"And there's a nice youngster of excellent pith;
Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith!
But he shouted a song for the brave and the free--
Just read on his medal, 'My Country of Thee.'"
In these lines of his famous Reunion Poem, "The Boys," Dr. Oliver
Wendell Holmes commemorated his old friend and college-mate, Dr. Samuel
Francis Smith, author of "America."
Samuel Francis Smith was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 21,
1808. He attended the Latin School in his native city, and it is said
that when only twelve years old he could "talk Latin." He entered
Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1825, and graduated in
the famous class of 1829, of which Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, James
Freeman Clarke, William E. Channing, and other celebrated Americans
were members.
Dr. Smith, like so many other noted men, "worked his way through
college." He did this principally by coaching other students, and by
making translations from the German "Conversations-Lexicon" for the
"American Cyclopedia."
After graduating from Harvard, he immediately entered Andover
Theological Seminary. Three years later, in 1832, he wrote, among
others, his most famous hymn, "America," of which the "National
Cyclopedia of American Biography" says, "It has found its way wherever
an American heart beats or the English language is spoken, and has
probably proved useful in stirring the patriotic spirit of the American
people."
Dr. Smith himself often said that he had heard "America" sung "halfway
round the world, under the earth in the caverns of Manitou, Colorado,
and almost above the earth near the top of Pike's Peak."
The hymn, as every child knows, is sung to the air of the national
anthem of England,--"God Save the King." The author came upon it in a
book of German music, and by it was inspired to write the words of
"America," a work which he accomplished in half an hour. Many years
after, referring to its impromptu composition, he wrote: "If I had
anticipated the future of it, doubtless I should have taken more pains
with it. Such as it is, I am glad to have contributed this mite to the
cause of American freedom."
In a magazine article, written several years ago, Mr. Herbert Heywood
gave an interesting account of an interview with Dr. Smith, who told
him the story of the writing of the hymn himself.
"'I wrote "America,"' he said, 'when I was a theological student at
Andover, during my last year there. In February, 1832, I was poring
over a German book of patriotic songs which Lowell Mason, of Boston,
had sent me to translate, when I came upon one with a tune of great
majesty. I hummed it over, and was struck with the ease with which the
accompanying German words fell into the music. I saw it was a patriotic
song, and while I was thinking of translating it, I felt an impulse to
write an American patriotic hymn. I reached my hand for a bit of waste
paper, and, taking my quill pen, wrote the four verses in half an hour.
I sent it with some translations of the German songs to Lowell Mason,
and the next thing I knew of it I was told it had been sung by the
Sunday-school children at Park Street Church, Boston, at the following
Fourth of July celebration. The house where I was living at the time
was on the Andover turnpike, a little north of the seminary building. I
have been in the house since I left it in September, 1832, but never
went into my old room.'" This room is now visited by patriotic
Americans from every part of the country.
Two years after "America" was written, Dr. Smith became pastor of the
First Baptist Church in Waterville, Maine, and also professor of modern
languages in Waterville College, which is now known as Colby
University. His great industry and zeal, both as a clergyman and
student and teacher of languages, enabled him to perform the duties of
both positions successfully. He was a noted linguist, and could read
books in fifteen different languages. He could converse in most of the
modern European tongues, and at eighty-six was engaged in studying
Russian.
In 1842 Dr. Smith was made pastor of the First Baptist Church, Newton
Center, Massachusetts, where he made his home for the rest of his life.
"When he died, in November, 1895," says Mr. Heywood, "he was living in
the old brown frame-house at Newton Center, Massachusetts, which had
been his home for over fifty years. It stood back from the street, on
the brow of a hill sloping gently to a valley on the north. Pine trees
were in the front and rear, and the sun, from his rising to his
setting, smiled upon that abode of simple greatness. The house was
faded and worn by wind and weather, and was in perfect harmony with its
surroundings--the brown grass sod that peeped from under the snow, the
dull-colored, leafless elms, and the gray, worn stone steps leading up
from the street.
"An air of gentle refinement pervaded the interior, and every room
spoke of its inmate. But perhaps the library was best loved of all by
Dr. Smith, for here it was that his work went on. Here, beside a sunny
bay window, stood his work table, and his high-backed, old-fashioned
chair, with black, rounded arms. All about the room were ranged his
bookcases, and an old, tall clock marked the flight of time that was so
kind to the old man. His figure was short, his shoulders slightly
bowed, and around his full, ruddy face, that beamed with kindness, was
a fringe of white hair and beard."
Dr. Smith resigned his pastorate of the Newton church in 1854, and
became editorial secretary of the American Baptist Missionary Union. In
1875 he went abroad for the first time, and spent a year in European
travel. Five years later he went to India and the Burmese empire.
During his travels he visited Christian missionary stations in France,
Spain, Italy, Austria, Turkey, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Burmah, India,
and Ceylon.
The latter years of his life were devoted almost entirely to literary
work. He wrote numerous poems which were published in magazines and
newspapers, but never collected in book form. His hymns, numbering over
one hundred, are sung by various Christian denominations. "The Morning
Light is Breaking" is a popular favorite. Among his other published
works are "Missionary Sketches," "Rambles in Mission Fields," a
"History of Newton," and a "Life of Rev. Joseph Grafton." Besides his
original hymns, he translated many from other languages, and wrote
numerous magazine articles and sketches during his long and busy life.
Dr. Smith's vitality and enthusiasm remained with him to the last. A
great-grandfather when he died in his eighty-seventh year, he was an
inspiration to the younger generations growing up around him. He was at
work almost to the moment of his death, and still actively planning for
the future.
His great national hymn, if he had left nothing else, will keep his
memory green forever in the hearts of his countrymen. It is even more
popular to-day, after seventy-one years have elapsed, than it was when
first sung in Park Street Church by the Sunday-school children of
Boston. Its patriotic ring, rather than its literary merit, renders it
sweet to the ear of every American. Wherever it is sung, the feeble
treble of age will join as enthusiastically as the joyous note of youth
in rendering the inspiring strains of