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STORIES OF
clothed the melody with words which resolved themselves into the lines,
" There is a happy land, Far, far away, Where saints in glory stand, Bright, bright as day I"
For long the sacred song was only sung in Mr. Young's family, but the chance visit of a music publisher soon made it known to all and every through the medium of the engraver. The growth and popularity of these simple airs with their simple words are beyond the ken of mortal man to discover. We have it on the authority of Professor Mason that Thackeray was " walk-ing one day in a ' slum' district of London when he suddenly came upon a band of gutter children sitting on the pavement. They were singing. Drawing nearer he heard the words,' There is a happy land, Far far away.' As he looked at the ragged choristers and their squalid surround-ings, and saw that their pale faces were lit up with a thought that brought both forgetfulness and hope, the tender-hearted cynic burst into tears." This is a very pretty story as it stands, but why always call the author of" Vanity Fair" a cynic ? A cynic is a man who puts himself outside the world and then tries to mingle in it Thackeray
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