To sing among His angels,
Because He loves me so.
Emily Huntington Miller, 1867.
WOMEN WHO WROTE HYMNS FOR CHILDREN
Everybody loves the hymns the children sing. And that, perhaps, is the reason why Emily Huntington Miller’s name will not soon be forgotten, for the hymns she wrote were children’s hymns indeed—hymns that came from the heart of one who understood the heart of a child.
The daughter of a Methodist clergyman, Emily Huntington was born in Brooklyn, Conn., October 22, 1833. The spiritual and cultural influence of a New England parsonage was not lost on this little child, who early in life began to reveal unusual literary gifts. It was very unusual in those days for young women to attend college, but Emily enrolled at Oberlin College and graduated in the class of 1857.
Ten years later she became one of the editors of “The Little Corporal,” a very popular magazine for children. Each month she contributed a poem to this publication. Like all other contributors, she often found it difficult to have her poem ready each month on the required day. One month in 1867 she was handicapped by illness. The final day came, and her poem was not written. In spite of her weakness, she aroused herself to the task. The inspiration seemed to come immediately, and, so she tells us, “in less than fifteen minutes the hymn was written and sent away without any correction.”
The hymn referred to was “I love to hear the story.” Almost immediately it sprang into popularity. In England it was admitted in 1875 to “Hymns Ancient and Modern,” the hymn-book of the Church of England. This was a very unusual honor, since very few hymns of American origin have been included in that famous collection. It is said that no one was more surprised at the popularity achieved by the hymn than the author herself.
Another of her hymns that has won a place in the hearts of the smaller children is the sweet little gem:
Jesus bids us shine