Deign to hear my evening prayer,
Make a little child Thy care.
Take me in Thy holy keeping
Till the morning break;
Guard me thro’ the darkness sleeping,
Bless me when I wake.
Emily Huntington became the wife of Prof. John E. Miller in 1860. After his death she became dean of the Woman’s College of Northwestern University, in which position she exerted a blessed influence over large numbers of young women. She died in 1913.
Another American woman who at this time was also writing hymns for children was Mrs. Lydia Baxter. Although born at Petersburg, N. Y., September 2, 1809, it was not until nearly fifty years later that she seems to have begun to exercise her gifts as a song writer. Her “Gems by the Wayside” were published in 1855, after which she became a frequent contributor to hymn collections for Sunday schools and evangelistic services.
Mrs. Baxter may be regarded as one of the forerunners of the Gospel hymn movement of America. Her lyrics fall short of the severer standards required in a true hymn, and for this reason few of her hymns have been admitted to the authorized collections of the principal church communions. However, the woman who wrote “Take the Name of Jesus with you” and “There is a gate that stands ajar” will not soon be forgotten by pious Christians, even though the author receives scant notice at the hands of hymnologists. It is a significant fact that in 1921 the Church of Sweden included a translation of the latter hymn in the appendix to its “Psalm-book,” one of the most conservative hymn collections in Christendom. Mrs. Baxter died in New York, June 22, 1874.