In de dark wood, no Indian nigh, Dat God on high, in shinee place, God send Him angel take me care; Him come Heself and hear um prayer, God see me now, He know me here. So me lub God wid inside heart; God lub poor Indian in de wood; When me be old, me head be gray, Me wid you till you die. Den take me up to shinee place, See white man, red man, black man's face, Few days, den God will come to me, Den Indian sing His praises blest, And lub and praise Him wid de rest, And neber, neber cry. The above hymn, which may be found in different forms in old New England tracts and hymnbooks, and which used to be sung in Methodist con ference and prayer-meetings in the same way that old slave-hymns and the "Jubilee Singers" refrains are sometimes sung now, was composed by William Apes, a converted Indian, who was born in Massachusetts, in 1798. His father was a white man, but married an Indian descended from the family of King Philip, the Indian warrior, and the last of the Indian chiefs. His grandmother was the king's granddaughter, as he claimed, and was famous for her personal beauty. He caused his autobiography and religious experience to be published. The original hymn is quite long, and contains some singular and characteristic expressions. The authorship of the tune to which the words were sung has been claimed for Samuel Cowdell, a schoolmaster of Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, 1820, but the date of the lost tune was probably much earlier In the early days of New England, before the Indian missions had been brought to an end by the sweeping away of the tribes, several fine hymns were composed by educated Indians, and were used in the churches. The best known is that beginning When shall we all meet again? It was composed by three Indians at the planting of a memorial pine on leaving Dartmouth College, where they had been studying. The lines indicate an expectation of missionary life and work. When shall we all meet again? When shall we all meet again? Oft shall glowing hope expire, Oft shall wearied love retire, Though in distant lands we sigh, When these burnished locks are gray, When the dreams of life are fled, When its wasted lamps are dead, When in cold oblivion's shade Beauty, health, and strength are laid, Where immortal spirits reign, There we all shall meet again. This parting piece was sung in religious meetings as a hymn, like the other once so common, but later, "When shall we meet again, -to a tune in B flat minor, excessively plaintive, and likely to sadden an emoional singer or hearer to tears. The full harmony is found in the American Vocalist, and the air is reprinted in the Revivalist (1868). The fact that minor music is the natural Indian tone in song makes it probable that the melody is as ancient as the hymn-though no date is given for either. Tradition says that nearly fifty years later the same three Indians were providentially drawn to the spot where they parted, and met again, and while they were together composed and sang another ode. Truth to tell, however, it had only one note of gladness, and that was in the first stanza: Parted many a toil-spent year, Pledged in youth to memory dear, Still to friendship's magnet true, We our social joys renew; Bound by love's unsevered chain, The remaining three stanzas dwell principally on the ravages time has made. The reunion ode of those stoical college classmates of a stoical race could have been sung in the same B flat minor. "AWAKED BY SINAI'S AWFUL SOUND." The name of the Indian, Samson Occum, who wrote this hymn (variously spelt Ockom, Ockum, Occam, Occom) is not borne by any public institution, but New England owes the foundation of Dartmouth College to his hard work. Dartmouth College was originally "Moore's Indian Charity School," organized (1750) in Lebanon, Ct., by Rev. Eleazer Wheelock and endowed (1755) by Joshua Moore (or More). Good men and women who had at heart the spiritual welfare of a fading race contributed to the school's support and young Indians resorted to it from both New England and the Middle States, but funds were insufficient, and it was foreseen that the charity must inevitably outgrow its missionary purpose and if continued at all must depend on a wider and more liberal pat ronage. Samson Occum was born in Mohegan, New London Co., Ct., probably in the year 1722. Converted from paganism in 1740 (possibly under the preaching of Whitefield, who was in this country at that time) he desired to become a missionary to his people, and entered Eleazer Wheelock's school. After four years study, then a young man of twentytwo, he began to teach and preach among the Montauk Indians, and in 1759 the Presbytery of Suffolk Co., L. I., ordained him to the ministry. A benevolent society in Scotland, hearing of his ability and zeal, gave him an appointment, under its auspices, among the Oneidas in 1761, where he labored four years. The interests of the school at Lebanon, where he had been educated, were dear to him, and he was tireless in its cause, procuring pupils for it, and working eloquently as its advocate with voice and pen. In 1765 he crossed the Atlantic to solicit funds for the Indian school, and remained four years in England and Scotland, lecturing in its behalf, and preaching nearly four hundred sermons. As a result he raised ten thousand pounds. The donation was put in charge of a Board of |
