A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (Beverly, MA)

Some of the old hymns did seem to lend us wings, so full were they of aspiration and hope and courage. To a little child, reading them or hearing them sung was like being caught up in a strong man's arms, to gaze upon some wonderful landscape. These climbing and flying hymns,--how well I remember them, although they were among the first I learned! They are of the kind that can never wear out. We all know them by their first lines,-- "Awake, our souls! away, our fears!" "Up to the hills I lift mine eyes." "There is a land of pure delight." "Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings, Thy better portion trace!" How the meeting-house rafters used to ring to that last hymn, sung to the tune of "Amsterdam!" Sometimes it seemed as if the very roof was lifted off,--nay, the roof of the sky itself--as if the music had burst an entrance for our souls into the heaven of heavens. I loved to learn the glad hymns, and there were scores of them. They come flocking back through the years, like birds that are full of the music of an immortal spring! "Come, let us join our cheerful songs With angels round the throne." "Love divine, all love excelling; Joy of heaven, to earth come down." "Joy to the world! the Lord is come!" "Hark! the song of jubilee, Loud as mighty thunders' roar, Or the fullness of the sea When it breaks upon the shore! "Hallelujah! for the Lord God Omnipotent shall reign! Hallelujah! let the word Echo round the earth and main."