JEMIMA THOMPSON LUKE

MRS. LUKE, who has contributed a

hymn of ringing merit to the rich storehouse of children's sacred song, was the daughter of Thomas Thompson, of Islington, England, and was born in 1813. The brief story of her life reveals the fact that she had unusual talent. At the At the age of thirteen she edited "The Juvenile Magazine," and in her young womanhood she made important contributions to the periodical press. Her first volume, "The Female Jesuit," was published in London. in 1851; and in the following year the sequel to that volume was given to the public.

But these works are now dead, and Mrs. Luke's name lives only in church hymnody. She wrote one lyric which is often sung in many lands, and "which," says Dr. Horder, "deserves to be reckoned classic."This is the complete form of the hymn:

I think, when I read that sweet story of old,
When Jesus was here among men,

How He called little children as lambs to His

fold,

I should like to have been with them then;

I wish that His hands had been placed on my

head,

That His arm had been thrown around me, And that I might have seen His kind look when He said,

"Let the little ones come unto Me.”

Yet still to His footstool in prayer I may go,
And ask for a share in His love;

And if I now earnestly seek Him below,
I shall see Him and hear Him above,
In that beautiful place He has gone to prepare
For all who are washed and forgiven,
And many dear children are gathering there,
"For of such is the kingdom of heaven."

But thousands and thousands who wander and fall,
Never heard of that heavenly home;

I should like them to know there is room for them all,

And that Jesus has bid them to come.
I long for the joy of that glorious time,
The sweetest, and brightest, and best,
When the dear little children of every clime
Shall crowd to His arms and be blest.

The hymn had its origin in 1841, two years before Miss Thompson's marriage to the Rev. Samuel Luke, a Congregational minister. She prepared the manuscript in a stage coach when on her way to Poundsford Park, near her father's home, and designed the hymn for the use of the children in the village school. It is regrettable that a mind and heart so gifted in song was not inspired to write more than one hymn.

JANE ELIZABETH LEESON

SAAC WATTS was the pioneer writer

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of hymns for children. It is nearly two hundred years since the first edition of his "Divine and Moral Songs for Children" was published. It was a work greatly needed at the time, and its meritorious character kept it in popular use for a full century. But the hymns in that volume, like the hymns of the same class by other writers of that period, have fallen into disuse, and have passed almost out of memory.

The fact cannot be overlooked that men have written some very serviceable children's hymns; but it must be admitted that they do not possess in as large a degree as women the peculiar gift for writing songs which children love to sing and can sing understandingly. Women,

having a deeper insight into, and a tenderer sympathy with child life than men," are better equipped for the work of furnishing hymns which are best adapted to reach

the hearts of children and which will inspire in them the spirit of song worship.

Among the large number of women who have made valuable contributions to children's hymnody is Miss Jane Elizabeth Leeson. Like Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander, of whom I shall speak presently, she possessed a rare faculty for writing hymns suitable for children's services. One of her best pieces (included in leading hymnals in England and America) is the following: Saviour! teach me, day by day,

Love's sweet lesson to obey;
Sweeter lesson cannot be,

Loving Him who first loved me.

With a childlike heart of love,
At Thy bidding may I move;
Prompt to serve and follow Thee,
Loving Him who first loved me.
Teach me all Thy steps to trace,
Strong to follow in Thy grace;
Learning how to love from Thee,
Loving Him who first loved me.

Love in loving finds employ -
In obedience all her joy;

Ever new that joy will be,

Loving Him who first loved me.