be said for them is that they are
imaginative and picturesque. They are usually strong in emotional appeal.
The same is true of the tunes composed for them. They are usually very
light in character, with a lilt and movement that make them easily
singable, but lacking in the rich harmony found in the standard hymns and
chorales. No doubt there will always be a certain demand for this type of
religious song, and a few of the Gospel Hymns will probably live on, but
the present trend in all of the principal Christian denominations is
toward a higher standard of hymnody.

A terrible tragedy brought the life of the Gospel singer to a close in
his thirty-eighth year. He had visited the old childhood home at Rome,
Pa., at Christmas time in 1876, and was returning to Chicago in company
with his wife when a railroad bridge near Ashtabula, Ohio, collapsed on
the evening of December 29. Their train plunged into a ravine, sixty feet
below, where it caught fire, and one hundred passengers perished
miserably.

Bliss managed to escape from the wreckage, but crawled back into a window
in search for his wife. That was the last seen of him.

The song-writer's first name was originally "Philipp." He disliked the
unusual spelling, however, and in later years he used the extra "P" as a
middle initial.

Chautauqua Vesper Hymn

Day is dying in the west;
Heaven is touching earth with rest:
Wait and worship while the night
Sets her evening lamps alight
Through all the sky.

Refrain:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts!
Heaven and earth are full of Thee!
Heaven and earth are praising Thee,
O Lord Most High!

Lord of life, beneath the dome
Of the universe, Thy home,
Gather us who seek Thy face
To the fold of Thy embrace,
For Thou art nigh.

While the deepening shadows fall,
Heart of Love, enfold us all;
Through the glory and the grace
Of the stars that veil Thy face,
Our hearts ascend.

When forever from our sight
Pass the stars, the day, the night,
Lord of angels, on our eyes
Let eternal morning rise,
And shadows end.

Mary Artimisia Lathbury, 1880, 1890.

THE LYRIST OF CHAUTAUQUA

Those who have had the privilege of attending a vesper service in the
great Chautauqua Institution auditorium on the shores of beautiful Lake
Chautauqu