The composer, George F. Root, 1820-95, an American musician, studied music in Boston and then became a teacher and organist. In 1841, he became associated with Lowell Mason in teaching music in the public schools of Boston. Three years later he moved to New York, where he taught in various institutions, including Union Theological Seminary and the New York Institution for the Blind. In the latter place, the blind hymn writer, Fanny Crosby, was one of his pupils. Root organized and conducted many music institutes and joined his brother, E. T. Root, and C. M. Cady in the publishing of music in Chicago under the firm name, Root and Cady. He composed many tunes for religious and secular use, and during the Civil War wrote numerous “war songs” which became popular. He also wrote cantatas—_Under the Palms, David, the Shepherd Boy_, and others—which have been used by singing organizations all over America. 419. Tell me the stories of Jesus _W. H. Parker_, 1845-1929 A hymn for children on the life of Christ. It first appeared in _The Sunday School Hymnary_, published in England, 1885. It was written by William Henry Parker, a member of the General Baptist Church in England, a layman, interested especially in Sunday school work. He was a machinist by trade, working nearly all his life in a large lace-making plant in Nottingham. For many years he composed hymns for anniversary festivals in the Sunday school. These were published in 1882 in a volume entitled, _The Princess Alice and Other Poems_. _MUSIC._ STORIES OF JESUS was written for these words and included in a volume published by the National Sunday School Union, London. The composer, Frederic Arthur Challinor, was born in Staffordshire, England, 1866, the son of a miner. Poverty compelled him in childhood to seek employment to supplement the family income. At the age of ten he began working in a brick yard. Two years later he found employment in a coal mine and then in a china manufacturing plant. All the while he was interested in music and spent his spare time studying harmony. By hard work and perseverance, he finally won his Mus. Bac. degree in 1903. Challinor has composed several popular cantatas and published more than four hundred compositions for voices. 420. Jesus bids us shine _Susan Warner_, 1819-85 A hymn for small children, which first appeared, anonymously, in _The Little Corporal_, Chicago.