“All Thy waves and billows go
Over me to press me down
Into arms so strong I know
They will never let me drown.
Ah, my God, how good Thy will!
I will nestle and be still.”
Singing Welshmen at Oxford
A scene which greatly impressed him was related by Frederick M. Davenport, a former member of congress, when he returned from a trip to England late in the summer of 1937. Mentioning the distressed area of the coal district of South Wales, he said:
“As we were leaving Oxford one morning there appeared on the station platform about a hundred young Welshmen between eighteen and twenty years of age. They were dressed in the garb of manual laborers, and held rough baggage in their hands. Their home was in South Wales, but they had been in Oxford working on a government project and were leaving for a holiday.
“Nearly all Welsh are singers, and these young men were no exception. After a few jolly songs directed at their leaders, as their train was nearly due to leave they massed themselves together and sang magnificently:
“‘Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand;
Bread of heaven,
Feed me till I want no more.’
“For the time being they were unemployed at home,... but they were full of confidence and good will.”
This hymn, “a genuine heart song,” comes from Welsh sources; and one of the tunes to which it is sung, “Cwm Rhondda,” composed by a Welshman, is a favorite among Welsh people.