elieve,
Almost persuaded Christ to receive;
Seems now some soul to say
"Go Spirit, go thy way,
Some more convenient day
On Thee I'll call."

* * * * *

Almost persuaded--the harvest is past!

Both hymn and tune are by Mr. Bliss--and the omission of a chorus is in
proper taste. This revival piece brings the eloquence of sense and
sound to bear upon the conscience in one monitory pleading. Incidents in
this country and in England related in Mr. Sankey's book, illustrate its
power. It has a convicting and converting history.

"MY AIN COUNTREE."

This hymn was written by Miss Mary Augusta Lee one Sabbath day in 1860
at Bowmount, Croton Falls, N.Y., and first published in the _New York
Observer_, Dec, 1861. The authoress had been reading the story of John
Macduff who, with his wife, left Scotland for the United States, and
accumulated property by toil and thrift in the great West. In her
leisure after the necessity for hard work was past, the Scotch woman
grew homesick and pined for her "ain countree." Her husband, at her
request, came east and settled with her in sight of the Atlantic where
she could see the waters that washed the Scotland shore. But she still
pined, and finally to save her life, John Macduff took her back to the
heather hills of the mother-land, where she soon recovered her health
and spirits.

I am far from my hame an' I'm weary aften whiles
For the langed-for hame-bringing an' my Father's welcome smiles.
I'll ne'er be fu' content until mine eyes do see
The shinin' gates o' heaven an' mine ain countree.

The airt' is flecked wi' flowers mony-tinted, frish an' gay,
The birdies warble blithely, for my Father made them sae,
But these sights an' these soun's will naething be to me
When I hear the angels singin' in my ain countree.

Miss Lee was born in Croton Falls in 1838, and was of Scotch descent,
and cared for by her grandfather and a Scotch nurse, her mother dying in
her infancy. In 1870 she became the wife of a Mr. Demarest, and her
married life was spent in Passaic, N.J., until their removal to
Pasadena, Cal., in hope of restoring her failing health. She died at Los
Angeles, Jan. 8, 1888.

_THE TUNE_

Is an air written in 1864 in the Scottish style by Mrs. Ione T. Hanna,
wife of a banker in Denver, Colo., and harmonized for choral use by
Hubert P. Main in 1873. Its plaintive sweetness suits the w