Unconsciously Doing Good

Ia the Unitarian (Dr. Sunderland's Journal) for August is an interesting article relative to the authorship of a favorite hymn,- a hymn which has been given out from many a pulpit for many years, and was rnuch prized because of its genuine poetic worth. It begins- "Come unto me, when sbadows darkly gather, When the e&d heart is weary and distrest." This hymn was known to be an old one, as old hymn books contained it, but nothing was known about its origin. For many years it did its work of consolation to the "distrest" as almost no other hymn could, its beautiful faith,- "Large are the mansions in thy Father's dwaling,''- never failing to bring some comfort ; but ite author was unknown, and compilers placed "Anonymous" after it in the bymn books. There carne to be much interest in discovering its origin, and in answer to advertisements some one wrote that the hymn was part of one published in 1839 and was written by a Miss Catharine H. Waterman, of Philadelphia. The original hymn was found, but who was Miss Waterman? A soul capable of writing such a gem ought not to be unknown. A gentleman devoted rnuch time to mousing in librarles trying to get some clue, and at last in Griswold's "Female Poets of America," he found a sketch of that lady under the name of Catharine H. Esling. She was born in 1812, and under her maiden name became known as an author by many graceful and tender effusious in the periodicals. Mrs. Esling was sought and found, living in Philadelphia, in 1881, at the age of 70, a quiet life, full of peace and contentment, giving every evidence vet of many graces of mind. A singular thing aboutit is that the gifted woman did not know till her 70th year that her poem written 30 years before had become so prized by Christian churches and had done so much good in all those years. Some one, it is thought to have been Rev. Samuel Longfellow, the brother of the great poet, had caught sight of her poem and recognized its adaptability to hymnal use.