The well-known gospel song "There Were Ninety and Nine" has been translated and paraphrased in many languages. The author was Elizabeth Clephane. To Ira D. Sankey who composed the music, a friend wrote: "One day I was talking with a woman of the most abandoned sort, who had hardened her heart by many years of sin. Nothing I could say made any impression on her. When I was about to give up, our old Scotch cook began to sing:
But none of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed:
Nor how dark was the night that
the Lord passed through,
Ere He found the sheep that was lost.
"She was in the kitchen, and was not aware that anyone was listening. The poor woman to whom I had been talking and was so hardened before, burst into tears, and falling on her knees began to pray to the Good Shepherd to receive her. She was converted and has often testified that the song led her to Christ."
A Christian lady visiting in a hospital in Ottawa was informed that a man lay dying.
When she reached his room he had drawn the sheet over his face. Kneeling by his pillow she recited the Southern paraphrase of " There Were Ninety and Nine."
With the last line, the dying man slowly pushed the sheet from his eyes and repeated: "And that little black sheep was me."