“WAITING AND WATCHING FOR ME.”
Written by Mrs. Marianne Farningham Hearn, born in Kent, Eng., Dec. 17, 1834. The hymn was first published in the fall of 1864 in the London Church World. Its unrhythmical first line—
When mysterious whispers are floating about,
—was replaced by the one now familiar—
When my final farewell to the world I have said,
And gladly lain down to my rest,
When softly the watchers shall say, “He is dead,”
And fold my pale hands on my breast,
And when with my glorified vision at last
The walls of that City I see,
Will any one there at the Beautiful Gate
Be waiting and watching for me?
Mrs. Hearn—a member of the Baptist denomination—has long been the editor of the (English) Sunday School Times, but her literary work has been more largely in connection with the Christian World newspaper of which she has been a staff-member since its foundation.