HEART AND VOICE A COLLECTION OF Songs and Services FOR THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND THE HOME BOSTON GEO. H. ELLIS Co., PUBLISHERS, 272 CONGRESS STREET 1909 705,5 U473xx FOREWORD. `HE kind reception which previous ventures of the Editor in the realm of religious child-song have met with has led to the preparation of the present Book of Songs and Services for the Sunday School and the Home, for which there would seem to be a place. The existing material, both literary and musical, has been carefully studied and sifted. No apology is made for the retention of old and favorite airs and hymns in the book. Usually, a tune or a hymn is "old" because it is good, or has in it some quality which meets a universal need, and thus enables it to withstand the dissolving processes of time and maintain its effectiveness and popularity. Even if old to us, it will be new to the generations of children ever appearing on the scene, and may inspire their hearts as it has strengthened ours. On the other hand, the present work is not made up exclusively of these well-approved classics of child-song. The number of the latter is but small as yet. When one considers, too, the wide divergencies of musical and literary taste and ability in our American Sunday schools, it is evident that a compilation to meet their varied capacities and needs must be eclectic in character, and not insist on too exalted or archaic a selection. This may lead to the inclusion of a few poems and tunes which a stricter artistic taste might have rejected, but it does not negative the observance in general of the high standard of musical and literary expression which has been at least aimed at in this work. The number of original compositions in music or verse prepared for the book is not large. This we believe to be a wise limitation. About one-third of its contents, however, will be new to our Sunday schools, although proved to be worthy by long-continued use in the European schools-German, English, Dutch, etc.-from whose manuals they have been gratefully taken over into this work. The thanks of the Editor are due to the many friends, at home and abroad, who have assisted in various ways in the preparation of this collection of child-songs. The names of the authors of words or music are attached to their contributions. Especial mention should be made of the musical aid rendered by Mr. J. P. Weston, who has also read the proofs, and of the valued counsel and service. given by Revs. Frederick L. Hosmer, William Channing Gannett, Professor D. B. Eerdmans, of Holland, and Rev. Thomas Paxton, of Birmingham, England. |