“Everybody knows ‘Holy Night,’” remarked a young woman of large musical ability, born in Russia. Her parentage was English and German, and she had cousins in each of the three nations. She sat down at the piano and began to play the song.
An American concert singer with a rare voice, invited in for the occasion, stood by her and led. Those who spoke English began to sing:
“Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright.”
One after another others joined, and soon, French, Swiss, German, Austrian, Belgian, Pole, Russian and Italian were all singing together the same message to the same music—but each in her own tongue.
“If we all start from Christ,” said Henry Churchill King, who once related this incident, “the nations can come into harmony, even though each sings in its own tongue.”
Unifying Influence of Song at Eastertide
The spirit of Easter has an exhilarating effect on all peoples in Christian lands. The following from the news columns of The New York Times on Easter Monday (April 26, 1943) indicates that representatives of various nationalities entered into the joy of the festive season. Among the many services described that day was the sunrise service at Central Park, as follows:
More than 6,000 persons gathered for the annual service on the Mall in Central Park at 7 A.M. A group of Waves and Spars and members of the Marine Corps Auxiliary served as ushers. The services were principally musical, with the singing of Easter hymns by various foreign-language groups, as well as hymns in English.
The services were opened with the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Miss Lucy Monroe, accompanied by the Maritime Band, and continued with the singing of hymns by choirs from foreign-language churches in the metropolitan area. Twelve Mohawk Indians in tribal regalia, the choir of the Cuyler Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, sang “Up From the Grave He Rose,” and a group of sixteen Chinese children sang the same hymn in their native tongue.