Bless Your Little Lamb Tonight

One theme that has been largely unexplored here is hymns for children.  We have seen hymns that were originally written for children that are now considered general hymns, such as Mrs. Alexander's Once in royal David's city and There is a green hill far away, and some Sunday School music (which developed into the gospel song), but have not looked at the vast number of hymns written for children.

Most denominational hymnals from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century contained a section of children's hymns, and there were also probably hundreds of separate children's hymnals published during those years as well.  The archive of my own church contains an 188os edition of The Sunday-school Hymnal edited by Charles Hutchins, an Episcopal minister in Medford, MA, and most denominations had similar books.

This text and tune combination came to America when it appeared in the 1871 Episcopal hymnal edited by J. Ireland Tucker, and went on to appear in many others over the next 75 years at least.

Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me;
Bless your little lamb tonight;
Through the night be always near me;
Watch my sleep till morning light.

All this day your hand has led me,
And I thank you for your care;
You have clothed me, warmed and fed me,
Listen to my evening prayer.

Let my sins be all forgiven;
Bless the friends I love so well;
Take me, when I die, to heaven,
Happy there with you to dwell.

Mary Lundie Duncan, 1839; alt.

Tune: BROCKLESBURY (8.7.8.7.)

Charlotte Alington Barnard. 1868

Mary Lundie Duncan (1816-1840) was a young mother when she wrote this and other hymns especially for her own little children.  Like many similar hymns that have been written since, the text reflects the specific concerns of a child.  Duncan''s hymns were published after her death, first in a memoir written by her mother, then in a separate volume, Rhymes for My Children (1842).

Charlotte Barnard was one of the first women composers profiled here.  In addition to this hymn tune, she wrote several secular songs under the pseudonym of Claribel.  When J. Ireland Tucker edited The New Children's Hymnal (1892), he included more tunes credited to Claribel, and since he had first used BROCKLESBURY some years earlier, it may be that these tunes are also by Barnard and not someone else using the Claribel pseudonym, though there does not seem to be much scholarship on this subject.

More Voices Found: Charlotte Barnard

One hobby of mine is tracking down hymn texts and tunes (particularly the latter) written by women. For various cultural reasons, those creative efforts have rarely survived to the present day to a degree anywhere near those of their male counterparts. Church Publishing (an Episcopal outfit) published a collection of women's hymn tunes and texts in 2003 called Voices Found, but their emphasis, while partly historical, was more contemporary in scope.

So who didn't make it into Voices Found? One such woman is Charlotte Alington Barnard, who died on this day in 1869. While Barnard wrote some poetry, none has, to my knowledge, been used as a hymn. However, under the pseudonym of 'Claribel' she was a prolific composer of ballads and popular songs. One "standard" hymn tune written by her has come down to us called BROCKLESBURY (sometimes called, in error, BROCKLESBY - Brocklesbury was the name of a town near Dover where Barnard and her husband lived). It was published in several nineteenth-century hymnals but fared somewhat worse as the years went on. The Episcopalians still included it in the Hymnal 1940 but it was left out of the Hymnal 1982. Written for an 8.7.8.7. meter, it's a perfectly serviceable tune that could sometimes be used in place of more ubiquitous tunes such as STUTTGART.

Try Barnard's tune to the following text:

Hear, O God, the prayer we offer,
Not for ease that prayer shall be,
But for strength, that we may ever
Live our lives courageously.

Not forever in green pastures
Do we ask our way to be,
But by steep and rugged pathways
Always strive to climb to thee.

Not forever by still waters
Would we, idly, quiet, stay;
But would smite the living fountains
From the rocks along our way.

Be our strength in hours of weakness,
In our wanderings be our guide;
Through endeavor, failure, danger,
Be thou ever at our side.

Love Maria Willis, c.1859; alt.
Tune: BROCKLESBURY (8.7.8.7.)
Charlotte A. Barnard, 1868

Yes, Love Maria Willis is another woman who didn't make it into Voices Found. Sometimes hymn texts by women are considered overly sentimental and 'weak,' but this one, I think, takes a practical, 'go for it' kind of attitude that deserves to be kept in the modern repertory of hymns. This text is the only one credited to Willis at the CyberHymnal, so maybe it's fitting to pair it with Charlotte Barnard's solitary hymn tune. There is another Barnard melody, which she wrote for a secular text, and which was later adapted for a gospel song by Howard B. Grose (who probably then named the tune BARNARD) in 1902. Are there others?

***UPDATE (6/9/08) - On May 28 I reported that I have found another hymn tune by Charlotte Barnard called PILGRIMAGE, which you can now hear thanks to commenter Leland Bryant Ross's creadion of a sound file.***

***UPDATE #2***  This hymn with words and music together is now posted to be shared on Facebook.  Go to "Conjubilant W. Song" and click on "Photos" then "Albums" -- it's in the Downloadable Hymns album.***