ere the singing of the girls delighted and surprised her.
It was sunset, and their hymn was--

Softly now the light of day.

Several of the girls were Sunday-school teachers, who had encouraged
others to sing at that hour, and it had become a habit.

"Has it made a difference?" the lady inquired.

"There is seldom any quarrelling or coarse joking among them now," said
the superintendent with a smile.

Dr. S.F. Smith's hymn of much the same tone and tenor--

Softly fades the twilight ray
Of the holy Sabbath day,

--is commonly sung to the tune of "Holley."

George Hews, an American composer and piano-maker, was born in
Massachusetts 1800, and died July 6, 1873. No intelligence of him or his
work or former locality is at hand, beyond this brief note in Baptie,
"He is believed to have followed his trade in Boston, and written music
for some of Mason's earlier books."

_DEDICATION._

"CHRIST IS OUR CORNER-STONE."

This reproduces in Chandler's translation a song-service in an ancient
Latin liturgy (_angulare fundamentum_).

Christ is our Corner-Stone;
On Him alone we build,
With His true saints alone
The courts of heaven are filled,
On His great love
Our hopes we place
Of present grace
And joys above.

O then with hymns of praise
These hallowed courts shall ring;
Our voices we will raise
The Three-in-One to sing.
And thus proclaim
In joyful song
But loud and long
That glorious Name.

The Rev. John Chandler was born at Witley, Surrey, Eng. June 16, 1806.
He took his A.M. degree at Oxford, and entered the ministry of the
Church of England, was Vicar of Witley many years, and became well-known
for his translations of hymns of the primitive church. Died at Putney,
July 1, 1876.

_THE TUNE._

Sebastian Wesley's "Harewood" is plainer and of less compass, but
Zundel's "Brooklyn" is more than its rival, both in melody and vivacity.

"OH LORD OF HOSTS WHOSE GLORY FILLS THE BOUNDS OF THE ETERNAL HILLS."

A hymn of Dr. John Mason Neale--

Endue the creatures with Thy grace
That shall adorn Thy dwelling-place
The beauty of the oak and pine,
The gold and silver, make them Thine.

The heads that guide endue with skill,
The hands that work preserve from ill,
That we who these foundations lay
May raise the top-stone in its day.

_THE TUNE._