420 Jesus Bids Us Shine
Susan Warner, 1819-85
A hymn for small children, which first appeared, anonymously, in The Little Corporal, Chicago.
The author, Susan Warner, sister of Anna B. Warner (see Hymn 201), was the daughter of a reputable attorney in New York State. Her father fell into undeserved misfortune which left the daughters as the breadwinners of the household. This burden they fulfilled by writing stories and books. Susan’s first book, The Wide, Wide World, published in 1865 under the pseudonym of “Elizabeth Wetherall,” became one of the most widely read of American novels, second in popularity only to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It was translated into French and German and became a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic. She also wrote a number of definitely religious books for children. Like her sister, Anna, she was buried at West Point, where the two had conducted a Bible class for many years for the cadets of the U. S. Military Academy.
MUSIC. The tune is by Edwin O. Excell, 1851-1921, an American composer of Gospel song tunes. In England, the hymn is sung to “Lumetto,” a tune by Edward Arthur, composed in 1927.