Into a little cottage by a brook in New York State there was born a tiny blind baby. Mr. & Mrs. Crosby, her parents, were very poor. They called their little girl Fanny.
Little Fanny was only one year old when her father died, and mother had to go to work. Her grandmother, who was a dear Christian, came to live at the cottage and took care of the baby.
As little Fanny grew older she would sit on grandmother’s lap, and Grandma told her wonderful stories from the Bible. She also told her about God’s wonderful world all around, about the beautiful sunrise and sunset, the moon and the stars, the clouds and the rainbow.
Then Fanny learned the names of the birds from hearing their songs. She would exclaim, “Oh there is a robin!... and that is a meadowlark.
Grandma and Fanny took long walks together and picked the wild flowers. As her little fingers touched each blossom, Grandma would elain to the little girl that these were apple or cherry blossoms, and she could tell many flowers by their scent.
In spite of her blindness Fanny learned to ride horseback and to climb fences. Then one day mother bought her a little lamb for a pet. The lamb would follow her wherever she went, and they had lots of fun out in the grassy meadow.
But best of all Grandma helped Fanny to learn the Word of God, and she came to know the Lord Jesus as her Saviour when she was just a little girl. She could not read God’s Book as most of us can, but her grandmother told her, “You can store much of God’s Word in your heart and mind. Then it will be with you wherever you go.”
She could quote from memory many of the Psalms, all the book of Proverbs, and all the book of Ruth. She also learned much of the New Testament and many of the stories of the Old Testament she could repeat word by word. These treasures which her Grandmother helped her store away in her heart remained with her all through her life.
Fanny had a talent for writing poetry, and she loved music. One day she wrote:
“Oh Book, that with reverence I honor,
What joy in Thy pages I see!
Oh Book of my childhood devotion,
More precious than rubies to me!”
She used to think that the little birds were singing songs of praise to God, and she imagined that the little brook which flowed in the meadow near her home also sang praises. She wanted to write little poems of praise to God herself, and soon some of these poems were set to music and sung by people everywhere.
A missionary from Korea told her one day about a little Korean blind girl. This little girl had a wonderful voice. She liked to sing Fanny Crosby’s hymns and people would come from hundreds of miles to hear her sing this hymn:
“Praise Him, Praise Him,
Jesus our blessed Redeemer!
Sing, O earth,
His wonderful love proclaim!
Fanny Crosby lived to be an old lady, and though she has long gone to be with the Saviour she loved, her hymns are still sung by Christians the world over.
ML-03/12/1978