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It was a cold, rainy day, and everything had gone wrong with me during the morning. I realized that the fault was mine; but that did not help the matter. About noon the sky began to be clear; and a friend standing near me said, "There is only a beam of sun-shine, but, oh, it is warm and bright"; and, on the im-pulse of the moment, I wrote the hymn,

"Only a beam of sunshine, but, oh, it was warm and bright,
The heart of a weary traveller was cheered by its wel-come light."

"Now Just a Word for Jesus" was written with the idea of influencing people at prayer meetings to give their testimonies and to give them promptly. One day some-one was talking about wealth; and he said, "If I had wealth I would be able to do just what I wish to do; and I would be able to make an appearance in the world." I replied, "Take the world, but give me Jesus." This remark led me to write the hymn having that title.

On one occasion Mr. Kirkpatrick had been at my home; and as he was going away I said,

"Oh, dear, it's nothing but meeting and parting in this world, is it?" He replied,

"Well, I will not say as Bliss did 'meet me at the fountain,' but I will say, 'where the tree of life is bloom-ing, meet me there.'" Not long afterward I wrote the hymn entitled "Meet Me There."

"I Am Satisfied" was written during the summer of 1902 while I was visiting Dr. William H. Doane. One morning I received a telegram announcing the death of a very dear friend; and it occurred to me that under the circumstances it would be well for me to occupy my mind by writing as many hymns as I could. I accordingly secluded myself where I could hear the music of Old Ocean, and wrote "I Am Satisfied."

Mr. Sylvester Main was a little depressed one day, and I said that if we were always at peace with God these trials would not annoy us as they do now.

"No," he replied, "and I very often have to exclaim, 'Lord abide with me'"; and his remark inspired me to write the hymn bearing this title.

"Valley of Eden, Beyond the Sea" is one of my hymns of which I have erred concerning the authorship. On one occasion I heard a lady singing it, and I rushed downstairs, exclaiming,

"Where did you get that beautiful melody and words ?" "Well," she replied, "Mr. Kirkpatrick wrote the melody."

"But," I said, "who wrote those words?" She replied, "Someone who is in the habit of writing for him." Even then I did not recognize my own words, and she finally said that she would sing the hymn once more, which she did; and to my embarrassment I remem-bered writing it.

Dr. Lowry gave me the subject to "The bright For-ever" and I tried for two days to write the hymn. Then all at once, almost in a twinkling, the words came stanza by stanza as fast as I could memorize them. Hubert P. Main wrote the music, which has done so much to popularize the hymn. He also wrote the notes for "Hold Thou My Hand" (in 1874) "Blessed Homeland," "Yes, There is Pardon for You," and other hymns.

"Blessed Assurance" was written in 1873. The music was composed by Mrs. Joseph F. Knapp, who became known to me as early as 1868, and who has also written the notes to several hymns of mine, including "Nearer The Cross," and "Open the Gates of the' Temple." An English religious weekly gives the follow-ing account of how soldiers use "God Be With You" and "Blessed Assurance" for passwords. When one member of the Soldiers' Christian Association meets a comrade he says "494" which is the number of "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" in "Sacred Songs and Solos"; the latter replies "6 farther on," that is 500, which is the number of "Blessed Assurance." Of this custom the secretary of the Association writes, "These hymns are constantly being used by our members as greeting and response; and I do not think any member of the Soldiers' Christian Association ever writes without putting them somewhere on the letter or envelope. I have had dozens of letters from South Africa alone; and in my visits to garrisons and soldiers' homes no meeting is considered closed until 'God Be With You' has been sung."

In one of Mr. Sankey's meetings a man came forward and requested that someone offer a prayer for him. He appeared to be deeply distressed in spirit; and when they said that he might come again the next night, he cried earnestly,

"No, it must be settled tonight; for tomorrow may be too late." They listened to his appeal, and before he left the church he felt that he was saved. The next day there was an explosion in the mine where he worked, and he was among the slain. This story was related to me by Mr. Sankey and I wrote the hymn "Shall I Be Saved Tonight?"

"Saw Ye Not the Promised Day?" a missionary hymn, to which William F. Sherwin wrote the music, was inspired by a remark that the day of the Lord was coming.

"Pass Me Not, O Gentle Saviour" (1868) was written not long after the hymn "More Like Jesus," the incident relating to which has already been told. A number of stories have been called forth by the singing of that hymn; and perhaps the best of these is the following: In a Western state lived an old man who was in the habit of going fishing on Sunday afternoons. Near the pond was a small school house in which was held a Sabbath school. Frequently they used to sing "Pass Me Not" during the afternoon service; and for some reason, he knew not why, the old man could not forget that melody. One day he could resist no longer; he threw down his fishing rod, and went up to the school house. They invited him into the Sunday school; but he said,