Page:The Methodist Hymn-Book Illustrated.djvu/361

 THE STORY OF THE HYMNS AND THEIR WRITERS 349

the People s Hymnal, 1867, and, greatly improved, in Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1875. It was written for the children at Horbury Bridge.

The author was born at Thor Kildstrup, Island of Falster, in 1789, and became Professor of Danish Language and Literature at Soro Academy, Zealand, from 1822 to his death in 1862. He was a prolific poet, who had a great national reputation, and his works were published in 1851 in thirty-four volumes. Gilbert Tail s Hymns of Denmark, 1868, contains seven translations of his hymns.

Ingemann s father was a clergyman, and he was intended for the Church. At an early age he published his poems, then he issued a series of books on the hero kings of the Middle Ages, which were greatly influenced by the writings of Sir Walter Scott. These became the most popular of Danish books. Mr. Horder says, Manly vigour and almost childlike tenderness, together with true faith and a firm belief that there will be light after darkness, form the most prominent features in his hymns. Scarcely was any poet more appreciated by his country than Ingemann. On his seventieth birthday the Danish children presented him with a splendid golden horn. The subscriptions were limited to a halfpenny, and every child throughout the land gave its mite towards the man who, perhaps, even in the same degree as Hans Christian Andersen, had cheered their childhood. He died a few years after, greatly lamented. Few who ever saw the old poet and his amiable wife Philemon and Baucis they were called in their quiet cottage in the beautiful Soro, surrounded by roses, are likely to forget them. The Hymn Lover, p. 386.

Hymn 629. Heavenly Father, Thou hast brought us. HESTER PERIAM HAWKINS.

Mrs. Hawkins, of Bedford (tide Lewis), published in 1885 The Home Hymn-book, A Manual of Sacred Song for the Family Circle. To this she contributed seven hymns, signed H. P. H., on subjects for which she could not find hymns elsewhere. The Dictionary of Hymnology says, For home use we know of no book of equal comprehensiveness and merit. The music also is well adapted to the family circle. This hymn was written in 1885 for the golden wedding of her father and mother. By omitting the third verse it has been

�� �