." The songs in his cantata, "The Haymakers," were sung in the shops and factories everywhere, and his war-time music, in such melodies as "Shouting the Battle-cry of Freedom" and "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching" took the country by storm.
"SCATTER SEEDS OF KINDNESS."
This amiable and tuneful poem, suggested by Rom. 12:10, is from the pen of Mary Louise Riley (Mrs. Albert Smith) of New York City. She was born in Brighton, Monroe Co., N.Y. May 27, 1843.
Let us gather up the sunbeams Lying all along our path; Let us keep the wheat and roses Casting out the thorns and chaff.
CHORUS.
Then scatter seeds of kindness (_ter_) For our reaping by and by.
Silas Jones Vail, the tune-writer, for this hymn, was born Oct. 1818, and died May 20, 1883. For years he worked at the hatter"s trade, with Beebe on Broadway, N.Y. and afterwards in an establishment of his own.
His taste and talent led him into musical connections, and from time to time, after relinquishing his trade, he was with Horace Waters, Philip Phillips, W.B. Bradbury, and F.J. Smith, the piano dealer. He was a choir leader and a good composer.
"BY COOL SILOAM"S SHADY RILL."
This hymn of Bp. Heber inculcates the same lesson as that in the stanzas of Michael Bruce before noted, with added emphasis for the young on the briefness of time and opportunity even for them.
How fair the lily grows,
--is answered by--
The lily must decay,
--but, owing to the sweetness of the favorite melody, it was never a saddening hymn for children.