The authorship of the tune to which the words were sung has been claimed for Samuel Cowdell, a schoolmaster of Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, 1820, but the date of the lost tune was probably much earlier. In the early days of New England, before the Indian missions had been brought to an end by the sweeping away of the tribes, several fine hymns were composed by educated Indians, and were used in the churches. The best known is that beginning-- When shall we all meet again? It was composed by three Indians at the planting of a memorial pine on leaving Dartmouth College, where they had been studying. The lines indicate an expectation of missionary life and work. When shall we all meet again? When shall we all meet again? Oft shall glowing hope expire, Oft shall wearied love retire, Oft shall death and sorrow reign Ere we all shall meet again. Though in distant lands we sigh, Parched beneath a burning sky, Though the deep between us rolls, Friendship shall unite our souls; And in fancy's wide domain, There we all shall meet again. When these burnished locks are gray, Thinned by many a toil-spent day, When around this youthful pine Moss shall creep and ivy twine, (Long may this loved bower remain!) Here may we all meet again. When the dreams of life are fled, When its wasted lamps are dead, When in cold oblivion's shade Beauty, health, and strength are laid, Where immortal spirits reign, There we all shall meet again. This parting piece was sung in religious meetings as a hymn, like the other once so common, but later,-- "When shall we meet again, Meet ne'er to sever?" --to a tune in B flat minor, excessively plaintive, and likely to sadden an emotional singer or hearer to tears. The full harmony is found in the _American Vocalist_, and the air is reprinted in the _Revivalist_ (1868). The fact that minor music is the natural Indian tone in song makes it probable that the melody is as ancient as the hymn--though no date is given for either. Tradition says that nearly fifty years later the same three Indians were providentially drawn to the spot where they parted, and met again, and while they were together composed and sang another ode. Truth to tell, however, it had only one note of gladness, and that was in the first stanza: Parted many a toil-spent year, Pledged in youth to memory dear, Still to friendship's magnet true, We our social joys renew; Bound by love's unsevered chain, Here on earth we meet again. The remaining three stanzas dwell principally on the ravages time has made. The reunion ode of those stoical college classmates of a stoical race could have been sung in the same B flat minor. "AWAKED BY SINAI'S AWFUL SOUND."