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HERE is you can't hear the
midi
One of America's best known poets, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow (1807-1882), contributed to the wealth of carols sung each
Christmas season, when he composed the words to "I Heard the Bells on
Christmas Day" on December 25th 1864. "Glory to God in the Highest, and
on Earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14). The carol was
originally a poem, "Christmas Bells," containing seven stanzas. Two
stanzas were omitted, which contained references to the American Civil
War, thus giving us the carol in its present form. The poem gave birth
to the carol, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," and the remaining
five stanzas were slightly rearranged in 1872 by John Baptiste Calkin
(1827-1905), who also gave us the memorable tune. When Longfellow penned
the words to his poem, America was still months away from Lee's
surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9th 1865; and, his
poem reflected the prior years of the war's despair, while ending with a
confident hope of triumphant peace.
(Information from
What Saith The Scriptures)
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