“The Children’s Hymn,” in Kipling’s Puck of Pook’s Hill, published in 1906. It was written for boys, but is suitable also for adults. Permission to use the hymn in the Hymnary was granted by Mrs. Kipling on condition that all eight stanzas, unaltered, be used.
Rudyard Kipling, famous English writer, was born in Bombay, India, and died in Sussex, England. After receiving his education in England, he returned to India to engage in journalism and became widely known for his short stories, novels, children’s books, histories, and books of travel. The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded him in 1907, and he received honorary degrees from universities all over the world. His Jungle Book, Just-So Stories, Puck of Pook’s Hill, Rewards and Fairies made him beloved of all children. His writings extol the virtues of clean living and manly duty which make a nation great. However, his passionate patriotism made him pen the unfortunate lines:
“O East is East and West is West
And ne’er the twain shall meet”
a prophecy completely discredited by the world events of recent years.
MUSIC. HEBRON. For comments on Lowell Mason, the composer of this tune, see [Hymn 12].
402. Lord, through changing days, unchanging
W. Russell Bowie, 1882—
This hymn was written originally for the hymn book of the Hill School, of Pottstown, Pa., from which the author graduated as a boy in 1900, and where he afterward taught for a year. The motto of the school is “Whatsoever things are true” (Phil. 4:8). The hymn is built around that theme.
W. Russell Bowie was born in Richmond, Va. After taking an A.B. and an A.M. at Harvard and teaching for a year at the Hill School, he spent most of three years at the Theological Seminary of Virginia, near Alexandria, graduating with the B.D. degree in 1908. Part of his senior year was spent in special study at Union Theological Seminary in New York. For many years he was rector of Grace Church (Episcopal) in New York, a post he resigned in 1939 to become Jesup Graduate Professor of Practical Theology and Dean of Students at Union Seminary. He is the author of a number of books, the most widely known of which is the Story of the Bible, published by the Abingdon-Cokesbury Press. Among his other volumes are The Children’s Year, The Inescapable Christ, The Master: A Life of Christ (1928) and Which Way Ahead (1943). In the late 1920’s he was elected Bishop Coadjutor of Pennsylvania, but did not accept.