r was a wakeful hush long before she had ended; it was as if a
beautiful spirit were floating through the air. None that heard will
ever forget. Philip Phillips can never bring that 'home of the soul' any
nearer to anybody. And never, I think, was quite so sweet a voice lifted
in a storm of a November night on the rolling plains of Iowa."

In an autograph copy of her hymn, sent to the editor, Mrs. Gates changes
"harps" to "palms." Is it an improvement? "Palms" is a word of two
meanings.

O how sweet it will be in that beautiful land,
So free from all sorrow and pain,
With songs on our lips and with harps in our hands
To meet one another again.

"THERE'S A LAND THAT IS FAIRER THAN DAY."

This belongs rather with "Christian Ballads" than with genuine hymns,
but the song has had and still has an uplifting mission among the lowly
whom literary perfection and musical nicety could not touch--and the
first two lines, at least, are good hymn-writing. Few of the best sacred
lyrics have been sung with purer sentiment and more affectionate fervor
than "The Sweet By-and-By." To any company keyed to sympathy by time,
place, and condition, the feeling of the song brings unshed tears.

As nearly as can be ascertained it was in the year 1867 that a man about
forty-eight years old, named Webster, entered the office of Dr. Bennett
in Elkhorn. Wis., wearing a melancholy look, and was rallied
good-naturedly by the doctor for being so blue--Webster and Bennett were
friends, and the doctor was familiar with the other's frequent fits of
gloom.

The two men had been working in a sort of partnership, Webster being a
musician and Bennett a ready verse-writer, and together they had created
and published a number of sheet-music songs. When Webster was in a fit
of melancholy, it was the doctor's habit to give him a "dose" of new
verses and cure him by putting him to work. Today the treatment turned
out to be historic.

"What's the matter now," was the doctor's greeting when his "patient"
came with the tell-tale face.

"O, nothing," said Webster. "It'll be all right by and by."

"Why not make a song of the sweet by and by?" rejoined the doctor,
cheerfully.

"I don't know," said Webster, after thinking a second or two. "If you'll
make the words, I'll write the music."

The doctor went to his desk, and in a short time produced three stanzas
and a chorus to which his friend soon set the notes of a lilting air,
brigh