Sir Arthur Sullivan put the words into classic expression, but, to American ears at least, the tune of "Oak," by Lowell Mason, is the hymn's true sister. It was composed in 1854. "DEAR JESUS, EVER AT MY SIDE." One of Frederick William Faber's sweet and simple lyrics. It voices that temper and spirit in the human heart which the Saviour first looks for and loves best. None better than Faber could feel and utter the real artlessness of Christian love and faith. Dear Jesus, ever at my side, How loving must Thou be To leave Thy home in heaven to guard A sinful child like me. Thy beautiful and shining face I see not, tho' so near; The sweetness of Thy soft low voice I am too deaf to hear. I cannot feel Thee touch my hand With pressure light and mild, To check me as my mother did When I was but a child; But I have felt Thee in my thoughts Fighting with sin for me, And when my heart loves God I know The sweetness is from Thee. [Illustration: Fanny J. Crosby (Mrs. Van Alstyne)] _THE TUNE._ "Audientes" by Sir Arthur Sullivan is a gentle, emotional piece, rendering the first quatrain of each stanza in E flat unison, and the second in C harmony. "TIS RELIGION THAT CAN GIVE." This simple rhyme, which has been sung perhaps in every Sunday-school in England and the United States, is from a small English book by Mary Masters. In the preface to the work, we read, "The author of the following poems never read a treatise of rhetoric or an art of poetry, nor was ever taught her English grammar. Her education rose no higher than the spelling-book or her writing-master," 'Tis religion that can give Sweetest pleasure while we live; 'Tis religion can supply Solid comfort when we die. After death its joys shall be Lasting as eternity. Save the two sentences about herself, quoted above, there is no biography of the writer. That she was good is taken for granted. The tune-sister of the little hymn is as scant of date or history as itself. No. 422 points it out in _The Revivalist_, where the name and initial seem to ascribe the authorship to Horace Waters.[30] [Footnote 30: From his _Sabbath Bell_. Horace Waters, a prominent Baptist layman, was born in Jefferson, Lincoln Co., Me., Nov. 1, 1812, and died in New York City, April 22, 1893. He was a piano-dealer and publisher.] "THERE IS A HAPPY LAND FAR, FAR AWAY" This child's hymn was written by a lover of children, Mr. Andrew Young, head master of Niddrey St. School, Edinburgh, and subsequently English instructor at Madras College, E.I. He was born April 23, 1807, and died Nov. 30, 1899, and long before the end of the century which his life-time so nearly covered his little carol had become one of the universal hymns. _THE TUNE._