LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT

CARDINAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

This great poem is possibly the favorite hymn of the Christian Church. It is not only a great hymn, but a great poem.

Its author, John Henry Newman, was first a clergyman of the English Episcopal Church, but in middle life he left that church to become a Roman Catholic. He became later a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, and through his religious writings earned lasting fame. He was born in London in 1801, and died in 1890.

He wrote this famous hymn at the age of thirty-two while crossing the Mediterranean Sea in an orange boat from Palermo in Sicily to Marseilles in France. The hymn was written while the boat was becalmed on the passage.

What does the hymn mean? Read it over silently, trying to get the meaning. Then read what follows in this explanation. Newman had been troubled by great doubts in his religious beliefs. He did not know what to believe. His feeling that he was in doubt and darkness, he calls "encircling gloom." And he asks God, the "Kindly Light," to lead him on, for

"The night is dark, and I am far from home."

That is, he felt lost in doubt and disbelief, and he asks God, the "Kindly Light,” to lead him home to a true belief. He wants to cease to question about it. He does "not ask to see" or know, but is willing just to trust God to lead him on.

In stanza 2, he tells of his disbelief, and of his willfulness and pride. By "the garish (gâr'ish) day," Cardinal Newman means the gay and showy life which he formerly loved. He asks God not to remember these things.

In the last stanza, he says that he has always been so blessed that he is sure that God will lead him on in safety

"O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till

The night is gone,

And with the morn those angel faces smile

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile."

You should know that "moor and fen," which ordinarily mean cold, damp plains and swamps, and "crag and torrent," which mean rocky heights and rushing streams, here mean the sorrows and troubles of life, and not real moors and fens, and crags and torrents. He is sure that "with the morn," or his waking after death, he will meet his friends.

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In the twenty-third Psalm, King David says almost the same thing, when in gratitude for blessings he declares,

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Now study the poem till you appreciate its meaning.

Then let the class sing it from the music that follows the poem. In singing the hymn, try to think the thoughts as you sing.

LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT

Lead, kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on;

The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead Thou me on!

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on;

I loved to choose and see my path: but now
Lead Thou me on!

I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will; remember not past years!

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,

And, with the morn, those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Tell the story of the life of 8. What is "the garish day"?

Cardinal Newman.

2. What was in his mind in

writing this hymn?

3. What is the

Light "?

What does he ask of

God in the last line of stanza 2?

"Kindly 9. What is meant by line 3 in

4. What does he mean by

encircling gloom"?

5. By "the night is dark"? By 11. 66 I am far from home"?

stanza 3?

the 10. What do the last two lines
of the poem mean?
Ask your teacher to read
to you the twenty-third
Psalm and also that part
of "Snow-bound," by
Whittier, which tells of
his little sister.

6. What does he mean by the last two lines of stanza 1? 7. What confession does he make in stanza 2?

I know not where His islands lift

Their fronded palms in air;

I only know I cannot drift

Beyond His love and care.

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

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Reprinted from 55 Community Songs, C. C. BIRCHARD & Co., Boston

SPARTACUS TO THE GLADIATORS

ELIJAH KELLOGG

You should know something of the brutal Roman sports of ancient times in order to read and enjoy this splendid speech, supposed by Mr. Kellogg to have been delivered by Spartacus, a gladiator, in the year 73 B.C.

At the time mentioned, Rome was mistress of the then known world. She was a splendid and a mighty city. The ruling class was composed of the nobles, although the common people had votes at the elections. But the wealth and the power of the great city, with so much money coming in from conquered provinces, made the people idle and sport-loving. So, to keep the people satisfied and out of trouble, the rulers, or consuls, as they were called, entertained them with sports such as the world has never seen elsewhere.

The consuls built great meeting places called amphitheaters. The seats usually surrounded a great oval arena with a floor of sand.

In this arena, before the large and bloodthirsty crowds, men fought to the death with each other and also with hungry wild beasts.

Picture a crowd of a hundred thousand persons in the great theater on a Roman holiday. Try to imagine the buzz of conversation as they waited for the sports to begin.

Finally, two gladiators, superb specimens of manhood, come out into the arena. They bow low before the consuls, and say, "We, who are about to die, salute you!"

Now let us watch them. One has a short sword and a small shield. The other has a short, three-pronged spear called a trident,