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Away in a Manger

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“Away in a manger” was published in 1884 in the American periodical The Myrtle (Boston, Universalist Publishing House), though it did not catch the attention of many English hymn-book editors until the 1905 Carey Bonner’s Sunday School Hymnary (London: Sunday School Union).  Its simple couplets, saccharine terms—“the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head”—and sentimentalizing of children—“Bless all the dear children” (in the added third verse by John T. McFarland in 1892) keep it in a children's repertoire.  And we now know just how beloved it has become, in both America and Britain, and perhaps the not one but two endearing tunes (by James R. Murray in 1887 and William J. Kirkpatrick in 1895) to become associated with this text help to explain its long afterlife.

Though the former tune is most popular in America, our choir sang it to Kirkpatrick's tune which is more popular elsewhere. He first published in the collection Around the World with Christmas in 1895. Our two soloists were Zion Ferguson and Alice Kostiak.



 

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  1. 2023 away in the manger
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