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 share, and Susan would lead them in a Bible study. Afterward, sister Anna appeared with fresh lemonade and homemade gingerbread. When Susan died, Anna kept the class going until her death in 1915. Despite repeated efforts by developers to buy the island, Anna willed it to West Point and the Warner home stands today in the sisters’ honor. Susan and Anna are the only two civilians buried at West Point Cemetery.
These two sisters who never married supported themselves by their writing. Susan wrote the novel Say and Seal in 1860, a story about Johnny Fax, a critically ill boy who is comforted by John Lindell, his Sunday School teacher. John carries Johnny in his arms as his fever spikes. Johnny begs his teacher to comfort him with singing, so John breaks out into song, “Jesus loves me–this I know, for the Bible tells me so; little ones to him belong, they are weak, but he is strong.” The poetic text was composed by Anna for inclusion in Susan’s novel.
It’s sobering to think that this popular children’s hymn was first written to comfort a dying child. That explains Anna’s original words in the last stanza, “Jesus loves me–he will stay close beside me all the way. When at last I come to die, take me home with thee on high.” The hymn writer, William Bradbury altered the words in 1862 to suit a wider audience and added a chorus, and the song is still sung by believers today, young and old alike.
Another of Anna’s poems leads us into prayer: