Evergreen Shore, The

DESCRIPTION: "We are joyously voyaging over the main, Bound for the evergreen shore, Whose inhabitants... never see death any more."" Then let the hurricane roar, It will the sooner be o'er...." There is no need to fear with Jesus in comman
AUTHOR: Words: William Hunter (source: hymnary.org) / Music: William Bradbury
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors); reportedly written 1840
KEYWORDS: religious storm ship nonballad
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, p. 138, "The Evergreen Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [281 words]: Jean Ritchie sang a song she called "Evergreen Shore." It is not this.
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors says that Laura Ingalls Wilder "featured" this song in Little House on the Prairie. This is not correct; I suspect they are confusing the television series with the books. It's true that Wilder quoted the song -- but in The Long WInter. In chapter 13, "We'll Weather the Blast," she quotes the chorus.
It is interesting to note that Laura's daughter Rose Wilder Lane titled one of her novels, based on her mother's family, Let the Hurricane Roar.
For background on William B. Bradbury, see the notes to "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us." John Julian, editor, A Dictionary of Hymnology, 1892; second edition 1907 (I use the 1957 Dover edition in two volumes) gives this capsule biography of William Hunter:
"D.D., s[on] of John Hunter, was b[orn] near Ballymoney, County Antrim, Ireland, May 26, 1811. He removed to American in 1817, and entered Madison College in 1830. For some time he edited the Conference Journal, and the Christian Advocate. In 1855 he was appointed Professor of Hebrew in Alleghany College; and subsequently Minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at Alliance, Stark Country (sic.), Ohio. He d[ied] in 1877 He edited Minstrel of Zion, 1845; Select Melodies, 1851, and Songs of Devotion, 1859. His hymns, over 125 in all, appeared in these works. Some of these have been translated into various Indian languages."
Julian lists five of Hunter's most famous hymns; none is familiar to me personally, although apparently "Joyfully, Joyfully Onward I Move" is very well known. His other song in the Index is "There's a Rest for the Weary." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: LaGo138

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