And there’s a nice youngster of excellent pith— Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith: But he shouted a song for the brave and the free— Just read on his medal, “My country,” “of thee.” The inspiration for this hymn came from the reading of a German patriotic poem sent him by Lowell Mason (See 348). The author, then a young student at Andover Theological Seminary, says: I instantly felt the impulse to write a patriotic hymn of my own, adapted to the tune. Picking up a scrap of waste paper which lay near me, I wrote at once, probably within half an hour, the hymn, “America,” as it is now known everywhere. The whole hymn stands today as it stood on the bit of waste paper. The hymn was first sung at a children’s festival in Park Street Church, Boston, July 4, 1832. For comments on the author, Samuel F. Smith, see Hymn 324. _MUSIC._ AMERICA is also the tune used with the national anthem of Britain, “God save the king.” The melody is of obscure origin. It has been known in England for several centuries. In Denmark it was used toward the end of the 18th century for a national hymn, “_Heil dir dem liebenden_,” and in Germany it was widely used in Prussian and other northern states to patriotic words. In earlier days in the United States, the words, “Come Thou Almighty King,” were sung to this tune. The tune has thus nearly come to be an International Anthem. Henry Carey, 1692-1743, an English musician of considerable ability, known as the composer of the song, “Sally in Our Alley,” is sometimes credited with this tune but the evidence is disputed. He wrote songs and poems for light and burlesque operas but always with regard for decency and good manners. His life was ended by suicide. 345. Judge Eternal, throned in splendor _Henry Scott Holland_, 1874-1918 A prayer for the nation. The hymn was written with the English Empire in mind, but its message and concern for the removal of national evils are such as to make it appropriate for use nearly everywhere. Henry Scott Holland had a distinguished career at Oxford and attained to numerous positions of responsibility in the Church of England. He was Professor of Divinity at Oxford and later Canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The two chief interests of his fruitful life were social reform and missionary work, both of which are embodied in this, his only hymn. The poem was published in July, 1902, in _The Commonwealth_, a Christian social magazine which Dr. Holland edited, and was included in the _English Hymnal_ in 1906. _MUSIC._ SICILIAN MARINERS. For comments on this tune see Hymn 45. 346. Once to every man and nation _James Russell Lowell_, 1819-91