William Walsham How (1823-1897; see Biographies) wrote a special seasonal hymn entitled “Summer,” which began with the words of the second stanza in SDAH. The original, which appears in Church Hymns, 1871, of which How was one of the original compilers, has eight stanzas of four lines each, now adjusted to four stanzas of eight lines each. The words of the title in SDAH are the first line of How’s third stanza. The poem is based on Ecclesiastes 11:7, “Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.”

How, a humble bishop who took a personal interest in his flock, draws a spiritual lesson from nature, using the beneficent light of the summer sun as a symbol of God’s extensive mercy and love. Then he likens the darkness of the night to man’s spiritual blindness, asking God to shine His light on the spiritual darkness that beclouds our pilgrim journey to endless day.

RUTH was composed in 1865 by Samuel Smith (1821-1917), an organist of Windsor, England, and set to these words in 1874. It maintains a consistent rhythm, each of its eight lines beginning with a dotted quarter note followed by an eighth note. Smith was born August 29, 1821, in Eton, Buckinghamshire, England, right across the river from Windsor Castle. A chorister of the Chapel Royal, he sang at both the coronation and the funeral of King William IV (1830 and 1837). He filled organist posts at Hayes, Middlesex, Eaton, and Egham before his final job for 34 years at the parish church of Windsor. He taught music at Beaumont College and followed Elvey (see SDAH 223) as conductor of the Eton and Windsor Choral Society. He died at Windsor, Berkshire, on January 1, 1917.