what I was writing about. I was following very far off, always doubting and fearing. I think I had come to Jesus with a trembling faith, but it was a coming' in the press' and behind, never seeing his face or feeling sure that he loved me. I scribbled these words in a few minutes on the back of a circular, and then read them over and thought, 'Well, this is not poetry, any. how; I won't trouble to write this out.' I reached out my hand to put it in the fire, when a sudden im- pulse made me draw it back, and I put it, crumpled and singed, in my pocket. Soon after I went to see a dear old woman in the almshouse. She began talking to me, as she always did, about her dear Saviour, and I thought I would see if she, a simple old woman, would care for these verses, which I felt sure nobody else would even care to read. I read them to her, and she was so delighted with them that I copied them out and kept them. And now the Master has sent them out in all directions, and I have heard of their being a real blessing to many."

Miss Havergal showed the hymn some time afterward to her father, and he wrote a melody especially for it. But it is the tune which Mr. Bliss composed for it that became popular in America.

I Hear Thy Welcome Voice

Words by Lewis Hartsough

"I hear Thy welcome voice

Music by Lewis Hartsough

That calls me, Lord, to Thee."

The words and music of this beautiful hymn were first published in a monthly entitled "Guide to Holiness," a copy of which was sent to me in England in

1873. I immediately adopted it and had it published in "Sacred Songs and Solos." It proved to be one of the most helpful of the revival hymns, and was often used as an invitation hymn in England and America.

Shortly after this hymn was written, while it was being sung by a large congregation in Washington, a passing merchant stopped to listen. It had been twenty years since he had crossed the threshold of a church. The congregation were on their feet and sinners were passing to the altar for prayer. Stanza after stanza of this hymn was sung, with increasing interest. The Holy Spirit so pressed the Lord's claims that the merchant yielded and joined the penitents. He was converted and this hymn became his favorite. He sang it in his home, on the street, and in his store. It seemed a special inspiration to him. One morning, about two weeks after his conversion, as he started for his store, his wife, having accompanied him to the door to say good-bye, heard him joyfully begin to sing "I am coming, Lord, to Thee," as he reached the street. She listened a little while, looking after him, and then turned to her room. A few moments later the door-bell rang. She answered it in person, only to find that men were bearing home her husband's dead body. He had slipped on the icy pavement and was instantly killed. The memory of those last words of song that fell upon her ears, as he triumphantly sang "I am coming, Lord, to Thee," was to her a lasting comfort.

"While holding meetings at Eastbourn," says an English evangelist, "a man by the name of David was

converted. His very wicked work-mate, whose name was Stephen, noticed the change in him the next day, and asked David what had caused it. David boldly confessed that he had found the Saviour at the Mission, and expressed a wish that Stephen would accompany him there next Sunday-to which he finally agreed. As we began the service on Sunday evening, I gave out the hymn, I hear Thy welcome Voice.' During the singing I noticed that the Spirit had touched a man who was sitting on the first form under the platform. After a short comment on the verses, I said: 'We will have the prayer-meeting at once,' and in another minute I was down by the side of Stephenfor it was he-and with my arm around his neck I said to him: The Lord is speaking to you, is he not?'

"After the meeting Stephen testified that he had been able to knock down two men in a fight, but that he never was so knocked down in all his life as when he felt my arm around his neck. Stephen became a brave and true follower of Christ. He brought his wife to church, and though at first she had ridiculed her husband, she, too, soon gave heed to the 'welcome voice.'"

I'll Go Where Thou Would'st I Should Go Words by Mary Brown Music by Carrie E. Rounsefell

"It may not be on the mountain's height,

Or over the stormy sea."

This well-known missionary and consecration hymn was adopted by a class of over a hundred missionary nurses at the Battle Creek (Michigan) Sanitarium as their class hymn. Every Sunday afternoon.

they would gather for a social meeting and always sing, “I'll go where Thou would'st I should go, dear Lord," which they called "their hymn." In this class were students from nearly every State of the Union, from Australia, South Africa, South America, Bulgaria, Armenia, and nearly all the European countries. At the close of the course they agreed that after they had parted and gone to their different fields, they would sing this hymn every Sunday afternoon as they had done during their happy class-days.

I Love to Tell the Story

Words by Miss Kate Hankey

"I love to tell the story

Of unseen things above."

Music by W. G. Fischer

"Last winter a young man appeared here from British Columbia," says a letter from Surrey, England. "He was in the Royal Marines. He was a total abstainer and was doing all he could to promote temperance among his comrades. While here he went to

church, and the curate, who had a conversation with him, was much pleased with his manly behavior and resolute desire to do right. He wore a medal and had good-conduct marks on his clothes. This man was the little boy whom Miss T. had picked up in Battersea Park many years before, and who had learned of the gospel of salvation entirely by listening to the maidservants singing sacred songs while scrubbing doorsteps and cleaning windows. The hymn that, as a child, he seemed to make entirely his own was, 'I love to tell the story,' though he knew several others when

he was picked up in the park. As he had never been to church or chapel, the hymns were the only channel through which divine truth had been conveyed to him, and by which the first seed was sown in his heart that made him a man of character and usefulness."

I Need Thee Every Hour

Words by Annie S. Hawks

Music by Robert Lowry

"I need Thee every hour,

Most gracious Lord."

A chaplain of the State prison at Concord, Massachusetts, tells how an ex-prisoner, who had never had a home in his life, prepared one, humble but tasteful, and then asked the chaplain to help him dedicate it. Together they entered the home-the man's wife had not yet come and the service began. "Mr. B., with evident brokenness of spirit, for he was naturally a proud man and not unacquainted with larger surroundings, could not refrain from some criticism upon his poor things; but his heart was so full that his embarrassment was only temporary, and he immediately went on with a firm purpose. He started the hymn, ' I need Thee every hour' for the first number of the service."

"I need Thee every hour" was first sung at a Sunday-school convention in Cincinnati, in November of 1872. Two years later I sang it for the first time at Mr. Moody's meetings in the East End of London. After that we often used it in our prayer-meetings.

The singing of this hymn at a meeting in Chicago, at the time of the World's Fair, led to the writing of