Charles Lowell Walker served in the Sunday School back when it was an organization for children. He would often address the children of the St. George First Ward Sunday School on a gospel topic. He had a tender spot in his heart for children and suffered greatly at the loss of his children. When his infant daughter Mary died in 1879, he noted in his diary the identity of the speakers at the funeral, but said, “I could not hear or understand much as my thoughts were on the contents of the little black coffin before me, and it seemed to me as tho I shoud choke with grief.”
Walker’s family told the story that Charles was bored one day in Sunday School and penned this little poem. He didn’t tell that story himself; he just noted when it was published in the Juvenile Instructor.
John Menzies Macfarlane set the words to music. Macfarlane has been featured before at Keepapitchinin in Ardis’s well-known post “Far, Far Away and Not So Long Ago,” and has been mentioned in a story about a St. George woman who appeared before Macfarlane in his role as Probate Court Judge: (link).
I won’t provide any commentary on the text, but will point toward a blog, The Beesley Project, which is providing ongoing commentary about each of the texts in the 1985 hymnbook: (Hymn #96).
Here is Walker’s original text from his diary:
Dearest children, God is near you,
Watching o’er you day and night,
And delights to own and bless you,
If you strive to do what’s right.
He will bless you,
If you put your trust in Him.Dearest children, holy angels,
Watch your actions night and day,
And they keep a faithfull record
Of the good and bad you say,
Cherish virture!
God will bless the pure in heart.Children, God delights to teach you,
By His Holy Spirits voice;
Quickly heed its holy promptings
Day by day you’ll then rejoice
O, prove faithfull
To your God and Zion’s cause.
Surprisingly, although the hymn is familiar in most Mormon congregations, there are not many arrangements to choose from online. Here is a light-hearted one.
If you prefer your sacred music to be entirely serious, you may prefer the Mormon Tabernacle Choir version instead: (link).
Do you have memories associated with this hymn? Is it ever sung in your congregation?
Actually, I’m very familiar with this hymn; I know I’ve sung it in Sacrament meeting on multiple occasions. I don’t have particular memories about it, other than that I enjoy singing it. 🙂
Oh, do I!
When I was maybe around four or five, I remember believing that when you prayed, there was an angel in heaven somewhere who took notes (shorthand, I suppose?) and then when Heavenly Father had time, he would read the prayers and answer them.
I remember eventually realizing that if Heavenly Father didn’t listen to prayers in real time, the backlog would quickly become impossible to deal with, and thus I (reluctantly) gave up my belief.
Once I gave up believing it, though, I began to feel curious about how I ever started believing it in the first place. This remained mysterious to me for at least a couple of decades– and then one day, in Sacrament meeting, I noticed as I sang the words
“Dearest children, holy angels,
Watch your actions night and day,
And they keep a faithful record…”
I was evidently singing and paying attention to words at a young age, but I think all little kids have comprehension problems now and again.
(I also remember learning in the first grade that we were “one nation, underground, invisible” and having a clear understanding that we were invisible because we were underground. I spent a bit of recess time in wonderment, staring at the sky, feeling amazed that the painters had done such a great job on it.)
Thanks for the comments, Bruce and S.
That’s interesting to hear what you got out of the hymn as a child, S, since it was written for children.
We’ll have some more Walker throughout the week. I considered including more of his sacred poetry here, but besides this hymn, it wasn’t too memorable, so decided to move on to more of his humorous compositions.
I believe I sang this song during a Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation. I have most of the words memorized, but I still have trouble with ‘day and nigh’ and ‘night and day.’
Also, this was the song that persuaded my mother in law that ‘cherries hurt you, cherries hurt you,’ something her family could not understand.
Ha. That’s right, LauraN, Cherries hurt you!
A quick comment about sources, since someone asked.
The Charles Lowell Walker diaries were annotated and published by historian Andrew Karl Larson and his wife Katherine Miles Larson, who was a granddaughter of Charles Lowell Walker.
The diaries are available in two hefty volumes, lightly indexed in the second volume. The transcription is, as is usual, true to his spelling (see “faithfull” above) but has added light punctuation and capitalization to make it readable. I don’t know whether Walker or the Larsons would have added that extra comma after “holy angels,” but it was, of course, not in the version printed in the JI or the hymnbook.
Most of the hymns/poems shared here this week are from the diary; some are included in footnotes by the Larsons from a separate collection of poems.
Thanks, S. Speaking of angels and misunderstanding the words of a hymn, I was probably 6 years old before I realized that angels aren’t named “Harold.” I was just taking my cues from the Christmas hymn, “Hark! The [Harold] Angels Sing,” of course!
Charles Schulz did the “Harold Angel” gag at least a couple of times. Here’s one example:
http://collectpeanuts.com/comicstrips/peanutsgang/249705.full.gif
That’s awesome, lindberg! Thanks. I will have to show that strip to my mom who still tells the story of my “Harold Angel” confusion.
I finally found the full Harold Angel story arc. It started with the December 15, 1983 strip, and ran through December 24.
Here’s the start of the arc: http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1983/12/15
Enjoy. 🙂
I was part of a Primary choir that sang for a conference in the tabernacle in the mid 60’s. We sang ‘Dearest children God is near you’ and ‘O How Lovely Was the Morning’ now renamed Joseph Smith’s First Prayer. A 45 record was made of this performance that was given to each of us Primary children. I remember especially because Charlie Walker was my Great Great Grandfather.
Hello,
I was looking back over my favorites on FB and found this. Again. Charles Lowell Walker was my paternal great great grandfather. His daughter Agatha was my father’s mother.
I remember going to St. George with my parents for a McAllister family reunion in 1969. My dad took me to the old homestead and showed me how his sisters made Hollyhock dolls. We went to visit Katherine Miles Larson at her home. My father badly wanted copies of his grandfather’s journals. This was before they were published I believe. He eventually got 12 volumes of 8 1/2 X 11 bound typed on one side. He loved reading them. My brothers received the published volumes as Christmas gifts. Dad said I had the ‘originals’ so I didn’t need the book version.
It seems like Dearest Children is sung at every family funeral. My brother said he has forbidden it to be sung at his. LOL I’ve always thought it was a pretty song.
Rumor in my family was that CLW wrote with Macfarlane, and there was some disagreement about Far Far
Away on Judea’s Plains and my Gr. Grandfather refused to have his name put on it as the writer. I don’t know if that’s true. CLW was known as the poet laureate of Dixie.
On the trip to the family reunion we visited a lot of family along the way from Oregon to Utah. I believe I met commenter #11 Kelly Olds on that trip. I was only 12. My dad was one of 10 children, so there were a lot of people to meet. Anyway, I enjoyed your post. Thank-you.