In the Garden

DESCRIPTION: "I come to the garden alone, While the dew is still on the roses, And the voice I hear, Falling on my ear, The Son of God discloses. And he walks with me...." The singer would stay and listen to the voices forever, "But he bids me go."
AUTHOR: C. Austin Miles (1868-1946)
EARLIEST DATE: 1912 (published, according to Johnson)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap) Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 164, "And He walks with me and He talks with me" (1 fragment)
Harbin-Parodology, #297, p. 72, "In the Garden" (1 short text)
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), pp, 188-189, "In the Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #18447
RECORDINGS:
Lorraine Hammond, "In the Garden" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #692, recorded 10/01/2023)
Dorothy Robinson, "In the Garden" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #685, recorded 09/19/2023)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Come to the Garden Alone
NOTES [148 words]: According to William Reynolds, Companion to Baptist Hymnal, Broadman Press, 1976, p. 96, author C. Austin Miles was sitting in his darkroom, where he had photographic equipment and a camera. He chanced to open his Bible to John Chapter 20 (the resurrection, where Jesus meets Mary Magdalene). He had a vision in which he was part of the scene. Immediately after, he wrote the words to the poem, adding the tune a few hours after.
Reynolds, p. 381, says that Miles was born and died in New Jersey and trained in Pennsylvania as a pharmacist, but after writing his first song, he was hired by the company that published it and worked for them for the rest of his life. This appears to be his only song of any significance, and even it is not especially common.
Johnson dates the song to 1912; hymnary.org says 1913. This might just be the difference between composition and publication. - RBW
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