A hymn setting forth the spirit of brotherhood in terms of sharing. Information regarding the author, Rev. Theodore C. Williams, has not been traced.
MUSIC. BULLINGER was written in 1874 by Ethelbert William Bullinger, 1837-1913, an English clergyman who made the study of music his avocation. He is remembered principally as the composer of this tune with its last phrase somewhat awkward due to the long, tied initial note.
228. Who is thy neighbor?
William Cutter, 1801-87
Based on the parable of the Good Samaritan. The hymn first appeared in The Christian Mirror, Portland, Me., 1838, in seven stanzas. One of the omitted stanzas reads:
Thy neighbor? Yonder toiling slave,
Fettered in thought and limb;
Whose hopes are all beyond the grave,
Go thou, and ransom him.
The author, William Cutter, was an editor and publisher, born at Yarmouth, Me., a graduate of Bowdoin College, and member of the Congregational Church. He was in business in Portland, Me., for several years and then in Brooklyn, N. Y. He has been described as “a deserving writer who has hitherto missed his due meed of acknowledgement.”