(185) JUL 24 1800 CAMBRIDGE, MASS MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND QUERIES. S. C. GOULD, Editor. "I would rather be blinded by the light, than sit wilfully in the twilight." VOL. XIV. AUGUST, 1896. -ANNIE BESANT. "The Sweet By and By." No. 8. The Louisville (Ky.) Post says that the author of "The Sweet By and By" was Samuel Fillmore Bennett, M. D., a graduate of Ann Arbor University, Michigan, living in Richmond, Ill., and now about 60 years of age; that the immortal hymn was the single song of his life, and written at the age of 31; that he was a newspaper editor on The Independent at Elkhorn, Wisconsin, prior to the civil war; that Joseph P. Webster, a musical composer, was then living in the same town, and they were warm friends and collaborated together. The war intervened and called Mr. Bennett as Colonel of the 40th Wisconsin Volunteers. He returned from the service, opened a drug store at Elkhorn, and resumed verse writing. He and Mr. Webster, in 1867, began work on a Sunday School song book, which was called Signet Ring," and afterwards published. The Post says that not long ago Mr. Bennett related the details of the hymn to an interested audience, with his eyes filled with tears as he spoke of friend Webster: "I am thankful to do justice to one of the noblest men who ever lived, a fine, sensitive soul, with the true artistic feeling. It has been said that we are both infidels, and that the song was the ribald jest of a carouse. As to my religion, that is my own affair; but the hope and longing of every immortal soul as expressed in that song was the faith of both of us. To us creation would have seemed a farce if In The finite Love and immortality had not overshadowed us and promised a life of bliss beyond the grave. "Mr. Webster, like many musicians, was of an exceedingly nervous and sensitive nature and subject to times of depression. I knew his peculiarities well, and when I found him given up to the blues I just gave him a cheerful song to work on. One morning he came into the store and walked to the stove without speaking. 'What's up now, Webster ?' I asked. Its no matter. It will be all right, by and by,' he answered. The idea of the hymn came to me like a flash of sunshine. The sweet by and by. Everything will be all right then. 'Why wouldn't that make a good hymn?' said I. 'Maybe it would,' he replied, gloomily. Turning to the desk, I wrote as rapidly as I could. In less than half an hour, I think, the song as it stands today was written. Here it is: There's a land that is fairer than day, (Chorus.) In the sweet by and hy, We shall meet on that beautiful shore- We shall meet on that beautiful shore. We shall sing on that beautiful shore To our bountiful Father above We will offer the tribute of praise, For the glorious gift of his love And the blessings that hallow our days. "In the meantime, two friends, Mr. N. H. Carswell and Mr. S. E. Bright, had come in. I handed the verses to Mr. Webster, a little tremulous with emotion. As he read it, his eyes kindled. Stepping to the desk, he began to jot down the notes. He picked up his violin and tried them. In ten minutes we four gentlemen were singing that song. Mr. R. R. Crosby came in, and with tears in his eyes, said: 'Gentlemen, that hymn is immortal.' We were all elated and excited. Within two weeks the children of Elkhorn were singing it on the streets. "In 1868, The Signet Ring' was published, and the publishers distributing circulars to advertise it, and on the streets was 'The Sweet Ey ard By.' On the strength of that one song nearly a quar ter of a million of copies of the book were so'd. The song was afterwards brought out in sheet music, and it has been translated into a number of foreign languages. Webster, Crosby, and Carswell are all dead. Mr. Bright of Fort Atkinson, Wiscon in, and myself are the only witnesses to the origin of the song." (Vol. XIV, p. 160.) THE SHEMASHGRAM. An inquiring correspondent who seems to be a Mason, judging from some of the expressions used in his commu~ication, desires information on the name Shemashgram. It is a good question, inasmuch as the Masonic cyclopæadias fail to give any light on this name; in fact, we query where the inquirer observed the peculiar word. We have no recollection of seeing the word used but by one writer in a book, before us, now out of print. The word looks similar to Shemhamphorash," the Separated Name"; Shem, Ham and Japhet, the sons of Noah (Gen. x, 1 ; I Chron. i, 4). “Jehosh king of Israel and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth shemesh, "city of the sun" (II Chron. xvi, 11). These words have a root meaning, though somewhat different perhaps. Shem ash gram is written according to the vowels in the treatise of Bardesan. Whiston, from the Armenian form, writes the name thus, "Samsagramum, Apahuniæ gentis principem." Le Vaillant de Florival writes it" Chamchacram, chef de la maison des Abahoui." He was sent, together with Hanan and Maryhab, as envoy to Marinus. Tacitus mentions Meher dath in connection with Abdu. In the Greek it is written Sampsigéramos. There was a king of Emesa so called, whose daughter married Aristo ulus (Josephus XIX. viii, 1). A Priest of Venus, at Emesa, of this name went out to meet Sapor, king of Persia, when he advanced against that city in the reign of the Emperor Valerian. In Strabo the name is written Sampsikéramos. It is stated that M. Renan was mistaken in the word. and took it for the name of a place and wrote it Schemsgarm. The Hebrew word Shem is The Name. Shemchah Kadssh is Thy Holy Name; Shem shal arbang The Name of four (that is, four letters); Shem haggadol is The Great Name; Shem hakkadosh is The Holy Name. To the Jew, as to the Mason, this great and holy name was the symbol of all divine truth. "The night has a thousand eyes, and the day has but one, But the light of the whole world dies when the day is done." |