Peace On Earth, Good Will to Men

I look at this picture and my first thought is: Thank goodness portraits are no longer done in profile! Next, I think of my favorite Christmas carol. In the photo are Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, his wife Fanny, and the two oldest of their six children. It was taken years before Henry grew his trademark beard; the beard he grew to cover the scars.

Henry had already lost his first wife, who'd died after a miscarriage, when he met Fanny in 1836. No one can pine quite like a poet and for seven years, on almost a daily basis, he crossed the bridge from his home in Cambridge to walk to her home in Boston. He became such a familiar sight that the Boston Bridge was later renamed The Longfellow Bridge, which I find highly romantic.

Henry and Fanny married in 1843 and Longfellow was blissfully happy. Interestingly, their third child and first daughter, Alice, was delivered with Fanny under anesthetic--a first in North America. Despite the neighbors' comments, "How dare she avoid the curse of Eve," Fanny was feeling quite comfortable with the decision. Their youngest daughter's name, Allegra, was a tribute to the joy they felt in family life.

The Civil War began in April 1861, a tragedy for the whole country. Only three months later, on a hot day in July, Fanny wrote in her journal, "We are all sighing for the good sea breeze...Poor Allegra is very droopy with heat, and Edith has to get her hair in a net to free her neck from the weight." Instead, Fanny trimmed Edith's curls and saved them in an envelope. To seal it, she melted a bar of wax with a candle and either the match or the burning wax fell on her dress. The flame was strengthened by the sea breeze that came through the open window and she ran to Henry. He threw a rug over her to stop the fire, but in the end only severely burned himself. Fanny died the next morning and Henry was too ill to attend the funeral.

Longfellow wrote that Christmas, "How inexpressibly sad are all the holidays." Soon after, his oldest son Charles joined the Union forces. Charles became a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac and was a source of pride for his father and siblings. On a December night in 1863, a young courier delivered a telegram to their door. Charles had been seriously wounded. Henry and his son Ernest went to Washington and brought Charles home to recuperate. Doctors feared he might be paralyzed. That Christmas, with the war in full force, desperately missing his wife, and with his son's future uncertain, Longfellow wrote the poem, Christmas Bells.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play.
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll'd along th' unbroken song
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair, I bow'd my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,"
For hate is strong and mocks the song,
Of Peace on earth, good will to men."

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearthstones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With Peace on earth, good will to men."


The fourth and fifth verses, which relate directly to the Civil War, were omitted when it was put to music as the Christmas carol, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. Even before I knew the story behind the lyrics, I loved this song because of its hopeful message. Now that I do know the story, I love it even more. After all Longfellow had endured, with the future of his son, his family, and his country bleak, he still found hope. He still believed that the right would prevail and that eventually there would be peace on earth, good will to men.

A family we know and love has had a Longfellow type of year. Frankly, I think even worse. On Easter Sunday they lost their precious teenage daughter after a sudden illness. It was the type of blow that almost seems beyond the human capacity to endure. But with God's help, they have endured. I got their Christmas letter in the mail a few days ago but I couldn't read it in one sitting. I'll admit, that even just as a friend, I couldn't handle the emotion. I finished it today and I'm in awe of their strength. After all they've been through, they ended with hope. They know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is not dead nor doth he sleep. They know that they will see their daughter again and be reunited as a family. Their faith strengthens my knowledge of God's love for us all and gives me hope of a day when there will be "Peace on Earth, good will to men."

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-M7670CXvPX0/casting_crowns_i_heard_the_bells_on_christmas_day_live/

Normally I'm opposed to "modern" versions of traditional songs but I've heard this one on the radio several times and it's grown on me. I might even love it.