by Peter James | Nov 25, 2023 | Eleanor Farjeon
Percy Dearmer was looking for a hymn to express thanksgiving for each new day to be included in his new 1931 hymnbook Songs of Praise. He approached Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965), a well-known English poet and writer of children’s stories for assistance. Percy had...
by Peter James | Nov 24, 2023 | Jane Crewdson
I know only the barest outline of Jane Crewdson’s life (1808-1863). She was a British poet married to a cotton manufacturer named Thomas. She was confined to bed during a lengthy, undisclosed illness, during which time she wrote poems. She composed “Aunt...
by Peter James | Nov 23, 2023 | William Brewster
I’ll get to William Brewster’s (1568-1644) Thanksgiving prayer in a moment, but first, some background. William and Mary Brewster had five children, two of whom traveled with them as young boys on the Mayflower. Their names were Love and Wrestling. The...
by Peter James | Nov 22, 2023 | Martin Rinkart
Martin Rinkart (1586-1649) came to pastor St. Anne’s Church in Eilenberg, Saxony (modern Germany) in 1618, coinciding with the start of the Thirty Years War. As a walled city, Eilenberg became a place of refuge for neighboring people. A deadly plague broke out,...
by Peter James | Nov 21, 2023 | Anna Warner
They were known as “Miss Warner’s boys.” A group of West Point cadets would row their boat across the Hudson River each Sunday afternoon to Constitution Island where Susan and Anna Warner (1824-1915) lived. Each cadet came with a Bible verse to...
