Mary Whitwell Hale › Texts

Hale, Mary Whitwell, daughter of Eliphalet Hale of Boston, U.S.A., was born at Boston, Jan. 29, 1810. After receiving a good education she devoted herself to educational work in Boston, Taunton, Keene, N. H., and elsewhere. She died Nov. 17, 1862. Her hymn-writing was brought into notice by two hymns, one on "Home," and the second on "Music," which were written for a juvenile concert at the Unitarian Church in Taunton, April 1834. Several of the hymns and poetical pieces which she subsequently wrote were contributed to the Christian Register under the initials "Y. L. E.," the concluding letters of her name. Her Poems were published at Boston in 1840. A few of her hymns also appeared in the Unitarian Christian Hymns for Public and Private Worship, commonly known as the Cheshire Collection, in 1844. [American Hymnody, § vii.] Putnam (to whom we are indebted for these details) gives the following of her hymns, with others, in full in his Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, 1874 :
1. "Praise for the glorious light." Temperance Anniversary.
2. "This day let grateful praise ascend." Sunday.
3. "Whatever dims the sense of truth." A Mother's Counsel.
4. "When in silence o'er the deep." Christmas.
These hymns were given in the Cheshire Collection, 1844. Nos. 2 and 3 were taken from her Poems. Some of the other pieces given by Putnam are worthy of attention.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology