's liquid tune of "Ward," and the priceless
stanza,--

Jesus can make a dying bed
Feel soft as downy pillows are,

doubly prove the claim of the Southampton bard to a foremost place with
the song-preachers of Christian trust.

The psalm (Amsterdam version), "God is the refuge," etc., is said to
have been sung by John Howland in the shallop of the Mayflower when an
attempt was made to effect a landing in spite of tempestuous weather. A
tradition of this had doubtless reached Mrs. Hemans when she wrote--

Amid the storm they sang, etc.

"FATHER, WHATE'ER OF EARTHLY BLISS."

This hymn had originally ten stanzas, of which the three usually sung
are the three last. The above line is the first of the eighth stanza,
altered from--

And O, whate'er of earthly bliss.

Probably for more than a century the familiar surname "Steele" attached
to this and many other hymns in the hymn-books conveyed to the general
public no hint of a mind and hand more feminine than Cowper's or
Montgomery's. Even intelligent people, who had chanced upon sundry
copies of _The Spectator_, somehow fell into the habit of putting
"Steele" and "Addison" in the same category of hymn names, and Sir
Richard Steele got a credit he never sought. But since stories of the
hymns began to be published--and made the subject of evening talks in
church conference rooms--many have learned what "Steele" in the
hymn-book means. It introduces us now to a very retiring English lady,
Miss Anna Steele, a Baptist minister's daughter. She was born in 1706,
at Broughton, Hampshire, in her father's parsonage, and in her father's
parsonage she spent her life, dying there Nov. 1778.

She was many years a severe sufferer from bodily illness, and a lasting
grief of mind and heart was the loss of her intended husband, who was
drowned the day before their appointed wedding. It is said that this
hymn was written under the recent sorrow of that loss.

In 1760 and 1780 volumes of her works in verse and prose were published
with her name, "Theodosia," and reprinted in 1863 as "_Hymns, Psalms,
and Poems_, by Anna Steele." The hymn "Father, whate'er," etc., is
estimated as her best, though some rank it only next to her--

Dear Refuge of my weary soul.

Other more or less well-known hymns of this devout and loving writer
are,--

Lord, how mysterious are Thy ways,

O Thou whose tender mercy hears,

Thou lovely Source of true delight,