In the movie “White Christmas” there is a scene that Bing Crosby sings a song about “Counting your blessings”. I found a story about a song similar to this called “Count your blessings”
A FATHER INSPIRES HIS SON
The elder Johnson Oatman had a rich, powerful voice. To the people of the town of Lumberton, New Jersey, their local merchant was the best singer in the state. That’s why Johnson Oatman, Jr., always sat next to his father in church. That’s why, as his father, He loved church music, and he loved to hear his father sing. Perhaps that’s why Johnson Oatman, Jr., grew into manhood with a fervent desire to contribute something to the faith of this father.
As a junior member in the firm of Johnson Oatman & Son, young Oatman found little outlet for his religious ambitions. So he studied for the ministry and was ordained. But the limits of one Methodist church narrowed his horizon. He went from one pulpit to another as a “local preacher.” Still he was not content.
Johnson Oatman was thirty-six years old when he found this talent. If he could not sing like his father, he could write songs for others to sing. He had found a medium with no limits. He could reach millions through his sermons in song.
It was in 1892 that Oatman took up his pen. In three years the world was singing hundreds of his songs, and among them was the favorite, “There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, no not one, no not one…” In 1898 presses rolled off a number that is found in hymnals around the world.
I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining ev’ry day;
Still praying as I onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
It was in 1897 that Johnson Oatman wrote what has been regarded as his most popular gospel song. Composer E. O. Excell, of Stark County, Ohio, set “Count Your Blessings” to music. Of this popular gospel song evangelist Gypsy Smith once said, “Men sing it, boys whistle it, and women rock their babies to sleep to the tune.”
Johnson Oatman wrote an average of two hundred gospel songs a year for more than a quarter of a century. His total output passed the five thousand mark. And when publishers insisted, for business reasons, that he set a price on this work, Oatman stipulated his terms. He would accept one dollar per song.
Johnson Oatman was never a great singer. He was never a great preacher insofar as pulpit messages are concerned. But he found his talent, and he made his contribution to the faith of his father. For through his sermons in song he has preached to millions that he could never have reached from the pulpit. He died at Mount Pleasant, New Jersey, in 1926. His messages still reach multitudes through such gospel songs as this one, which he wrote in 1897.
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Refrain:
Count your blessings,
Name them one by one:
Count your blessings,
See what God hath done;
Count your blessings,
Name them one by one;
Count your blessings,
See what God hath done.
Tennessee Ham
1 Ham
1 cup dark molasses
Cloves
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
Cracker crumbs
Fruit preserves
Completely cover the ham in cold water and soak overnight. Take out and remove any hard surface. Put in suitably sized pot with fresh water, skin side down; add molasses. Cook slowly (225 degrees (F)), allowing 25 minutes to the pound. Allow to cool in the liquid.
Remove skin carefully. Score ham; stick a clove in each square. Sprinkle with paste made of brown sugar, meal or cracker crumbs, and sufficient liquid to make the paste.
Bake slowly in moderate oven (320 degrees (F)) for one (1) hour, until evenly browned. Decorate platter with thin slices cut from the roasted ham, rolled into cornucopias and filled with fruit preserves.
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