1. Christmas Carols on Deck of Battleship 2. Christmastide Song of Blind Singers 3. Not Too Late to Hear the Christmas Music 4. Carol the Children Wanted _Chapter XIII._ The Cross and the Church 121 1. Building Gone, but Hymn Remains 2. An Army with Banners 3. Church Cross Inspired Grocer’s Song 4. Visiting Singer Familiar with the Hymn _Chapter XIV._ Easter With the Hymnal 127 1. Easter Song of a Centenarian 2. Easter in New Guinea 3. Eastertide Hymn at an Easter Funeral 4. Mother’s Hymn at Eventide Bibliography 135 Index of Hymns 137 INTRODUCTION “That was heavenly,” said a Welshman at the close of a service of sacred song at which he had listened to the narration of incidents with apparent delight and had joyously joined in the singing. Hymns are a source of joy to persons of all ages; and youth and age alike enjoy singing them. The hymnal stands next to the Bible in the devotional reading of many people. Workers among young people find hymn stories to be an important feature of their work; and preachers know that an illustration relating to a hymn not only makes an effective appeal but is also long remembered. Short hymn stories give comforting satisfaction to sick people in their quiet chambers, especially when they can sometimes sing or hum them. Great hymns belong to the ages. They are timeless, and always new stories are being associated with them. But this collection of stories does not range over the centuries; it comes from our own century almost entirely. The hymns are mostly old; but the stories are new. Two quotations indicate what a hymn is and its effects. The following was adopted by The Hymn Society of America as its definition of a Christian hymn: “A Christian hymn is a lyric poem, reverently and devotionally conceived, which is designed to be sung and which expresses the worshipper’s attitude toward God, or God’s purposes in human life. It should be simple and metrical in form, genuinely emotional, poetic and literary in style, spiritual in quality, and in its ideas so direct and so immediately apparent as to unify a congregation while singing it.”—Carl F. Price. “Some kinds of music are like mental and spiritual food. They console us when we have lost someone dear to us. They inspire us to higher forms of living, which give us greater inner satisfaction. They stimulate us to make greater effort to overcome the immense difficulties in the future. This kind of music is beyond question of great value to every individual, community, and nation. This kind of music was bequeathed to us from many lands and is the birthright of everyone.”—Leopold Stokowski in “The New York Times Magazine.”