“Oh, say! does that star-spangled banner still wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
The joy of freedom was in their hearts and voices at that happy and memorable moment. Band and voices made mighty and glorious music for the many who sat in their homes and listened to the convenient radio.
Song of the Chaplain’s Wife
She was lonesome as she sat in the small parsonage. Her preacher husband had entered the army as a chaplain in World War II, and this little woman, like many others of that period, had several problems to solve. A family of small children had to be looked after. Furthermore, being a lay preacher, she had been asked to care for her husband’s church during the period of his service with the armed forces of the United States. Household help was almost impossible to secure; but, with the aid of a high school girl, mostly, she cared for the home, with its three small children, and also the church.
This little woman (for she was really small physically) was a trained musician. She could both play and sing, if need be, as well as preach. Natural was it, therefore, that she should turn to her hymnal as well as her Bible for needed strength of soul. She found it in a comparatively new hymn. Its prayerful spirit expressed the yearning desire of her soul:
“Come! Peace of God, and dwell again on earth,
Come, with the calm that hailed Thy Prince’s birth,
Come, with the healing of Thy gentle touch,
Come, Peace of God, that this world needs so much.”