Hymn Stories of the Twentieth CenturyHart, William J. (William John)
Religion
Hymn Stories of the Twentieth Century
Hart, William J. (William John)
Hymns, English -- History and criticism
We looked long at the unusual picture which stood out prominently on the
front page of our morning newspaper (an AP Wirephoto). The item carried
the heading which we are using. A group of twenty-five singers was
shown, and they all sat in wheel chairs. They were all polio patients,
and among them were several naval officers. A special article in _The
New York Times_ supplied additional details.
The courageous singers were seated in the little white chapel in Warm
Springs, Georgia, where President F. D. Roosevelt last attended a
service of worship. Now, two years after his sudden passing, a memorial
service was being conducted for him. This was on April 12, 1947, and
three hundred polio victims and villagers were present—the patients also
occupied wheel chairs. An overflow company of two hundred were outside
on the greensward in front of the chapel, and listened to the service
which was conveyed to them by loudspeakers.
The pew in which President Roosevelt always sat when he was at Warm
Springs was reserved. Warm Springs was the place to which he often went
when making his heroic fight with his affliction. The health-giving
sources which he there found were greatly helpful. It was there that
death came suddenly to him; there the Little White House stands; and
there State Guards have maintained constant vigil since his translation.
The American flag was on that day at half staff at the unpretentious
cottage where he spent restful, though busy, days.
The leader of the Wheel Chair Choir, Mr. Fred Botts, also occupied a
wheel chair as he directed his group of plucky singers—young people who
were there for treatment. For the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation is the
largest center in the world for the treatment of poliomyelitis. Thither
go patients from every state in the union.
One newspaper supplied the thing I wanted to know, for I wondered what
hymns would be sung by such an exceptional choir—young people fighting
with determination for their health and their future. First came:
“Faith of our fathers! living still.”
The second hymn which the Wheel Chair Singers led the congregation in
singing on that pleasant April day was one which is peculiarly
impressive:
“Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.”
This hymn by Katharina von Schlegel appeared in 1752, and very little is
known of the writer. It was “adequately translated” by Jane Laurie
Bothwick (1813-1897) of Edinburgh. While visiting Switzerland, a friend
suggested that she translate some German hymns in which she was
interested. Therefore she and her sister, Sarah Bothwick Findlater,
worked together in translating _Hymns From the Land of Luther_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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