Found in Grandma's Bible--If we only understood

On Sunday morning I wanted to check how the word "charity" was used in I Corinthians, and looked at my grandmother's Bible, a 1901 American Standard Version. By 1901, the American Edition used the word "love" and not "charity" as in the 1611 King James Version. And although the copyright date was 1901, it had really been revised in 1885. (Long story).  I'm not sure this was her study Bible which she had used when they went to Chicago for a spring class at Bethany Seminary because it only had a few notes in the margins in what looked like her "older" frail handwriting after she'd had a slight stroke in the 1930s.  But I found a yellowed clipping, probably from the Brethren Gospel Messenger printed in the 1930s.  It was a poem by Rudyard Kipling.  

IF WE ONLY UNDERSTOOD

If we knew the cares and trials.
Knew the efforts all in vain,
And the bitter disappointment,
Understood the loss and gain--
Would the grim eternal roughness
Seem— I wonder— just the same?
Should we help where we now hinder?
Should we pity where we blame?

 
Ah! we judge each other harshly,
Knowing not life’s hidden force;
Knowing not the fount of action
Is less turbid at its source;
Seeing not amid the evil
All the golden grains of good;
And we’d love each other better
If we only understood.

Could we judge all deeds by motives,
that surround each other’s lives,
See the naked heart and spirit,
Knowing what spur the action gives,
Often we would find it better,
Purer than we judge we should,
We would love each other better
If we only understood.
(By Rudyard Kipling)

In the 19th and 20th century newspaper editors did not always check the sources of material that fit the space, if it was credited at all. So I decided to Google the title of this poem. The first version of this I found was at a website called Virginia Chronicle which had microfilm copies of serials published in Virginia. I found the poem attributed to Kipling in the Highlander Recorder, Monterey, Virginia, for Friday, September 30, 1927, however a few lines in the third verse were slightly different. Also, a version of it appeared in the May 25, 1915 Salina [KS] Semi-Weekly Journal.

So I continued to look, and found DiscoverPoetry.com website which seems to be for children. It had a poem by the ever famous "anonymous" which had the verses and lines arranged differently, plus it had four verses. https://discoverpoetry.com/poems/anonymous/if-we-understood/

Could we but draw back the curtains
That surround each other's lives,
See the naked heart and spirit,
Know what spur the action gives,
Often we should find it better,
Purer than we judged we should,
We should love each other better,
If we only understood.

Could we judge all deeds by motives,
See the good and bad within,
Often we should love the sinner
All the while we loathe the sin;
Could we know the powers working
To o'erthrow integrity,
We should judge each other's errors
With more patient charity.

If we knew the cares and trials,
Knew the effort all in vain,
And the bitter disappointment,
Understood the loss and gain—
Would the grim, eternal roughness
Seem—I wonder—just the same?
Should we help where now we hinder,
Should we pity where we blame?

Ah! we judge each other harshly,
Knowing not life's hidden force;
Knowing not the fount of action
Is less turbid at its source;
Seeing not amid the evil
All the golden grains of good;
Oh! we'd love each other better,
If we only understood.

Then I found that version as a hymn by Anonymous in "The New Gospel Song Book: a rare collection of songs designed for Christian Work and Worship," Firm Foundation Publishing House (1914) p. 118

The poem "If" by Kipling is quite famous, but I can find nothing in his list of works resembling this poem, which apparently really is by Anon/Author unknown and misattributed to him.  But Grandma and others suffering through the Great Depression and a few American editors loved it.

3351 Monday Memories--Grandmother's Hymnal

One of the books I inherited that means a lot to me is my maternal grandmother's hymnal. Here is what we librarians call the bibliographical information and a description of it. I have a 115 page list of my grandparents books which I used for various publications I wrote when I was working. (Aren't you pleased I'm not listing them all?).

The word "Brethren" refers to "Church of the Brethren" an Anabaptist group, although at the time this title was printed, they just referred to themselves as "Brethren." The official term was German Baptist Brethren at that time. My family spoke German for about the first 100 years they were in this country (giving it up around the 1820s) and the Brethren printed the first European language Bible in the colonies--but it was in German, not English.

I used a wonderful program called "Notebook" to make this list, which I no longer have or know how to use (lots of DOS type commands), and could sort by author, title, date, publisher, subject or keyword. Any time you complain about the hymns your church is using--just take a look at what your denomination was singing 100 years ago. It's an eye-opener.

Brethren's Tune and Hymn Book: Being a Compilation of Sacred Music Adapted to All the Psalms, Hymns, and
Spiritual Songs in the Brethren's Hymn Book. Carefully revised, rearranged and otherwise improved. Mt. Morris, IL: The Brethren's Publishing House, 1894. no. 11

Subject: Brethren--Hymnbooks

Notes: Script: "Mary L. George, Ashton, Illinois."
This is a reprint of the 1879 "The Brethren's Hymnbook"
edited by J.C. Ewing, the first hymnbook with four-part
harmony, copyright by Quinter and Brumbaugh Brothers.
James Quinter selected songs from earlier editions.
Today we would recognize few of the hymns in this book.
The Brethren's Publishing House was privately owned.
In 1897 all rights and titles were turned over to the
Church's General Missionary and Tract Committee and it
moved to Elgin. When the Kable Brothers started their
printing venture in Mt. Morris, they used the printing
plant. ("Brethren Press," Brethren Encyclopedia, Vol.
1:193)

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My visitors and those I'll visit this week are:Anna, Becki, Chelle, Chelle Y., Cozy Reader, Debbie, Friday's Child, Gracey, Irish Church Lady, Janene, Janene in Ohio, Jen, Katia, Lady Bug, Lazy Daisy, Ma, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Melli, Michelle, Paul, Susan, Viamarie.