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The music on cobs #701-760 consists primarily of hymns and hymn tunes, although ten patriotic songs and love songs, some of them folk songs, from Bohemia (part of the present-day Czech Republic) were inexplicably included on cobs #710-719. Of the hymns, those on cobs #701-703 are Norwegian ones, continuing the group that began with cob #685, and #704-707 are German ones, adding to the group that appeared on cobs #673-684. The pieces on cobs #721-750 and 760 include some very well-known (as well as a few obscure) American evangelical hymns and hymn tunes, a few hymns from Great Britain, and two Christmas carols of German origin, #742, “Silent Night”, and the less-familiar German children's carol, #743, “Ihr Kinderlein Kommt”. Cobs #751-759 are Roman Catholic hymns, some with Latin titles.

As was the case with the hymns on cobs in the #601-700 numerical range, very few of the hymns on cobs in the #701-760 numerical range appeared in Gospel Hymns Nos. 1 to 6 Complete (“GH”), the 1894 compilation by Ira D. Sankey, James McGranahan and George C. Stebbins that contained such a large percentage of the hymns on cobs in the #1-100 numerical range; only the hymns on cobs #724 (under the title “Sun of my Soul”), 734, 737, 738, 739, 741 and 745 were included in GH. This is 14% of the cobs in the #701-760 range (other than the 10 Bohemian cobs, which do not contain hymns), exactly the same as the percentage of hymns on cobs in the #601-700 range that were included in GH (14 out of 100, as was previously noted). Of course, a few of the hymns in the #701-760 range could not have been included in GH because they are of a date later than 1894, but the small percentage of 14% is also attributable to the fact that, once again, the origin and sources of the hymns in the #701-760 range are different from those of the hymns in the #1-100 range.

As to the dating of the issuance of the cobs in the #701-760 range, the hymn “Blessed Rock”, on cob #731, can be dated to 1900, so that, assuming that the cobs in this range were issued in numerical order, no cob in this range with a number higher than #731 could have been issued any earlier than in that year. Similarly, cob #736, “It is God's Way”, can be dated to 1901, and all cobs in this range with higher numbers must have been issued in 1901 or later.

I was once again surprised at the great amount of information I was able to find about the German and Norwegian hymns and the Bohemian songs in this numerical range, but I have not yet seen any source containing music for the German hymn on cob #705 and was unable to locate any information about the German pieces on cobs #708 and 709 or the lone Swedish piece on cob #720 and, accordingly, do not know if they are hymns. The only English-language hymn for which I was unable to locate information or published music was #732, “Hark, 'tis the Song of Angels”.

The cobs in this numerical range contain a variety of hymn tunes, both Protestant and Catholic, that were popular in America in the middle years of the roller organ era as well as a sampling of additional German and Norwegian hymn tunes, some of them quite old, and an interesting group of Bohemian patriotic anthems and love songs. Included, once again, are many appealing and harmonious arrangements of very pretty pieces that, when played, show off the roller organ well, and it is a pleasure to crank through them and listen to them!

A note on scarcity: Only five of the hymns in this range have a scarcity rating of “C” (“common”) and none has a scarcity rating of “VC” (“very common”) or “MC” (“most common”). Ten have a scarcity rating of “S” (“scarce”), four (#712, 724, 739 and 740) have a rating of “VS” (“very scarce”) and one (#738) has a rating of “N” (“no known copy”). The remaining forty have a scarcity rating of “LC”, “less common”, reflecting the fact that the higher-numbered and, therefore, later-issued cobs were available for a shorter period of time than the lower-numbered cobs so that a smaller number of the higher-numbered cobs were sold. Because no copy of cob #738 has turned up yet, no one, to date, has collected a complete set of the cobs in this range.

#701 - I Jesu Navn skal al vor Gjerning ske (All our Works shall be in the Name of Jesus—Norwegian), Scarcity: LC
Like the Norwegian hymns on cobs #666-671 and 685-700, the remaining three Norwegian hymns in this next numerical range, #701-703, can all be found in Ludvig Lindeman's Koralbog (“choral book”) (“LK”) (see notes to cob #666), and at the end of the book he once again includes information about the origins of all of the tunes. This hymn, with the very unusual meter of 4.6.10.7.4.6.6.6.7.7.7, was included in LK as #51 and Lindeman's notes as to the origin of its tune read “Kingos Gradual 1699”. Thomas Hansen Kingo (1634-1703) (see notes to cobs #688 and 695) was a Danish pastor (and later bishop), hymnwriter and hymnbook editor who began an authorized hymnbook for use in churches in Denmark and Norway, the first part of which appeared in 1689. It was thereafter completed by others and published in final form in 1699. A separate “graduale” or melody collection was published in the same year containing the accompanying tunes. The author of the lyrics was Danish poet and educator Johan Fredriksen (1603-1641), who wrote them for the occasion of his own wedding in 1639. Additional references: JD, DB

#702 - Kirken den er et gammelt Hus (The Church is an Old house—Norwegian), Scarcity: LC
This hymn was also included in LK (see notes to the preceding cob). It is #70 and Lindeman identified the source of the tune as “Udg.”, meaning that it was his own composition (see notes to cob #666). The lyrics were written by N. F. S. (Nicolai Frederik Severin) Grundtvig (1783-1872), a Danish pastor, educational and theological reformer, poet, scholar and hymnwriter, and appeared in 1837 in his hymn collection Sang-Vark til den Danske Kirke. Lindeman composed the tune specifically to accompany Grundtvig's lyrics and the lyrics and tune first appeared together in an 1840 collection, Christelige Psalmer, edited by Wilhelm Andreas Wexels, a Danish-born pastor in Christiania (now Oslo) who promoted Grundtvig's theological views in Norway. References: HU, JD, NB (information about Wexels)

#703 - O Helligaand, du skat saa skjon (Oh Holy Ghost, You Precious Treasure—Norwegian), Scarcity: LC
This hymn was again included in LK (see notes to cob #701). It is #108 and Lindeman identified the source of the tune as “'Herr wie du willst so schicks', og [and] 'Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir', Teutsch Kirchenampt, Strassburg 1524”. As we have seen (see notes to cob #692), “Aus tiefer Noth” was a hymn written by the great German priest, theologian, religious reformer and hymnwriter Martin Luther himself. There have been two tunes associated with Luther's hymn. The first is the mournful-sounding tune linked with “Af Dybsens Nod”, a Norwegian version of Luther's hymn, on cob #692. JD called this tune a “fine melody” “possibly by Luther”. The second tune is the one on this cob, which is sometimes called “Strasbourg”, appeared in Kirchenamt Strassburg published in that city and has also been used, as Lindeman noted, for the hymn “Herr wie du willt [or willst]”, which was written by German pastor and educator Caspar Bienemann (1540-1591) in 1574. As for the author of the lyrics of the hymn on this cob, PU, which includes the lyrics, gives two names, “B. Ringwaldt” and “S. Ionason”. The German pastor, poet and prolific hymnwriter Bartholomaus Ringwaldt (1532-1599?) wrote the original German lyrics, which begin “O Heilger Geist du hochstes Gut! In Gott die dritt Persohne” and appeared in his collection Evangelia, the preface of which was dated 1581. These lyrics were translated into Danish more than a century later by Danish pastor and hymnwriter Soren Jonaesen (1656-1717). The Norwegian-American hymnal The Lutheran Hymnary (1913) includes an English translation of the lyrics and gives the date of Jonaesen's Danish translation as 1693. Additional references: JD, Johannes Zahn, Die Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder, dritter band (Gutersloh, Bertelsmann, 1890) (includes the tune on this cob as #4438a as an alternate tune to “Aus tiefer Noth” and gives as a source for it “Kirchenamt Strassburg 1525” (rather than 1524)), DB (information about Jonaesen)

#704 - Jerusalem, du Hochgebaute Stadt (Jerusalem, Thou High Built City—German), Scarcity: rusalem, du Hochgebaute Stadt (Jerusalem, Thou High Built City—German),
Scarcity: LC Cobs #704-707, like cobs #673-684, contain German hymns. Those on this cob and on cobs #706 and 707, at least, are very old. The lyrics to the hymn on this cob were written by Johann Matthaus Meyfart (1590-1642), a German educator, pastor and author of moralizing devotional works including Tuba Novissima (1626), in which the lyrics appeared. The tune is attributed to Meyfart's contemporary Melchior Franck (1580-1639), a German composer and capellmeister, and appeared with Meyfart's lyrics in the hymnbook Christlich Neu-vermehrt und gebessertes Gesangbuch, published in Erfurt, Germany in 1663. Reference: JD

#705 - Wie Froehlich bin ich (How Happy Am I—German), Scarcity: S
The German composer Friedrich Wilhelm Sering (1822-1901) wrote music to accompany a children's morning prayer, “Wie frohlich bin ich aufgewacht”, but I have not yet seen any of the sources in which Sering's tune has been published to determine whether it corresponds to the tune on this cob.

#706 - Lobe den Herrn, O Meine Seele (Praise the Lord, O My Soul—German), Scarcity: LC
The lyrics to this hymn were written by German theology professor and hymnwriter Johannn Daniel Herrnschmidt (1673-1723). The hymn appeared, with the tune on this cob, in a 1714 hymnal, Neues Geistreiches Gesangbuch, compiled by Johann Anastasius Frelinghuysen (see notes to cob #693), but the anonymous tune had appeared many years earlier with different lyrics in the Anhang [Appendix] der 'Seelen-Harpf', a hymnal published in Ansbach, Germany in 1665. References: JD, AD, Salomon Kummerle, Encyklopadie der evangelische Kirchenmusik, Zweiter Band (Gutersloh, Bertelsmann, 1890)

#707 - Wie Schoen leucht uns der Morgenstern (How Brightly Shines the Morning Star—German), Scarcity: C
This hymn was written spontaneously during a time of plague in 1597 by Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608), a German Lutheran pastor who was the author of a devotional work titled Freudenspiegel des ewigen Lebens that was published in 1599 and included three of his hymns, one of them this one. Nicolai also composed the tune. A Norwegian version of the hymn with a different arrangement of the tune appeared on cob #685 (see the notes to that cob).

#708 - Verbleib bei mir (Tarry with Me—German), Scarcity: LC

#709 - Uber den Blauen See (Beyond the Blue Sea—German), Scarcity: LC

#710 - Tazete se proc jsem Slovan (Bohemian), Scarcity: S
Cobs #710-719 all have, following their titles, the word “Bohemian” in parentheses. Bohemia is an ancient European territory that is now part of the Czech Republic. Despite the inclusion of these cobs in a numerical range that otherwise consists of religious hymns, the pieces on these cobs are instead Bohemian patriotic songs and love songs, some of them folk songs. Lyrics, with music, for all of them can be found in Novy Narodni Zpevnik (“New National Songbook”) (NN), a collection compiled by Alois Rucka and published in 1920 in Trebic in the Moravian part of the present-day Czech Republic. Sheet music for most of them can also be found in an undated work in two volumes edited by Ferdinand Sladek and published in Praze (Prague), probably in the 1890s, with the title Nas Poklad: kytice 270ti narodnich pisni ceskoslovenskych (NP) (“Our Treasure: A Bouquet of 270 Czechoslovakian Folk Songs”). The tune on this cob appeared, with its lyrics, on page 8 of NN and as piece #93 in volume 2 of NP, and in NP the composer's name was given as “Jos. Soukup”, meaning Josef Venceslav Soukup (1819-1882), a Czech educator, choirmaster and composer. The piece is also known by the name “Cechoslovan” (and appears under this title in NN) and is a patriotic song with lyrics by Czech poet Vaclav Jaromir Picek (1812-1869). Reference: Ottuv Slovnik Naucny (OS) (Otto's Encyclopedia, a comprehensive encyclopedia in the Czech language published in Prague, volume by volume, from 1888 to 1908 that contains biographical articles about Soukup and Picek that specifically mention their having composed the tune and written the lyrics, respectively, for this song)

#711 - Sil Jsem Proso (Bohemian), Scarcity: S
This piece appeared on p. 331 of NN under the heading “Pisne milostne” (“Love songs”). It also appeared in Volume 2 of NP as #84 with the notation, as to the source of its tune, “Ceska” (“Czech”), meaning that it is a Czech folk melody. The lyrics are a song of unfulfilled love by the Czech poet and army officer Milota Zdirad Polak (1788-1856). Reference: OS

#712 - Pisne dcery ducha meho (Bohemian), Scarcity: VS
This is another patriotic song with lyrics by Czech poet Vaclav Jaromir Picek (1812-1869) (see notes to cobs #710) and is one of the pieces by Picek listed in the article about him in OS. It appeared on p. 31 of NN and as #76 in Volume 2 of NP, in which the notation given as to the source of its tune was “Z Cech” (“From Bohemia”).

#713 - Prijde Jaro Prijde (Bohemian), Scarcity: LC
This piece appeared on p. 600 of NN under the heading “Ruzne” (“Miscellanea”) but was not included in NP. The composer of the piece was Moravian choirmaster, singer and composer Arnost Forchtgott Tovacovsky (1825-1874); the lyrics were by Moravian poet, patriot and lawyer Jan Vlk (1822-1896). It is still another patriotic song in that its references to the coming of spring were viewed as expressions of optimism about Czech freedom. Reference: OS (articles about Forchtgott Tovacovsky and Vlk, in each case referring to this song)

#714 - Ma zlata Marenko (Bohemian), Scarcity: LC
This piece appeared on p. 250 of NN under the heading “Pisne milostne” (“Love songs”) and as #54 in Volume 2 of NP, with the notation, as to the source of its tune, “Ceska” (“Czech”), meaning that it is a Czech folk melody. The singer addresses his love, Marenko.

#715 - Kde Domov Muj (Bohemian), Scarcity: LC
This patriotic song appeared on p. 12 of NN and also appeared, with both the Czech lyrics and an English version of them, in a 1912 collection titled Twenty Bohemian Folk Songs, translated and compiled by Rev. Vincent Pisek, Pastor of the Jan Hus Bohemian Presbyterian Church in New York, New York. Rev. Pisek described it as “the national song of Bohemia, corresponding to the American hymn 'My Country, 'tis of Thee'”. The composer of the tune was Czech composer and conductor Frantisek Skroup (1801-1862), the author of the Czech lyrics was Czech playwright Josef Kajetan Tyl (1808-1856) and the piece came from an 1834 play, “Fidlovacka”, written by Tyl with incidental music by Skroup. “Kde domov muj?” translates as “Where is my home?”. Reference: OS

#716 - Louceni, Louceni (Bohemian), Scarcity: LC
This piece appeared on p. 235 of NN under the heading “Pisne milostne” (“Love songs”) and in Volume 2 of NP as #48 with the notation, as to the source of its tune, “Ceska” (“Czech”), meaning that it is a Czech folk melody. The singer expresses how difficult it is to part from someone you love; the word “louceni” means “leave-taking”.

#717 - Hej Slovane (Bohemian), Scarcity: LC
This is another patriotic song and it also appeared in NN, on p. 10, and, with both the Czech lyrics and an English version of them, in Rev. Vincent Pisek's 1912 collection titled Twenty Bohemian Folk Songs (see notes to cob #715). The lyrics, which call for the preservation of the language as well as the spirit of the Slavic people, were written spontaneously by Slovak poet, pastor and educator Samuel Tomasik (1813-1887) in 1834 upon visiting Prague and hearing German spoken in the streets more than Czech. He set his poem to his adaptation of the melody of the Polish patriotic song “Polska Jeszcze nie Zginela” (two different arrangements of which appeared on Polish cobs #1044 and 1148). Tomasik's song became a pan-Slavic anthem and versions of it, with differing lyrics, have been sung in a number of Slavic countries. Reference: Tomasik's diary entry for November 2, 1834 (which I have only seen quoted in secondary sources) describing the circumstances of his writing the song on that day

#718 - Kydz te vidim (Bohemian), Scarcity: S
This is another folk song and it appeared on p. 212 of NN under the heading “Pisne milostne” (“Love songs”) and also as #62 in Volume 2 of NP, in which the notation as to the source of its tune is once again “Z Cech” (“From Bohemia”). The singer expresses his great love for his darling, who distracts him from spiritual thoughts when he sees her kneeling in church.

#719 - Kydz jsem k vam chodival (Bohemian), Scarcity: LC
This is still another folk song and it appeared on p. 200 of NN, again under the heading “Pisne milostne” (“Love songs”). It should not be confused with the folk song that appeared on p. 198 of NN and as #59 in Volume 2 of NP with the similar title and first line “Kdyz jsem ja k vam chodivaval”. The tune of the first song corresponds to the tune on the cob; the tune of the second song is somewhat similar to the tune on the cob but, despite the similarity in the songs' titles, the lyrics of the second song are, except for the similar first line, completely different from the lyrics of the first song.

#720 - Frälsta aro vi (Loved are We—Swedish), Scarcity: LC

#721 - Anywhere With Jesus, Scarcity: LC
As noted in the paragraph about cob #618, this hymn appeared both on that cob and, with a slightly different pinning, on cob #721, apparently because of an oversight on the part of the Autophone Company. It is one of the better-known hymns with music by composer, choir director, teacher and singer Daniel B. Towner (1850-1919) (see notes to cobs #610-621) and appeared in his 1887 hymnal HN but not in the much larger collection GH (As noted in the Introduction to the section on cobs #601-700, a grand total of only 14 English-language hymns in that numerical range were included in GH, a much smaller percentage than the percentage of the English-language hymns on cobs #1-100 that were included in GH. This highlights the differences in the origin and sources of the hymns in the two numerical ranges and those differences can again be seen with respect to the English-language hymns in the #701-760 range, only a few of which were included in GH). The writer of the lyrics of “Anywhere with Jesus” was Jessie H. Brown (whose married name was Pounds following her marriage in 1896) (1861-1921), an Ohio native who submitted her poetry to newspapers and periodicals beginning when she was in her teens and ultimately wrote the lyrics for over 400 evangelical hymns. References: HU, TS (article about Pounds including a photograph of her)

#722 - 'Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus, Scarcity: C
The lyrics to this still-popular hymn were written by English-born Louisa M. R. Stead (c. 1850-1917) during a difficult period of her life after she witnessed the drowning of her husband when he unsuccessfully tried to save a boy struggling in the water off a beach on Long Island Sound. She subsequently spent many years as a missionary in Africa. The music was by William J. Kirkpatrick (1838-1921), the prolific Philadelphia-based Methodist composer, musician, music director, editor and publisher (see notes to cob #613). He composed the tune specifically to accompany Mrs. Stead's lyrics and the hymn first appeared in the 1882 collection Songs of Triumph, compiled by Kirkpatrick and John R. Sweney. It did not, however, appear in GH. References: HU, 101MHS

#723 - When we Reach our Home, Scarcity: LC
Both the words and music of this hymn anticipating the glory of Heaven were written by Elisha A. Hoffman (1839-1929). Originally, the hymn was titled “When We All Get Home”, its lyrics began “We will sing the praise of Jesus/When we all get home” and it appeared in the 1878 hymnal Spiritual Songs for Gospel Meetings and the Sunday School compiled by Hoffman and J. H. Tenney. Hoffman later substantially rewrote the lyrics and his revised version of the hymn, with the same tune but with the title “When We Reach our Home” and the first line “What a scene of wondrous glory, When we reach our home”, appeared in the 1894 hymnal Pentecostal Hymns: A Winnowed Collection, of which Hoffman was one of the three music editors, along with Tenney and W. A. Ogden. Neither version of the hymn appeared in GH. Hoffman was born in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania and became, like his father, an Evangelical Association minister. Although he had no formal musical education, he wrote more than two thousand hymns and edited a large number of hymn collections. References: BG, HU

#724 - Ambrosia Hymn, Scarcity: VS
The hymn tune known as “Hursley” appeared, with different pinnings, on three different roller organ cobs, #46, with the name “Hursley”, #758, with the name “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name”, and #724, with the name “Ambrosia Hymn”. “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name” is an English translation of an ancient Latin hymn, “Te Deum Laudamus”, which was sometimes referred to as “Hymnus Ambrosianus” because it was attributed to St. Ambrose. This accounts for the title “Ambrosia Hymn” being given to this cob (Perhaps what was intended was “Ambrosian Hymn”). The tune accompanied a German version of the “Te Deum” in the Katholisches Gesangbuch (“Catholic Songbook”), published in Vienna in about 1774, and was later named “Hursley” when English clergyman John Keble (1792-1866) chose it to accompany his lyrics to the hymn “Sun of my Soul”, Keble having served as pastor of the parish church in the village of Hursley in Hampshire for many years. Cob #724 is an unusual one for a number of reasons. First, the Autophone Company mistakenly produced a number of copies of cob #721 with the label for cob #724 attached, so that some cobs labeled as #724 will be found to play the tune “Anywhere with Jesus” rather than “Ambrosia Hymn”. Second, cob #724 has no pins in the final one inch of the cob at the end with the single hole, so that its melody is played without using any of the last three notes at the right end of the roller organ. Also unusual, of course, was the inclusion of this tune associated with an ancient Latin hymn from the Roman Catholic tradition in the midst of a group of cobs containing late nineteenth-century evangelical Protestant hymn tunes. References: JD, GH #674 (“Sun of my Soul”), MC, 101 HS, HU

#725 - Sunshine in the Soul, Scarcity: LC
The lyrics to this hymn were written by Eliza E. (Edmunds) Hewitt (1851-1920), a lifelong resident of Philadelphia who was a schoolteacher as well as a hymn writer. She sustained a spinal injury when an unruly student struck her in the back with a slate and she wrote the hymn, which begins “There is sunshine in my soul today”, to express her joy and gratitude after a long period of recovery in a cast. Her poetry came to the attention of John R. Sweney (1837-1899) (see notes to cobs #78 and 451), the Philadelphia-area music teacher and choir director who also wrote a large number of hymn tunes and edited many hymnals, and he set a number of her poems to music, including “Sunshine in the Soul”. The hymn, which became extremely popular, appeared in the 1887 hymnal Glad Hallelujahs, compiled by Sweney and William J. Kirkpatrick. It was not included in GH. References: 101 MHS, HU, BG and TS (both containing an article about Eliza Hewitt with a photograph of her)

#726 - Glory to His Name!, Scarcity: LC
This great old evangelical hymn is another with words by Elisha A. Hoffman (1839-1929) (see notes to cob #723), the prolific Pennsylvania-born minister, hymnwriter and hymn collection editor. It appeared in the 1878 hymn collection Joy to the World, edited by Tullius C. O'Kane, C. C. McCabe and John R. Sweney, with a tune by Sweney that is different from the tune on the cob. In dozens of other hymnals, however, beginning as early as the next year, in Beulah Songs, compiled by W. McDonald and L. Hartsough and published in Philadelphia in 1879, and continuing right down to the present day, the tune used for the hymn, which corresponds to the tune on the cob, is instead one by John H. (Hart) Stockton (1813-1877), a Methodist minister who served as pastor at many churches in New Jersey, wrote a number of hymns and composed a number of hymn tunes. Stockton's tune appears to have predated Sweney's, because in a number of early hymnals that included the hymn with Stockton's tune rather than Sweney's there is a notice at the foot of the page as to the hymn being copyrighted by Stockton in 1876 (see, for example, The Young People's Hymnal, Kirkland, Atkins and Kirkpatrick, eds., Nashville, 1897, and Devotional Songs, Doane, Kirkpatrick and Main, eds., Chicago and New York, 1903). The hymn was not included in GH. References: HU, Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Spring Conferences of 1878, New Jersey Conference (lengthy biography of Stockton following his death)

#727 - More about Jesus, Scarcity: LC
Like “Sunshine in the Soul” (see notes to cob #725), this is a great old evangelical hymn with lyrics by Eliza E. (Edmunds) Hewitt (1851-1920), the Philadelphia poet, teacher and Sunday school teacher and superintendent, and music by John R. Sweney (1837-1899) (see notes to cobs #78 and 451), the Philadelphia-area hymn tune composer, hymnal editor, music teacher and choir director who set a number of her poems to music. It, too, appeared in the 1887 hymnal Glad Hallelujahs, compiled by Sweney and William J. Kirkpatrick, but was not included in GH. Reference: HU

#728 - Wonderful Story of Love, Scarcity: LC
This hymn was written and composed by J. (John) Merritte Driver (1858-1918), an Illinois-born Methodist minister who served as pastor of several churches in his home state and in Minnesota and Indiana and was a widely-known lecturer on a variety of subjects including history and international affairs and a writer whose works included non-fiction, novels, magazine articles, reviews, editorials and poetry. He also wrote a number of hymns, of which this one is his best-known, as well as secular songs. Some sources have said that the hymn dates from 1892, but it appeared at least as early as 1889 in the hymnal Songs of the Soul, edited by Driver and H. W. Bolton and published in Chicago in that year, and apparently also appeared in an earlier edition (which I have not seen) of that hymnal, published by Driver and Bolton in Boston in 1885. Driver's onetime reputation is reflected in an unusual endorsement by him of a product named Hood's Sarsaparilla that he said “rallies the vital forces and gives strength”, which included a drawing of him, called him a “popular preacher” and a “powerful pulpit orator” and appeared, for example, in the June 6, 1894 edition of the Indiana State Sentinel, published in Indianapolis, as well as in other publications. References: Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Vol. II, Chicago, Munsell Publishing Company, 1920 (biographical article about Driver including a photograph of him), History of the Great Northwest and its Men of Progress, C.W.G. Hyde and William Stoddard, eds., Minneapolis, 1901 (biographical article about Driver including a photograph of him, noting his oratorical skills, his having given lectures in nearly every American state as well as overseas and his extensive international travels and adding that more than 5,000,000 copies of his song, “Wonderful Story of Love”, had been published and sold in book and sheet music form)

#729 - Haven of Rest, Scarcity: LC
The lyrics to this hymn were written by Henry L. (Lake) Gilmour (1836-1920), who was born in Londonderry, Ireland, came to the United States at the age of nineteen, worked as a painter in Cape May, New Jersey, and after serving in the U.S. Civil War became a dentist. He lived in southwestern New Jersey and served for many years as the music director of the Pitman Grove Camp Meeting there. He was the author of dozens of hymns, the composer of even more hymn tunes and the co-compiler of a number of hymnals, in many cases working with John R. Sweney and/or William J. Kirkpatrick. The music to the hymn was composed by George D. Moore (1851-1902), a glassblower by trade who lived in Bridgeton, New Jersey and traveled through New Jersey and Pennsylvania as a singing evangelist holding tent meetings that attracted large crowds. In the 1900 U.S. census records Moore was listed as a window glass blower born in December 1851 in New Jersey living in Bridgeton with his elderly parents, several siblings, his wife Maggie and his five-year-old daughter. In the 1895 Cumberland County, New Jersey directory he was listed as a “glass blower” living at 71 Grove in Bridgeton and in the 1897 directory he was listed as living at the same address with “Rev.” before his name and no occupation following it, and also was listed in the business portion of the directory as a “clergyman” in Bridgeton. Otherwise, however, he was listed in the Cumberland County directories merely as a “glassblower”, in the 1889, 1891 and 1893 directories at the 71 Grove address and in the 1883, 1887, 1899 and 1901 directories at other addresses. “The Haven of Rest” appeared in Sunlit Songs, an 1890 hymnal edited by John R. Sweney, William J. Kirkpatrick and Gilmour. It was not included in GH. Additional references: Genealogical and Memorial History of the State of New Jersey, Vol. I, Francis Bazley Lee, ed., New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1910 (biographical article about Gilmour), The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 24, 1911 (article about the opening of the Pitman Grove Camp Meeting calling Gilmour the “veteran chorister” there and stating that he had “led the singing of the big camp for more than thirty-five years”), New Jersey death record for Gilmour showing the date of his death as May 20, 1920, The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 22, 1902 (obituary article about Moore including a photograph of him), August 11, 1891 (article reporting that Moore led a crowd of about 2,000 people through the streets to the opening of afternoon religious services at Pitman Grove)

#730 - Everlasting Arms, Scarcity: LC
The lyrics to this well-known hymn were once again written by Pennsylvania-born minister, hymnwriter and hymn collection editor Elisha A. Hoffman (1839-1929) (see notes to cob #723). Anthony J. (Johnson) Showalter (1858-1924) had had the idea for a hymn based on the Biblical text “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27) and composed the tune and wrote the refrain before giving it to Hoffman for completion. Showalter, who was born in Virginia and lived for many years in Dalton, Georgia, was a music teacher, choir director and hymnbook editor who founded his own music publishing company, which published about 60 songbooks. The tune to “Everlasting Arms” is the best-known and most enduring of the dozens of hymn tunes he himself composed. The hymn first appeared in The Glad Evangel, an 1887 hymnal compiled by Showalter, L. M. Evilsizer and S. J. Perry and published by Showalter's own company in Dalton. It is another hymn that was not included in GH. Reference: HU

#731 - Blessed Rock, Scarcity: S
This is another hymn (see also notes to cob #654) with words by the prolific blind Methodist hymnwriter Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915) (see notes to cobs #72 and 384) and music by the also prolific hymn tune composer Hubert P. (Platt) Main (1839-1925), one of the principals of the hymn book publishing firm Biglow & Main (see notes to cob #58). In most of the hymnals in which the hymn appeared, the name of the author of the lyrics was given as “Grace J. Frances”, one of Fanny Crosby's many pseudonyms. The hymn is also known by its first line, “Mid the Wild and Fearful Blast”; “Blessed rock” are the first two words of its refrain. The hymn was included in the hymnal Gems of Song: for the Sunday School, compiled by Ira D. Sankey and Main and published by Biglow & Main in Chicago in 1901, and there is a notation at the bottom of the page on which the hymn appears that reads “Copyright, 1900, by Hubert P. Main”. This date is some years later than the date of first appearance of any of the hymns on cobs #722 through 730 and (assuming that the cobs in this numerical range were issued in numerical order, which is almost certainly the case) shows that this cob and also all higher-numbered cobs through #760 must have been issued no earlier than 1900.

#732 - Hark, 'tis the Song of Angels, Scarcity: S
I have not yet located sheet music for this hymn or other information about it. There is a hymn by this name with lyrics by “Mrs. E. Fawcett” and music by M. J. Munger in the hymnal Green Pastures for the Lambs, edited by A. J. Abbey and Munger and published in Cleveland in 1886; however, Munger's tune is different from the tune on the cob and the meter of Fawcett's lyrics (7.6.7.6.7.6.7.6. followed by a chorus with meter 8.8.8.6) is different from (although close to) the meter of the tune on the cob.

#733 - Will there be Light for Me, Scarcity: LC
The words to this hymn were written by E. (Edmund) S. Roberts (1827-1908), a little-known figure who wrote poetry and was a longtime member, at the time of his death, of the Girard Baptist Church, in Girard (now part of Phenix City), Russell County, Alabama, across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia. A short obituary article in The Atlanta Constitution of May 26, 1908 said “he was well known as a poet, his poems appearing in many northern and southern publications”, adding “Most of his productions were religious in their character and some of them were widely published”. The article also reported that “He was a clerk in the Georgia comptroller general's office when the capital was at Milledgeville”, that is, prior to 1868. The tune was written by H. P. (Hart Pease) Danks (1834-1903), whom we have previously encountered as the composer of tunes to a number of popular songs dating from the 1870s, most notably “Don't Be Angry with Me, Darling” (cob #230) and “Silver Threads Among the Gold” (cob #476). Danks also wrote hymn tunes, and this tune was one of his later efforts, as the hymn bears a notice “copyright, 1898, by H. P. Danks” in The Gospel Hymnal, edited by Edwin O. Excell and published in 1899. An obituary article about Danks in the January, 1904 issue of the periodical Record of Christian Work noted that he was the author of “about 1,300 songs and services in sheet form” and that of his “later sacred songs”, “Will there be light for me?” was one of the two most popular. Additional references: Columbus [Georgia] Enquirer-Sun, May 27, 1908 (article about Roberts' funeral service at the Girard Baptist Church at which “Will There Be Light for Me” was sung ; the article described it as one of Roberts' best poems and added that “it was indeed appropriate that it should have been set to music and sung on this occasion”); U. S. Census records for 1850 showing Roberts as living in Russell County, Alabama at least as early as that year with his father, a butcher, his mother and his sister and showing all four as having been born in Pennsylvania, for 1860 showing him as a clerk living in the Southern Division of Russell County, for 1870 as a laborer living in Girard, for 1880 as a bookkeeper living in Girard with his wife Martha, a schoolteacher, five of their children ages 6 through 21, and his mother, born in Pennsylvania of parents both born in Ireland, and the box checked off next to his name that he was “Maimed, Crippled, Bedridden or otherwise disabled” and the word “debility” written in the adjoining column, and for 1900 as still living in Girard with his date of birth as August, 1827 and his occupation again as bookkeeper

#734 - Lead Kindly Light, Scarcity: C
This very well-known hymn was one of the few in this numerical range that appeared in GH. The author of the lyrics was John H. (Henry) Newman (1801-1890), an Englishman who graduated from Oxford and was first an Anglican clergyman and a leader of the Oxford Movement, which sought to restore greater ritual and ceremony to the English Church. He later converted to Roman Catholicism and ultimately became a Cardinal. Newman wrote the lyrics in 1833 during a delay of a week when a ship on which he was returning to England from the Mediterranean became becalmed. The music, which dates from 1865, is by English composer John B. (Bacchus) Dykes (1823-1876), a graduate of Cambridge who was an organist as well as a clergyman and who composed over 300 hymn tunes, many of them associated with well-known hymns that have survived in the mainstream Protestant tradition down to the present day but did not find their way onto the roller organ. Newman's lyrics were joined with Dykes' tune in the 1868 Appendix to the first edition of the Anglican hymnal Hymns Ancient and Modern. This cob is one of only two (the other being cob #735) that add the two notes of an “Amen” at the end of the hymn. References: GH #454, HU, MC

#735 - Jerusalem the Golden, Scarcity: S
Like the immediately preceding piece, this is a hymn from the British tradition. The lyrics were from a translation by the English clergyman, scholar and hymn translator John Mason Neale (1818-1866) of a description of the peace and glory of Heaven in the long Latin hymn De Contemptu Mundi by the twelfth-century French monk Bernard of Cluny. The tune was by Alexander Ewing (1830-1895), a Scottish-born career officer in the British Army with a variety of intellectual interests who was an amateur musician and had in his youth studied music in Heidelberg, Germany. Ewing composed the tune in 1853 to accompany different lines from Neale's translation but it later became linked with the lines beginning “Jerusalem the golden” and the hymn appeared in the Anglican hymnal Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861. The hymn is not in GH. As on cob #734, the two notes of an “Amen” were added on the cob at the end of the hymn. References: MC, HU, The Bookman, London, August, 1895 (article in monthly literary periodical about Ewing following his death)

#736 - It is God's Way, Scarcity: LC
“It is God's way; His will be done” were U.S. President William McKinley's last words before dying after being shot by an assassin in 1901. At least two different hymns were written based on these words, one by Johnson Oatman, Jr., who also wrote the hymn “No, Not One” (see notes to cob #746) and one by Grant Colfax Tullar. It is the tune to Tullar's hymn, by I. H. Meredith, rather than the tune to Oatman's hymn, by Anthony J. Showalter (see notes to cob #730), that is on this cob. Tullar's hymn was included in the hymnal Sermons in Song, No. 3, edited by Meredith and Tullar and published by the Tullar-Meredith Co. The introduction to this hymnal is dated October 1, 1901 and there is a notice at the bottom of the page on which the hymn appears “Copyright, MCMI, by Tullar-Meredith Co.” The hymn was not included in GH. Because of the hymn's association with President McKinley's death, it could not have been written before 1901 and, therefore, assuming that the cobs in this numerical range were issued in numerical order, which is almost certainly the case, this cob and all of the other cobs numbered 737 through 760 must have first appeared no earlier than 1901. Tullar (1869-1950) was born in Bolton, near Hartford, Connecticut, one of nine children of a disabled Civil War veteran who were dispersed when their mother died when Tullar was two years old. He began working in a woolen mill when he was ten and later started as an errand boy and worked his way up to a position as a bookkeeper in a shoe store. He was converted at a religious meeting when he was nineteen and, despite a limited formal education, began to preach, to write and compose hymns, and to lead singing and became associated with I. H. Meredith in evangelistic work. In 1893, they joined in forming the Tullar-Meredith Company, which published a number of hymnals edited by Tullar and containing his hymns. I. (Isaac) H. Meredith (1872-1962) was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, the son of English parents, and learned to play the organ and sang in his church choir at an early age. He knew he wanted to pursue a career in sacred music by the time he was in his early teens and began evangelistic work at the age of nineteen, becoming an organist, singer, composer of gospel tunes and choir director and an associate of Tullar. References: BG, Asbury Park Press, May 21, 1950 (obituary article about Tullar), Florida death record for Meredith showing his death in November 1962

#737 - Sometime We'll Understand, Scarcity: LC
This pretty and reassuring but forgotten hymn is another of only a few in this numerical range that were included in GH. Its message is that we will understand, in the hereafter, the meaning and purpose of saddening and thwarting events that sometimes defy explanation here on earth. The lyrics were by Maxwell N. Cornelius (1842-1893), who suffered his share of sorrows and setbacks in his own life. He was brought up on a farm in Pennsylvania, became a brick mason and later a contractor, lost one of his legs after an accident on the job, attended college, became a minister, served first in Altoona, Pennsylvania but moved to Pasadena, California shortly afterwards because of his wife's health and became pastor of a Presbyterian church there. Soon after he had established the church on firm financial ground, however, his wife died. At her funeral, he preached the sermon himself and recited the verses of this hymn, which he had recently written. Both his sermon and the hymn verses were published in a newspaper and were read by the evangelist Major Daniel W. Whittle (1840-1901) (see notes to cob #9), who cut them out and, after carrying them in his Bible for three months, added the words of the chorus and turned over the lyrics of the complete hymn to his friend and associate, tenor singer, song leader and hymnbook editor James McGranahan (1840-1907) (see notes to cobs #9 and 27), who composed the tune to accompany them. The hymn became a favorite of song leader Ira D. Sankey, who frequently sang it at the widely-attended evangelistic meetings of Dwight L. Moody. References: GH #533, IS

#738 - Nettleton, Scarcity: N
With this cob we again begin a group of cobs containing hymn tunes identified by tune names rather than by titles derived from lyrics associated with them. The hymn tune “Nettleton” was named for Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844), an American evangelist to whom the composition of the tune has sometimes been attributed, although it is more likely that it was written by John Wyeth (1770-1858), a Massachusetts-born printer and publisher who included the tune along with tunes that he is known to have composed in the 1813 Supplement to his 1810 Repository of Sacred Music. The tune is very familiar because of its association with the still widely-sung hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, written in 1758 by English preacher and author Robert Robinson (1735-1790), a former barber's apprentice who had led a dissolute life before he was converted as a result of hearing a sermon by the evangelist George Whitefield. After becoming a preacher himself, Robinson served as pastor of a Baptist chapel in Cambridge for thirty years. Because this hymn tune is so well-known, it is surprising that this cob is the sole one in this numerical range with the scarcity rating “N” (“no known copy”). References: MC, HU

#739 - Hebron, Scarcity: VS
This is another hymn tune by Lowell Mason (1792-1872), “the father of American church music”, whom we have previously encountered as the composer or arranger of many hymn tunes on the roller organ (see notes to cob #2). The tune also appeared on Grand roller organ cob #2106, one of only a very small number of Grand cobs that has a scarcity rating of “N” (“no known copy”). The tune appeared in the 1830 edition of Mason's Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music with the lyrics of the first verse of the hymn “Thus Far the Lord Hath Led Me On” by the great English hymnwriter Isaac Watts (1674-1748), which has been the hymn most often sung to the tune. The tune also appeared in GH as #684, indexed under the tune name and with different words, and in addition has been linked with a large number of other hymn texts in other hymnals, although it has not been uniquely associated with any one familiar hymn. Additional reference: BG (lengthy biography of Mason including an engraved picture of him)

#740 - Ortonville, Scarcity: VS
The hymn most often associated with this hymn tune is “Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned”, written by English Baptist pastor Samuel Stennett (1727-1795) (see notes to cob #63). The tune was composed specifically to go with Stennett's words by American composer, choral conductor, writer and hymnbook editor Thomas Hastings (1784-1872) (see notes to cob #37). The original version of Stennett's hymn was one of thirty-eight hymns by him that appeared, without music, in John Rippon's very popular and often reprinted A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors (1787). It was titled “Chief Among Ten Thousand; or, the Excellencies of Christ” and the verse beginning with the words “Majestic sweetness sits enthron'd” was the third of nine verses. Versions of the hymn in later hymnals have begun with this verse. Hymn #679 in GH, for example, is a version of “Majestic Sweetness” sung to the hymn tune “Belmont” (on cob #63) rather than “Ortonville” and consisting of only the third, fifth, eighth and ninth verses of Stennett's hymn with minor changes in wording. Hastings composed his tune for the hymn in 1837 and it appeared in his hymnal The Manhattan Collection in that year with the title “Ortonville” and the verse of Stennett's hymn beginning “Majestic sweetness”, with one minor change. References: HU, JD, MC

#741 - Coronation, Scarcity: S
This hymn tune has been used almost exclusively with the hymn “All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name” and is the tune most frequently used with that hymn in the United States. The name “Coronation” comes from the fact that the fourth line of each verse of the hymn is “And crown Him Lord of all”. The author of the hymn was Edward Perronet (1726-1792), an English evangelical pastor and poet, and the first of its verses appeared in the November, 1779 issue and seven more verses appeared in the April, 1780 issue of the Gospel Magazine, edited by Augustus Toplady, who wrote the words to “Rock of Ages” (see notes to cob #67). Since then, many versions of the hymn, with differing numbers of verses, have appeared. A final verse beginning “Oh that, with yonder sacred throng” was added by John Rippon when he substantially revised the hymn for inclusion in his 1787 hymnal A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors (see also notes to cob #740). The tune “Coronation” was composed in 1792 to go with the hymn by Oliver Holden (1765-1844), a prominent citizen of Charlestown, Massachusetts who served as a congressman as well as being a pastor, composer, teacher of music and compiler of hymnbooks. It appeared in his Union Harmony in 1793. The hymn appeared in GH as #729 with the tune “Coronation” and also as #334 with a different tune, now forgotten, by James McGranahan. The hymnologist John Julian, writing in 1907, said of the hymn “In the number of hymn-books in which it is found in one form or another, it ranks with the first ten in the English language”. References: JD, HU, MC

#742 - Silent Night, Scarcity: C
This cob is regarded as very desirable because “Silent Night” is one of the best-known and best-loved Christmas carols. A relatively large number of copies of it must have been sold, as it is one of only five cobs in this numerical range with a scarcity rating of “C” (“common”). The story of the origin of the carol is well-known: on Christmas eve, 1818, the organ at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, Austria was not working and Franz Gruber (1787-1863), the schoolmaster in the neighboring town of Arnsdorf who was also the organist at the church, composed a tune to accompany lyrics furnished by the assistant priest, Joseph Mohr (1792-1848), beginning “Stille nacht, heilige nacht”. The piece was first performed that evening with guitar accompaniment and thereafter spread through Austria, southern Germany and beyond. Although there have been a number of translations of the lyrics into English, the most familiar version, still sung today, is a translation by J. (John) Freeman Young (1820-1885), an American Episcopal clergyman who later became Episcopal Bishop of Florida. It appeared in Carols for Christmas Tide, edited by Young and published in New York by Daniel Dana, Jr. in 1859. The piece was not included in GH. References: MC, HU, JD, 101HS

#743 - Ihr Kinderlein Kommt, Scarcity: LC
This is another German Christmas carol. The title is probably unfamiliar to many, but the tune is frequently heard on tinkling music boxes during the Christmas season. Although there are a number of differences in dates in the various sources that discuss its origin, its lyrics, which begin “Ihr Kinderlein, kommet” (“Oh, come, little children”), were written by a German Roman Catholic priest, writer of children's books, poet and teacher, Christoph von Schmid (1768-1854), and appeared, without music, in his 1818 poetry collection Bluhten, dem bluhenden Alter gewidmet. Its tune was composed by German composer Johann Abraham Peter Schulz (1747-1800) as the melody to a secular song, and Schmid's lyrics and Schulz's tune were, according to a number of sources, linked by German schoolteacher, organist and hymnbook editor Friedrich Eickhoff (1807-1886) in a collection he edited that was published in the 1830s with the title Sechzig deutsche Lieder fur dreissig Pfennige (“Sixty German Songs for Thirty Pennies”). While I have not seen a copy of this collection, the tune appears, attributed to Schulz, with different lyrics (“Im Sommer” (“In Summer”)), in Eickhoff's 1836 song collection Theomele, published by the publishing firm of Eickhoff's father-in-law, C. Bertelsmann, in Gutersloh, the German city where Eickhoff lived, and the piece appears with Schmid's lyrics linked with Schulz's tune without any attribution to Schmid, Schulz or Eickhoff in the hymnal Kleine Missionsharf, which was first published in 1852 and reprinted in many subsequent editions thereafter by the Bertelsmann firm. The compiler of this hymnal was Johann Heinrich Volkening, who had formerly been the pastor of the Lutheran church in Osterloh at which Eickhoff was organist. References: AD (articles about Schmid and Schulz)

#744 - Redeemed, Scarcity: S
This is another hymn with lyrics by the extraordinarily prolific American blind Methodist hymnwriter Fanny Crosby (1820-1915) (see notes to cobs #72 and 384). The tune was composed by William J. Kirkpatrick (1838-1921), the Philadelphia-based Methodist composer, musician, music director, editor and publisher (see notes to cob #613). The hymn appeared in the 1882 collection Songs of Redeeming Love, edited by John R. Sweney, Tullius C. O'Kane, C. C. McCabe and Kirkpatrick, with a notice at the bottom of the page on which it appeared “Copyright, 1882, by Wm. J. Kirkpatrick”. The lyrics of this popular hymn begin with the words “Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it” and it should not be confused with another completely different hymn, also with the title “Redeemed”, with lyrics by “El Nathan” (the evangelist Maj. Daniel W. Whittle) and an appealing, majestic march-like tune by Whittle's song leader James McGranahan that appeared on Grand cob #3011. The less-familiar Whittle/McGranahan hymn was included in GH (#259); the Crosby/Kirkpatrick hymn was not.

#745 - Jesus is Mine, Scarcity: LC
This is another of the small number of hymns in this numerical range that was included in GH. It is a deathbed or funeral hymn in which the pleasures, ties and perishable things of the world are repudiated in favor of eternity with Jesus. The author of the lyrics was Jane Catharine Bonar (1821-1884), the wife of the well-known Scottish preacher, editor and prolific hymnwriter Horatius Bonar. Her few hymns appeared in collections compiled by her husband and this is the only one for which she is remembered. It appeared, without music or attribution to her, in both his Songs for the Wilderness, 2nd Series (1844) and his Bible Hymn Book (1845), in each case with the hymn's original first line, “Pass away earthly joy”, instead of the revised first line “Fade, fade each earthly joy” that appears in GH. The composer of the tune was Theodore E. (Edson) Perkins (1831-1917), who was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, one of ten children of a Baptist minister, all of whom sang and played musical instruments. He became a solo vocalist and pianist, was a preeminent singing teacher, edited many hymn collections and during his long career was musical director at many churches. The hymn appeared, with the revised first line and Perkins' tune, as early as 1864 in a collection edited by him titled The New Shining Star. In an 1872 collection, The Church Hymn Book, compiled by Edwin F. Hatfield and containing the hymn with the original first line and Perkins' tune, the date of Perkins' tune is given as 1858. Although the year of Perkins' death appears in a variety of sources as 1912, his Pennsylvania death certificate states that he died on January 15, 1917. References: GH #647, JD, BG

#746 - No, Not One!, Scarcity: LC
The words of this simple hymn were written by Johnson Oatman, Jr. (1856-1922), who was born in Medford, New Jersey and was ordained as a Methodist minister, although he served just as a local preacher with no permanent church position. Instead, he worked in business, first with his father in a company named Johnson Oatman & Son and later in a life insurance office. In his spare time, however, beginning in 1892 when he was in his late thirties, he wrote thousands of hymn texts, generally at a rate of several a week. His words were set to music by John R. Sweney, William J. Kirkpatrick and other well-known gospel tune composers of the day. In the case of “No, Not One”, the music was written by George C. Hugg (1848-1907), who was also a New Jersey native and was a choir director, composer and hymnbook publisher in Philadelphia. The hymn appeared in Hugg's 1895 collection Heaven's Echo, or Songs of the Golden Land. BG called it “the song that has carried the name of Oatman to every land and clime on earth”, adding “It went like wild-fire from the start. Within one year it had been copied into thirty-five books and took a place among the immortal songs of the religious world”. Additional reference: HU

#747 - When the Roll is called Up Yonder, Scarcity: C
Both the words and music of this simple gospel hymn were written by James M. (Milton) Black (1856-1938), a Methodist layman who was born in south central New York State and lived for many years in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Like many other writers and composers of evangelical hymns on the roller organ whom we have encountered, he was an organist and singing school teacher who also edited hymnbooks, and this hymn first appeared in his 1894 collection Songs of the Soul, which became so popular immediately upon its appearance that over 400,000 copies of it were sold within two years. Black later wrote that both the words and the music of the hymn came to him very quickly and spontaneously in a single evening after he arrived home from a church meeting at which a poor and unfortunate fourteen-year-old girl had not responded to a “roll call” by reciting a biblical verse. The popularity of the hymn apparently “went to his head”, because on one occasion in 1913, in writing to a hymnbook compiler who had asked permission to include it in a hymn collection, his response reportedly was “Everybody else is raising the prices of the great songs and why should not I? It is the common consent of all people everywhere that… [this hymn] is the greatest song that has ever been written for the last twenty-five years. I am of that opinion myself. It goes into more books than any other gospel song in the English language. That tells the story. Hereafter, the price of that song shall be $25.00. Do you blame me?” Reference: 101MHS

#748 - Tell Mother I'll be There, Scarcity: LC
Both the words and music of this 1898 hymn were by Charles M. (Millard) Fillmore (1860-1952), who was born in Illinois, lived for most of his life in Indiana, studied music, became a singing school teacher, later became a pastor and an editor of temperance and church music publications, and wrote several hundred hymns. The emotional appeal of the singing of this hymn at revival meetings resulted in the repentance of large numbers of wayward men. The English singing evangelist, Charles A. Alexander, said that the hymn “converted more men than any other song written in a decade. … I have never found a song which would take its place. One night in Liverpool while the choir was singing [it] … one hundred and sixty men arose and publicly accepted Christ before all the people.” The writing of the hymn was reportedly inspired when Fillmore heard that then United States President William McKinley had sent a telegram to his mother shortly before her death with the message “Tell Mother I'll be there”. Fillmore sold the song for only five dollars to his brother who, in turn, sold it to Alexander after Alexander was very impressed by the effect of the song when he “accidentally” chose to sing it at a revival meeting in Kansas and it moved even “a big railroad fireman” to tears; thereafter, Fillmore said, “All England wept when they heard my song”. Fillmore had begun writing songs in 1883 and estimated that he sold them for an average of three dollars apiece. References: BG, June 22, 1949 article by syndicated newspaper columnist Robert C. Ruark reporting on an interview with Fillmore (then 78 years old), Indiana death certificate for Fillmore

#749 - The Glory Song, Scarcity: LC
Both the words and music of this hymn, originally known by the title “Oh, That Will Be Glory”, were written by Charles H. Gabriel (1856-1932), whom we have previously encountered as the composer, earlier in his career, of the tune for the little-known hymn “Hiding in the Rock” (see notes to cob #615). By 1900, when “Oh, That Will Be Glory” first appeared in the Edwin O. Excell hymnal Make His Praise Glorious, Gabriel was well-established as a hymnwriter and hymnbook editor. He reportedly was inspired to write the hymn by Ed Card, the superintendent of the Sunshine Rescue Mission in St. Louis, Missouri, who would frequently exclaim “Glory!” during his sermons and usually ended his prayers with “And that will be glory for me!” Jacob Henry Hall, writing in BG (1914), said “[Gabriel's] “Glory Song” is no doubt the most popular song he ever wrote. The song may now be heard in many tongues and dialects. It has been translated into at least seventeen languages. It has appeared in leaflets, newspapers, magazines and books no less than 17,000,000 times.” Additional reference: HU

#750 - Jesus Loves Me, Scarcity: LC
The hymn that begins “Jesus loves me! This I know, for the Bible tells me so”, with lyrics by Anna B. Warner and music by William B. Bradbury (see notes to cob #13), is one of the best-known and most widely-sung children's Sunday school songs. The tune on this cob, however, is not Bradbury's familiar tune, but rather the hymn tune “Belmont”, which was also on cob #63 in a different key and with different pinning. As there does not appear to be any hymn with the title “Jesus Loves Me” sung to the tune “Belmont”, it appears that an error was made by the Autophone Company in making this cob. In this regard, the late Todd Augsburger made the important discovery that on page 383 of the 1883 hymnal Gospel Hymns Consolidated, Embracing Volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4, an earlier version of what became GH after Volumes 5 and 6 were issued, a hymn with the tune and title “Belmont” appears, including music, as #412 and the words to “Jesus Loves Me” appear directly below it on the same page, without music, as #413. This very likely led someone at the Autophone Company to assume, incorrectly, that “Belmont” was the tune for “Jesus Loves Me”, even though a comparison of the meter of the tune with the meter of the words would have shown that the words could not be sung to the tune.

#751 - Tantum Ergo Sacramentum, Scarcity: LC
The pieces on cobs #751 through 759 are Roman Catholic hymn tunes. “Tantum ergo sacramentum” (“So great therefore a sacrament”) are the opening words of the next-to-last verse of a medieval Latin communion hymn, the “Pange Lingua”, written by St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. That verse and the final verse constitute the “Tantum Ergo Sacramentum” and are sung as a hymn for benediction in connection with the exposition and adoration of the consecrated bread (the Host). The tune appeared in the 1551 Genevan Psalter and is attributed to Louis Bourgeois (c. 1510-1572), the French-born Calvinist living in Geneva who was musical editor of the Psalter. We have previously encountered versions of the same tune used for Swedish (#76), German (#606) and Norwegian (#688) hymns. The tune is only one of many tunes to which the “Tantum Ergo” has been sung, however; in The Roman Hymnal, for example, an 1884 Catholic hymnal compiled by Rev. J. B. Young, S. J., there are ten different versions of the “Tantum Ergo” and the one sung to the tune on the cob is No. 40 (the “9th Melody”). Additional reference: JD

#752 - O Lord I am Not Worthy, Scarcity: LC
This communion hymn appeared, accompanied by the tune on the cob, in a number of older Catholic hymnals, in some cases with its Latin title (“Domine, Non Sum Dignus”) below the English title. The tune has been identified in hymnals in which it has appeared merely as a “traditional air” or “traditional hymn” or as “arranged from an old melody”. Reference: The Catholic Youth's Hymnbook. By the Christian Brothers. (New York, P. J. O'Shea, 1871) (a pre-roller organ era hymnal that contains the English lyrics along with the tune on the cob)

#753 - Magnificat, Scarcity: LC
The “Magnificat”, also known as the “Song of Mary” or “Canticle of Mary”, is an ancient Roman Catholic hymn in Latin based on the words spoken by the Virgin Mary at the time of her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth, beginning “Magnificat anima mea Dominum” (“My soul magnifies the Lord”). It has been set to music by scores of composers over the centuries. The tune on the cob is an unusual one in that it includes such lengthy sustained notes and does not have the sort of structure found in most other hymns. Like the tune on the immediately preceding cob, it can be found in the 1871 hymnal The Catholic Youth's Hymnbook. By the Christian Brothers..

#754 - O Salutaris, Scarcity: LC
“O Salutaris Hostia” (“O Saving Victim”) are the first three words of the next-to-last verse of another 13th century communion hymn by St. Thomas Aquinas, “Verbum Supernum Prodiens”. That verse and the final verse constitute the “O Salutaris Hostia” which, like “Tantum Ergo Sacramentum” (see notes to cob #751), is sung as a hymn for benediction in connection with the exposition and adoration of the consecrated bread (the Host). In The Roman Hymnal, the previously-mentioned 1884 Catholic hymnal compiled by Rev. J. B. Young, S. J., there are five different versions of “O Salutaris” and the one sung to the tune on the cob is No. 30 (the “4th Melody”). According to a number of sources, this tune is by Anthony Werner (1816-1866), who was the German-born organist and choir director at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. Additional references: JD; U.S. Census records for 1850 showing Werner as a 33-year-old “musician” born in Germany and living in Boston and for 1860 showing Werner as a 43-year-old “music teacher” born in Bavaria and living in Boston; Massachusetts death record showing his death on December 21, 1866 at the age of 50 years, 2 months and 11 days; record of his becoming a naturalized citizen of the U.S. in Boston in October, 1848 stating his profession as “teacher of music”, his date of birth as October 9, 1816, his place of birth as Klingenberg, Bavaria, his date of arrival in the U.S. as May 20, 1843 and his place of arrival as New York; U. S. Armed Forces Hymnal (1950), which includes “O Salutaris” sung to the tune on the cob and attributes the tune to Anthony Werner with a date of 1857

#755 - Sweet Savior, Scarcity: S
The hymn “Sweet Saviour! Bless Us Ere We Go”, sung to the tune on this cob, appeared, with no lyricist's or composer's name, in The Catholic Youth's Hymnbook. By the Christian Brothers. (New York, P. J. O'Shea, 1871) (see also notes to cobs #752 and 753). The author of the lyrics was the English clergyman and hymnwriter Frederick W. (William) Faber (1814-1863), a graduate of Oxford who was first an Anglican and in 1849 converted to Roman Catholicism (see notes to cob #60). The hymn was first published, consisting of seven stanzas without music, in the second edition of his collection Jesus and Mary (1852) with the title “An Evening at the Oratory”. The hymn has been sung to a number of different tunes and appears in only a small minority of hymnals linked with the obscure tune on this cob; a different tune was used for the hymn even in Oratory Hymns and Tunes, published in 1854 and edited by Faber himself. The hymn did appear with the tune on the cob in the American Catholic Hymnal compiled by the Marist Brothers in 1913 and there the tune is identified merely as a “traditional air”. Reference: JD

#756 - Stabat Mater, Scarcity: LC
The medieval Latin passion hymn “Stabat Mater Dolorosa”, of uncertain authorship, describes the weeping Mother (“Mater”) of Christ standing at the Cross at the time of His crucifixion. Many tunes have been composed to accompany the hymn, including a number by well-known classical composers. The tune that has been used in most hymnals, however, is derived from a tune for the hymn that appeared in a seventeenth-century Catholic hymnal, the Mainz Gesangbuch (1661). The version on the cob comes from this tune as later arranged by the English Catholic composer and organist Samuel Webbe (1740-1816) (see notes to cob #62). References: JD, William Cowan and James Love, The Music of the Church Hymnary and the Psalter in Metre (Edinburgh, etc., Henry Frowde, 1901) (comparison of the tune as it appeared in the Mainz Gesangbuch and in works by Webbe)

#757 - Adeste Fideles, Scarcity: LC
The tune on this cob is the same as the tune on cob #59, “Portuguese Hymn”, but the version on this cob sounds more lively because the final line of the verse of the hymn and the two-line refrain that follows it are repeated a second time so that the pace of the tune is quicker. As noted in the paragraph about cob #59, “Adeste Fideles” is a Latin Christmas hymn of unknown authorship and its English translation is the universally-known Christmas hymn “O Come All Ye Faithful”. The tune was included in John F. (Francis) Wade's collection Cantus Diversi in 1751, where its source was listed as “Anonymous”. The tune also appeared on Grand cob #3016 with the title “Portuguese Hymn”.

#758 - Holy God We Praise Thy Name, Scarcity: LC
The tune on this cob is another version of the tune that appeared on cob #46 with the name “Hursley” and on cob #724 with the name “Ambrosia Hymn”. As was noted in the paragraph about cob #724, “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name” is an English translation of an ancient Latin hymn, “Te Deum Laudamus” and the tune accompanied a German version of the “Te Deum” in the Katholisches Gesangbuch (“Catholic Songbook”), published in Vienna in about 1774. The English translation, which was included with the tune in, for example, the 1871 Catholic Youth's Hymnbook (see also notes to cobs #752, 753 and 755), was by Clarence A. (Augustus) Walworth (1820-1900), who was born in upstate New York, first pursued a career as a lawyer, later studied for the Episcopal ministry but, influenced by the Oxford Movement, instead became a Roman Catholic priest. Additional references: HU, New York Times, September 20, 1900 (obituary article about Walworth)

#759 - O Du Frohliche, O Du Selige, Scarcity: LC
“O du frohliche, o du selige” (literally translated “O you joyful, o you blessed”) is a German Christmas hymn. It was originally written in 1816 by the German author and benefactor of poor and neglected children Johannes Daniel Falk (1768-1826) as a three-verse hymn with one verse devoted to Christmas, one to Easter and one to Pentecost and set by Falk to the tune, known as the “Sicilian Hymn” or “Sicilian Mariners' Hymn”, used for the Roman Catholic Latin hymn to the Virgin Mary “O Sanctissima”. Falk reportedly became familiar with the tune when it was sung to him by a child in his charge who was Italian. Falk's second and third verses were replaced in a new version of the hymn in 1827 with verses written by Falk's assistant, Heinrich Holzschuher (1798-1847), referring only to Christmas. Other versions of the same tune, with different pinnings, appeared on cobs #11 and 661. References: JD, Gerhard Hahn and Jurgen Henkys, eds., Liederkunde zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch, Heft 4 (Gottingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2002), Neue Deutsche Biographie, Band 9 (Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, 1972) (article about Holzschuher)

#760 - Face To Face, Scarcity: LC
Both the words and music of this unusual and florid 1897 hymn were by Herbert Johnson (1861-1904). Although it has not appeared in many hymnals, there is sheet music for it in the New York Public Library collection, and the music magazine Etude for April, 1908 included an advertisement by the publisher of the sheet music, Waldo Music Co. of Boston, with a photograph of Johnson and the comment that “Face to Face” was the company's leading publication. Johnson was born in Middletown, Connecticut, studied in Boston and was a well-known tenor soloist and choral director who frequently appeared, primarily in Boston and the surrounding area, with a quartet or quintet led by him. This cob did not appear in any lists of cob numbers and titles in advertisements and other published sources and its existence only became known to cob collectors when two copies of it turned up at about the same time about twenty years ago. Reference: The Aeolian Pipe-Organ and its Music (New York, The Aeolian Company, 1919) (information about Johnson), numerous notices and articles in Massachusetts newspapers relating to appearances by the quartet of the Ruggles Street Baptist Church in Boston led by Johnson, the Herbert Johnson Quintet Club and the Herbert Johnson Quartet