This sweetest of all English singers was born at Astley, Worcestershire, December 14, 1836. She was such a bright, happy and vivacious child that her father, who was a minister of the Church of England and himself a hymn-writer of no mean ability, called her "Little Quicksilver." Her father was also a gifted musician, and this quality too was inherited by the daughter, who became a brilliant pianist and passionately fond of singing. However, because she looked upon her talents as gifts from God to be used only in His service, she would sing nothing but sacred songs. Her sunshiny nature became even more radiant following a deep religious experience at the age of fourteen. Of this she afterwards wrote: "I committed my soul to the Saviour, and earth and heaven seemed brighter from that moment." At the age of eighteen she was confirmed. It is evident that she looked upon her confirmation as one of the most blessed experiences of her life, for when she returned home she wrote in her manuscript book of poems: "THINE FOR EVER" Oh! Thine for ever, what a blessed thing To be for ever His who died for me! My Saviour, all my life Thy praise I'll sing, Nor cease my song throughout eternity. She also wrote a hymn on Confirmation, "In full and glad surrender." This hymn her sister declared was "the epitome of her life and the focus of its sunshine." Four years later, while pursuing studies in Duesseldorf, Germany, Miss Havergal chanced to see Sternberg's celebrated painting, _Ecce Homo_, with the inscription beneath it: This have I done for thee; What hast thou done for me? This was the same painting that once made such a profound impression on the youthful mind of Count Zinzendorf. Miss Havergal was likewise deeply moved, and immediately she seized a piece of scrap paper and a pencil and wrote the famous hymn: I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed, That thou might'st ransomed be, And quickened from the dead. I gave My life for thee: What hast thou given for Me? She thought the verses so poor after she had read them over that she tossed them into a stove. The piece of paper, however, fell out untouched by the flames. When she showed the words to her father a few months later, he was so touched by them he immediately composed a tune by which they could be sung. This seems to have been one of the great turning points in the life of the young hymnist. Her hymns from this period reveal her as a fully surrendered soul, her one ambition being to devote all her talents to Christ. She did not consider herself to be a poet of a high order, but so filled was she with the love of Christ that her heart overflowed with rapturous praise. Indeed, her hymns may be said to be the record of her own spiritual experiences. Always she was proclaiming the evangel of full and free salvation through Jesus' merits to all who believe.