A humble lady in Melrose, Scotland, was led to see the beauty of the character of Christ in the parable of the Good Shepherd. She possessed genius, and sometimes expressed her best thoughts and feelings in verse. The vision of Christ leaving the glories of Heaven and becoming a seeker of men who had gone astray, like an Eastern shepherd seeking a wandering sheep in perilous places, touched her heart with poetic fervor, and she wrote the hymn beginning: "There were ninety and nine that safely lay In the shelter of the fold." One of the stanzas most vividly and tenderly expressed her clear view of Divine sympathy and compassion: "But none of the ransomed ever knew How deep were the waters crossed; Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through Ere He found His sheep that was lost. Out in the desert He heard its cry-- Sick and helpless, and ready to die." The poem was published in a local paper, and the lady soon afterward died, and went to the Good Shepherd, whose love for the wandering and perishing had gained the affections and service of her life. She was buried in one of the churchyards of beautiful Melrose. The efforts of a sincere life always meet with the needs of others, and are often given, under Providence, a special mission in the world. The simplicity and fervor of the little poem gained for it an unexpected recognition. The American evangelist, Mr. Sankey, was one day returning from Edinburgh to Glasgow, to hold a farewell meeting there. Glasgow had been the scene of the most signal triumphs in the work of Messrs. Moody and Sankey, and this farewell gathering promised to be one of thanksgiving and tears, of wonderful interest, power, and feeling. Mr. Sankey, on this occasion, desired to introduce a new hymn which should represent Christ as a compassionate and all-sufficient Saviour. "Before getting on the train," he says, "I went to the news-stand and bought two or three papers--some secular, some religious--and in one of them I found these verses: "'There were ninety and nine that safely lay In the shelter of the fold,' etc. "I said to my brother Moody, 'That's just the hymn I have been wanting. I think the Lord has really sent it to us!' "Next day this little tune or chant it is set to, came to me. "We went into the noon meeting, and dear Dr. Bonar, who has written so many beautiful hymns ('I was a Wandering Sheep and did not Love the Fold,' and 'I Heard the Voice of Jesus say, Come unto Me and Rest') was there, and the thought came to me, 'We must sing now this new hymn that the Lord has sent us.' "The tune had scarcely formed itself in my head yet, but I just cut the words from the paper, put it in front of me on the organ and began to sing them, hardly knowing where the tune was coming from. But the Lord said, 'Sing it,' and as we were singing it His Spirit came upon us, and what a blessed meeting we had!"