1819 - 1899 Person Name: Mrs. Caroline L. Rice Author of "Wilt thou hear the voice of praise" in The Methodist Hymnal Rice, Caroline Laura. Nutter, in his Hymn Studies, &c, 1884, says that "Wilt Thou hear the voice of praise?" (For Sunday School Use), was “contributed to this Hymnal [Meth. Episcopal] in 1877. It was written originally for a Sunday-school celebration; . . .Caroline Laura Rice, b. in 1819, is the wife of the Rev. William Rice, D.D., of Springfield, Mass."
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
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Rice, Caroline Laura. (1819--August 29, 1899). She was the wife of William Rice, D.D., minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, New England Conference. Because of a throat ailment Dr. Rice left the ministry and settled in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he established the Springfield Public Library and was its librarian for thirty-seven years. Caroline Rice was the mother of four children, one of her sons for many years being a professor at Wesleyan University and another a prominent Methodist Episcopal preacher in New England. She wrote a number of hymns for children. "Wilt thou hear the voice of praise," three eight-line stanzas, appeared again in The Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1905.
Sources: Nutter, Charles S., Hymn Studies; Nutter and Tillett, Hymns and Hymn Writers of the Church; correspondence with Paul North Rice, grandson of Caroline Rice.
--Robert G. McCutchan, DNAH Archives
Caroline L. Rice
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