r among the poor and to write hymns that shall never die?

When Cecil Frances was only a little girl, she began to reveal poetic
talent. Because her father was an officer in the Royal Marines and rather
a stern man, she was not sure that he would be pleased with her efforts
and therefore she hid her poems under a carpet! When he finally
discovered what his nine-year-old daughter was busying herself with, he
set aside a certain hour every Saturday evening, at which time he read
aloud to the family the poems she had written.

The family numbered among its friends none other than John Keble, writer
of the famous collection of devotional poems known as "The Christian
Year," and he, too, gave encouragement to the youthful poet.

In 1848, at the age of twenty-five, she published a volume of hymns for
little children that probably has never been excelled by a similar
collection. Two years later she became the bride of Rev. William
Alexander, afterwards Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, and later Archbishop of
Armaugh. He was rector of a country parish in the county of Tyrone at the
time, and there was much poverty among his people. Among these needy folk
the young minister's wife moved about like a ministering angel. A
beautiful tribute to her memory from the pen of her husband reads: "From
one poor home to another, from one bed of sickness to another, from one
sorrow to another, she went. Christ was ever with her, and in her, and
all felt her influence."

But the poetic spark within her was not permitted to languish. Even when
children began to bless this unusual household and the cares of the
mother increased, her harp was tuned anew and sweeter songs than ever
began to well up from her joyous, thankful heart.

Practically all of the four hundred hymns and poems written by Mrs.
Alexander were intended for children, and for this reason their language
is very simple. At the same time she succeeds in teaching some of the
most profound truths of the Christian faith. Witness, for example, the
simple language of "There is a green hill far away." A child has no
difficulty in comprehending it, and yet this precious hymn sets forth in
a most touching way the whole story of the Atonement.

He died that we might be forgiven,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to heaven,
Saved by His precious blood.

Again, the infinite value of the sacrifice which Christ made when He, the
Sinless One, died for sinne