William Cutter › Texts

Cutter, William, born at North Yarmouth, Maine, May 15, 1801, and was removed in childhood to Portland, and educated at Bowdoin College, graduating in 1821. He was subsequently engaged for some time in business in Portland, and again in Brooklyn, New York. Died Feb. 8, 1867. Mr. Cutter, who was a member of the Congregational body, was a deserving writer, who has hitherto missed his due meed of acknowledgment. To his friend Mr. Colesworthy we are indebted for the details of his life and hymnological work.

His hymns include:—
1. Thy neighbour? it is he whom thou. Christian Brotherhood. This appeared in the Christian Mirror for May 30, 1828 (Mr. Colesworthy thinks that he set the types for it), and again in Cheever'sAmerican Poetry, 1831. An altered form of the hymn, "Who is thy neighbour? he whom thou," soon came into use, and was often printed before it was included anonymously in W. B. O. Peabody's Unitarian Springfield Collection, 1835. From being found in that collection it has been attributed to Peabody in error.
2. Hide not thy talent in the earth. Duty. Appeared in the Christian Mirror, Oct. 10, IS28. In some collections it begins with stanza ii., "What if the little rain should say."
3. She loved her Saviour, and to Him. Thankfulness and Duty. Was first published in the Christian Mirror, but the date is uncertain. It was reprinted by Cheever in his American Poetry, 1831. In addition to the above, Cutter wrote several hymns which appeared in the Mirror, and in the Sunday School Instructor, of which he and Mr. Colesworthy were joint editors. His hymns are unknown to the English collections. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)