Percy Dearmer, 1867-1936
A missionary hymn for children, but suitable also for adults. It was written at the request of the Church Missionary Society (London) for their children’s magazine, The Round World. A few months later, January 1, 1930, it was reprinted in Songs of Praise for Boys and Girls. The original is in three stanzas of eight lines each. The first stanza and the first half of the second, omitted in the Hymnary, are as follows:
Remember all the people
Who live in far-off lands
In strange and lovely cities,
Or roam the desert sands,
Or farm the mountain pastures,
Or till the endless plains
Where children wade through rice-fields
And watch the camel-trains: