in an English stage-coach in 1841 composing the
lines of a little poem that had been ringing in her mind, she could
scarcely have known she was writing a hymn that would gladden the hearts
of thousands of children in many years to come. But that is how she wrote
"I think when I read that sweet story of old," and that is the happy fate
that was in store for her labor of love.

Her maiden name was Jemima Thompson. Her father was a missionary
enthusiast, and she herself was filled with zeal for mission enterprises.
Even as a child, at the age of thirteen, she was an anonymous contributor
to "The Juvenile Magazine." When she was twenty-eight years old she
visited a school where the children had been singing a fine old melody as
a marching song.

"What a lovely children's hymn it would make," she thought, "if only
there were suitable religious words for it."

She hunted through many books for the words she desired, but could find
none that satisfied her. Some time later, as she was riding in a stage
coach with nothing to occupy her, she thought of the tune again. Taking
an old envelope from her pocket, she recorded on the back of it the words
that have come to be loved on both sides of the Atlantic, and some day
probably will be sung by the children of all the world.

When she returned home, she taught the words and the melody to her Sunday
school class. Her father, who was superintendent of the school, chanced
to hear them one day.

"Where did that hymn come from?" he asked.

"Jemima made it!" was the proud answer of the youngsters.

Without telling his daughter about it, the father sent a copy of the
words to the "Sunday School Teachers' Magazine," and in a few weeks it
appeared for the first time in print. Since that time it has continued to
find a place year after year in almost every juvenile hymnal published in
the English language.

The last stanza of the hymn, which begins with the words, "But thousands
and thousands who wander and fall," was added subsequently by the author,
who desired to make it suitable for missionary gatherings. Her interest
in foreign missions continued unabated throughout her life. At one time
she was accepted as a missionary to the women of India, but poor health
prevented her from carrying out her purpose. However, she edited "The
Missionary Repository," the first missionary magazine for children, and
numbered among her contributors such famous missionaries as David
Livingstone, Rob