Poem by Frances Ridley Havergal

No title was included with the clipping Clare made, but the lines are from a poem entitled 'Our Unfailing Friend'

He who hath made thee whole

Will heal thee day by day;

He who hath spoken to thy soul

Hath many things to say.

He who hath gently taught,

Yet more will make thee know;

He who so wondrously hath wrought

Yet greater things will show.

He loveth always, faileth never;

So rest on Him today, forever!

-       Frances Ridley Hav[cut off][1]

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[1] Frances Ridley Havergal was born in 1836 at her father’s rectory at Astley, Worcestershire, England. Her parents were William Henry and Jane Havergal. From early years Frances showed exceptional intellectual power, but owing to her delicate health systematic study was discouraged. In 1852 she accompanied her father and his second wife (her stepmother) to Germany; there she studied for more than a year in the Louisenschule at Düsseldorf and in the family of a German pastor at Obercassel. The following year she returned to England.

Ms. Havergal wrote verses from the age of seven with remarkable fluency, and her poems were soon admitted into the best religious periodicals. In 1865-6 she revisited Germany, and took the opinion of' the musician Hiller on her musical talents. Hiller saw talent in her melodies, and highly praised her harmonies. Her father died suddenly in 1870, and she prepared for the press a new edition of his Psalmody. On her mother’s death in 1878, she removed from Leamington to South Wales, near the Mumbles where she died in 1879.

Throughout her life she energetically engaged in religious and philanthropic work. Miss Havergal published collections of her poems and hymns in many separate volumes; the earliest is dated 1870. She also wrote many small devotional tracts and narratives in prose, all marked by the same earnest and practical piety. Her religious poetry became exceedingly popular in evangelical circles, and her hymns are to be found in all collections. In her poetical work there is a lack of concentration, and a tendency to meaningless repetition of phrase, but some of her hymns are excellent, and will permanently preserve her name.