A widowed lady of mature life mourned a runaway son who was lost
to her for years. Her sorrow had silenced her song, for she was
a cultured woman and an accomplished vocalist. But during a
visit at a distant friend’s home she was induced to sing at a
church service, choosing for her solo, “Where is my wandering
boy to-night?” and, of course, sang it with much feeling; and
after rendering the second stanza:
“Once he was pure as the morning dew,
As he knelt at his mother’s knee,
No face was so bright, no heart more true,
And none were so sweet as he,”
the congregation joined in the refrain:
“O where is my boy to-night?
O where is my boy to-night?
My heart o’erflows, for I love him he knows,
O where is my boy to-night?”
“Mother, I’m here,” responded a young man away back, making his
way sobbing up the aisle. Among the converts that night was this
returning wanderer. The Rev. Robert Lowry is the author of the
hymn and tune.
(3420)