by Marilyn Turk
Writers often dream about writing a bestseller and finding success. Will our writing make any difference to anyone in the world?
When sisters Susan and Anna Warner started writing mainly to help their family’s financial situation. The Warner family had been well-to-do in New York City and bought a summer house on Constitution Island in the Hudson River at the urging of their uncle who was a West Point Academy chaplain and professor just across the river.
However, when Mr. Warner fell into financial ruin in the depression of 1837, he sold the New York townhouse and the summer house became the family’s permanent residence, living there from 1838-1915. Times were tough for the family, so the sisters began writing poems and stories to sell to publishers as a way to contribute to the family’s income.
Susan’s first book was “The Wide, Wide World,” which in its day became second in sales and popularity to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Anna’s most successful book was “Dollars and Cents,” a memoir of her family’s destitute times.
One novel the two sisters co-wrote was titled “Say and Seal.” In the story, a little boy becomes gravely ill, and his Sunday School teacher comforts him by singing a song. The song the sisters created for the scene was, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so….” Eventually, this song became the best-known children’s hymn in the United States.
On Sundays, the sisters taught Sunday School to West Point cadets who rowed over to the
island, to receive spiritual enlightenment, along with homemade lemonade and ginger cookies. The sisters also taught them hymns, and along with the traditional songs, the cadets learned “Jesus Loves Me.”
As a result of their fond, forty-year association with West Point, both sisters were buried in the military cemetery at the university with full military honors.
Even though the sisters never achieved worldwide fame and fortune in their lifetime, perhaps the most important thing they ever wrote was the song that has lasted for generations.
Who would’ve thought a simple song in a children’s book could make such an impact? We never know how far our writing will reach and who it will impact. All we need to know is
that God will bless our writing in ways we can’t imagine when we are obedient to His call to
write.
Award-winning author Marilyn Turk is thankful to have over twenty novels and novellas in print. Her stories span several genres – historical, contemporary and even a cozy mystery — all laced with suspense and romance. Her historicals are set in several eras, the Civil War, the Gilded Age, and World War II. Visit Marilyn on her website at https://pathwayheart.com/.
Comments 8
What a great story! I love learning about little known women who impacted history. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the post. What a fabulous legacy those sisters left.
Marilyn, what an interesting post. It’s fun to learn about unassuming but influential people in history.
Ordinary people serving an extraordinary God! Thanks for sharing this beautiful story, Marilyn!
Thank you so much for this inspiring post, Marilyn. My son-in-law is a West Point graduate. I will share this story with him and my daughter. I know it will bless them.
P.S. So, Marilyn, when I shared your story with my son-in-law Tito (USMA ’96), a West Point grad,
this is what he responded: “I know of this story and that home still sits across the Hudson River from West Point. Each freshman class learns of their impact. It was a fun boat ride across the river.”
Tito took the boat ride in the summer of 1992. What a small world! Thanks again for your wonderful post!
I never knew the history of that song. Think of the thousands of children who have learned of Jesus’ love since it was written! I was an MK in the Philippines and sung it in the local dialect as a child, so its impact has reached around the world. Thank you for this post, Marilyn.
Thank you for the beautiful reminder. So often we never know the impact of our writing.
Peace,
Suzanne