As you are aware, we plan to include this stirring music selection on our show May 7th. By looking at the music you are probably also aware that Julia Ward Howe is given credit for this popular song. Actually she wrote the lyrics to go with an already existing melody. Here is some historical background:

Julia Ward Howe was the wife of Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe of Boston. Dr. Howe was a committed human rights activist who spent time in a Prussian prison while attempting to help Polish refugees, spent six years as a fleet surgeon, was a guerilla fighter with Greeks fighting Turks and at home in Boston took up the cause of the insane and retarded, the blind and the deaf. It was natural that he would marry a woman like Julia who was a committed feminist, peace advocate and abolitionist. Together they co-edited the antislavery journal The Commonwealth.

With the Civil war underway in 1861, the Howe's and one Rev. James Freeman Clarke found themselves in Washington D.C., dispatched by the Governor of Massachusetts to make sure the commonwealth's young soldiers were taken care of in a proper and healthy fashion.

From their hotel room each night, the Howe's and Rev. Clarke could see the Union campfires dotting the city environs, could hear the tramp-tramp-tramp of thousands of marching feet, and over and over again they heard the troops singing the strains of a melody then called "John Brown's Body."

Rev. Clarke wished this haunting melody, which the soldiers seem to love so well, had more acceptable, fresh lyrics. He urged Julia to compose new lyrics and she responded, "I have often prayed that I might."

Then early one tumultuous, early-in-the-war morning, not far from where President Lincoln slept, Julia awoke about an hour before dawn, and suddenly the words came. Taking pen in hand she started to write "Mine eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord...

Soon her lyrics had flown across the country, soaring in a million hearts.

Late in the war, a former prisoner from the confederate Libby Prison in Richmond, Chaplain McCabe of the 122nd Ohio related a story to a Washington audience. He told of how the Union prisoners at Libby Prison had sung the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" after hearing of the news from Gettysburg. Chaplain McCabe then sang Julia Ward Howe's song to the gathered audience in a rendition so heartfelt, it is reported that on-lookers shouted, wept and sang along with him. President Lincoln was in the audience and with tears streaming down his cheeks exclaimed, "sing it again'."

Source of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" history in the previous column: "Best Little Stories from the Civil War" by C. Brian Kelly

While we were gathering at the Vet's on a recent Wednesday morning, Clara Fahnestock happened to mention that Judy Good Christ was working on her second book. Well, I had to swallow my pride, show my ignorance, and say, "I didn't know she had written a first book."

For those of you still not familiar with the Vet's program, Judy is the music therapist who originally got involved with the barbershoppers to get us singing to the Vets every Wednesday morning. Originally it was the late Joe Knittel who approached Judy with the idea to start the program.

Judy is a certified music therapist who was associated with the veteran's hospitals for a long time. She is a member of the American Music Therapy Association and a fellow in the Association for Music and Imagery. Judy reaches all types of audiences with her musical talent, Christian faith and humor.

Her first book, "Onions On Your Ice Cream" is the companion to a two CD/Tape set with all her original songs. The book, published first in 2000, tells the story behind all her original music and is a biography of her life. Of particular interest to us barbershoppers is her telling of the development of the Vets singing program through out the book. In the chapter titled, Miracles Still Happen Every Day, she tells of the veterans chorus and the trip to San Diego with Bill Amos, Lou Vlahos, George Charlton and Joe Knittel. The "miracle" concerns how the money was raised for this trip. $30 will cover the cost of the book, two CD's and S&H. I just procured my own set. If interested, contact:

Judy's second book, "It Hurts So Much To Say 'Good- bye,' Should We Have Ever Said 'Hello'?" is due out sometime in June of this year. It will be a book with accompanying CD and as the title implies, is about loss and has many songs of a spiritual nature. I'll try to remember to remind you all when it is published.