XI.

Sarah Flower Adams
Cecil Frances Alexander
Frances Ridley Havergal
Charlotte Elliott

Adelaide Anne Procter

Anne Steele

And Other "Chief Women, Not a Few"

He sendeth sun, He sendeth shower,
Alike they're needful for the flower;
And joys and tears alike are sent
To give the soul fit nourishment.
As comes to me or cloud or sun,
Father, Thy will, not mine, be done!

SARAH FLOWER ADAMS.

O lonely tomb in Moab's land!

O dark Beth-peor's hill!

Speak to these curious hearts of ours,
And teach them to be still.

God hath His mysteries of grace,
Ways that we cannot tell,

He hides them deep, like the secret sleep,

Of Him He loved so well.

CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine,

O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

Born of His spirit, washed in His blood:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long.

FRANCES J. VAN ALSTYNE.

XI.

SARAH FLOWER ADAMS,
CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER,
FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL,
CHARLOTTE ELLIOTT,

ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER,
ANNE STEELE,

AND OTHER "CHIEF WOMEN, NOT A FEW."

SARAH FLOWER ADAMS is best known as the authoress of "Nearer, My God, to Thee," a hymn that has won undying recognition.

The last words of President McKinley are said to have been, "Nearer, my God, to Thee, e'en though it be a cross that raiseth me,' has been my constant prayer." "Lead, kindly Light," was one of his urgent cries; "Nearer, my God, to Thee" was another. Both hymns were sung on the day of his funeral, not only in Canton, Ohio, but in thousands of churches elsewhere throughout our land. For five minutes the busy heart of the nation ceased to beat. Railway trains stopped, telegrams stood still, there was a silence as of death. Then, in one place and another, bands began to play softly, "Nearer, my God, to Thee," and human voices, the voices of a great multitude, caught up

the touching prayer.

"Nearer, My God, to Thee" is one of the dozen great hymns standing foremost in the churches. It was first published in England in 1841. James Freeman Clarke brought it across the ocean for use in his church in Boston in 1844. Samuel Longfellow gave it a place in his Book of Hymns in 1846. Henry Ward Beecher put it in his "Plymouth Collection" in 1855. A year thereafter Lowell Mason wrote for it his tune "Bethany," and that swept it onward. By 1866 its

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