10. God laid his rocks in courses,

is unaccountably missing from the above list in Julian’s Dictionary. It is dated 1888 and was written for the dedication of the church in Hinsdale which was erected shortly before his pastorate there came to an end.

Hymns of the Spirit, 1937, also includes as a hymn beginning,

11. It sounds along the ages,

an arrangement of stanzas from one of Dr. Gannett’s poems entitled “The Word of God.”

Finally, mention should be made of his part in giving form to the great hymn beginning

12. Praise to the living God! All praiséd be his name!

This is a metrical version of the Yigdal, a summary of the Jewish faith attributed to Daniel Ben Judah who lived about the 14th century A.D. About 1760 Thomas Olivers, a Methodist preacher visiting a Jewish synagogue in London, heard it chanted in Hebrew by the cantor Leoni (Meyer Lyon) to a traditional melody. Much impressed he secured a prose translation which he turned into the hymn beginning

The God of Abraham praise,

to be sung to the same tune, to which he gave the name Leoni. His version, however, did not follow the original text at all closely, for he gave it a Christian interpretation. (A detailed account of this episode will be found in Julian’s Dictionary, pp. 1149-1151.) This hymn soon became, and has remained, widely popular. In the 1880’s Rabbi Max Landsberg of Temple Berith Kodesh in Rochester, New York, a friend of [Rev. Newton Mann], q.v. then minister of the Unitarian Church in Rochester, asked Mr. Mann if he could not make a metrical version of the Yigdal in English which would be a more exact translation. Mr. Mann did so, but not in the metre of the tune to which the Hebrew text was sung. After Dr. Gannett had succeeded Mr. Mann in Rochester, Rabbi Landsberg asked him to recast Mr. Mann’s version in the same metre as the tune. Dr. Gannett did so, and his version in 5 stas. was included in the Jewish Union Hymnal, 1910, from which, with one stanza omitted and some other alterations which in most cases are not improvements, it has come into a number of Christian hymn books. The unchanged version in 4 stas. will be found in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937, where it is recorded as “Revised version of the Yigdal of Daniel Ben Judah” and the tune is called “Yigdal (Leoni)” and is described as “Jewish Melody, arr. by Meyer Lyon.” Dr. Gannett never claimed this version as his, and it is now impossible to discover how much of its wording is due to Mr. Mann’s earlier verse, but its poetic perfection is highly suggestive of Dr. Gannett’s craftsmanship, which assuredly has contributed much to its present form.

H.W.F

Gilman, Mrs. Caroline (Howard), Boston, Massachusetts, October 8, 1794—September 18, 1888, Washington D. C. She married [Rev. Samuel Gilman], q.v., on October 14, 1819, and after his death in 1858 lived for a time in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later in Tiverton, Long Island, New York.

She began to write stories and poems at an early age, many of which were published in “The Rosebud,” later called “The Southern Rose,” a juvenile weekly paper published in Charleston, South Carolina, which she edited for several years, beginning in 1832. Her book entitled “Verses of a Lifetime” was published in 1854, as were a number of other books which gave her a considerable reputation as an author. Five of her poems are included in Putnam’s Singers and Songs, etc. Two of her hymns had considerable use,

1. Is there a lone and dreary hour, (Providence)

This was contributed to Sewall’s Collection, 1820, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, to which in 1867 she added a fifth stanza for inclusion in the Charleston Services and Hymns. This hymn had wide use in both British and American collections in the 19th century.

2. We bless Thee for this sacred day (Sunday)

Also contributed to Sewall’s Collection, 1820, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, to which she added a fifth stanza, when included in the Charleston Services and Hymns, 1867.

Neither of these hymns is in current use.