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Singing the Songs of Zion Mark D. Rhoads |
"Every night the holy songs of Zion go up on this balmy spring air, a sweet incense, I think, |
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Home | Soldier's Hymn Collections: Southern Books I Northern Books |
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The American Sunday School Hymn-Book
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Introduction to Soldiers' Hymn Collections Northern Hymn Collections Army and Navy Melodies |
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RELIEF FOR THE SOLDIERS.; WHAT THE VOLUNTEERS NEED THE MOST. WEDNESDAY, June 5, 1861. CAMP ANDERSON. To the Editor of the New-York Times: I am in daily receipt of proof that many persons have at heart the welfare of the soldier and wish to do him good. This desire runs in two channels -- newspapers and Havelocks. These are good. But one Havelock to a man is sufficient -- and when he needs stockings, has no shirt, and can't raise three cents to pay the postage on a letter, it is not pleasant to be made the channel of circulating newspapers from six to ten days old. We also have a quantity of good books; but men have bodies as well as souls, and when suffering physical discomforts, little can be done for their spiritual good. Most of the men now in the field came from home at a day's notice. They knew nothing of the life before them. They expected all needful things from the Government, and many are very needy. When the men of the New-York troops are put alongside of the Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine troops -- when the complete equipments of the latter are contrasted with the actual destitution of the former, the wonder is that the men submit. Not one cent have our men drawn from Government, and none will they have till Congress meets. And if the people of New-York want to do the men good, let them supply their temporal wants. 1. [of 4] We want hymn books. The American Sunday School hymn book, by the Sunday School Union, is the best. It has all the hymns nearly that all sing -- local, national, moral and devotional. From three sources I have been promised a supply. But not one has come on. Men want them, not only for Sunday service, but for their mess, class, and night gatherings. I have written to the head-quarters of the Union in Philadelphia, but the institution have deigned no reply. I have applied at New-York, and have been told that I must send to Philadelphia. It is not the Union book we want, but the new Sunday School hymn book. . . . Let some friends regard [the soldier’s] temporal necessities. Jas. ii: 15, 16. MATTHEW HALE SMITH, Chaplain Twelfth Regiment. N.Y. (New York Times, June 7, 1861.)
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