436. Remember all God’s children
Percy Dearmer, 1867-1936
A missionary hymn for children, but suitable also for adults. It was written at the request of the Church Missionary Society (London) for their children’s magazine, The Round World. A few months later, January 1, 1930, it was reprinted in Songs of Praise for Boys and Girls. The original is in three stanzas of eight lines each. The first stanza and the first half of the second, omitted in the Hymnary, are as follows:
Remember all the people
Who live in far-off lands
In strange and lovely cities,
Or roam the desert sands,
Or farm the mountain pastures,
Or till the endless plains
Where children wade through rice-fields
And watch the camel-trains:
Some work in sultry forests
Where apes swing to and fro,
Some fish in mighty rivers,
Some hunt across the snow.
Percy Dearmer, prominent figure in the Church of England, was educated at Oxford, served important posts as minister, and in 1919 became Professor of Ecclesiastical Art in King’s College, London. He was editor of two epoch-making hymn books in England—The English Hymnal and Songs of Praise—and wrote an unexcelled handbook to the latter, entitled Songs of Praise Discussed. He is the author of a number of religious books.
MUSIC. EINTRACHT is a melody from the Gesangbuch mit Noten, arranged for unison or two-part singing by Prof. W. H. Hohmann, head of the Music Department of Bethel College.
Walter H. Hohmann, born at Halstead, Kansas, received his education at Bethel College and Bush Conservatory of Music, Chicago, the latter granting him the degree of Bachelor of Music in 1922, and Master of Music in 1928. After teaching several years at Freeman Junior College, and one year at Nebraska State Teachers College, he joined the Bethel College faculty in 1923. In recognition of his long years of service, Bethel College gave him the honorary degree of Doctor of Music, in 1947. He has composed a number of songs and served as co-editor of the Mennonite Hymnary, 1940. He is the author of a booklet, Outlines in Hymnology with Emphasis on Mennonite Hymnology, 1941.