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Her first published hymn, she tells us in her autobiography, was
actually written in her first book of secular poems, and though it

doesn’t match up to her future hymns, it is still retained in a couple
of hymnals today. Here it is:

Drawn is the curtain of the night.
Oh! ‘tis the sacred hour of rest;
Sweet hour, I hail Thee with delight;
Thrice welcome to my weary breast.

O God to Thee my fervent prayer,
I offer kneeling at Thy feet
Tho’ humbly breathed, O deign to hear —
Smile on me from Thy mercy seat!

While angles round, their watches keep
Whose harps Thy praise unceasing swell.
“I lay me down in peace, and sleep”
For Thou in safety mak’st me dwell.

Drawn is the curtain of the night —
Thou bid’s creation silent be —
And now, with holy, calm delight,
Father, I would commune with Thee.

Shepherd of Israel, deign to keep,
And guard my soul from every Ill;
Thus will I lay me down, and sleep;
For Thou in safety mak’st me dwell.

Who was this remarkable woman? I expect most of you will have
guessed by now. It was, of course, America’s most famous and
popular hymn writer: Fanny Jane Crosby. Writer of over 8,000
hymns in days when only the composer of the music received any
kind of royalty. But what Fanny did earn she gave away as she was
now being paid a salary as a teacher at the School for the Blind in
New York, and though Fanny wrote many lovely tunes, she
concentrated mainly on the words.

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