Introduction

Biography

Lane served in the 8th New Hamp­shire In­fan­try dur­ing the Am­er­ican ci­vil war.

After the war, he stu­died at the New Eng­land Con­ser­va­tory and taught in Onei­da and Uti­ca, New York.

He lat­er moved to Woon­sock­et, Rhode Is­land, where he ran a mu­sic store, and played the or­gan and di­rect­ed the choir at St. James’ Epis­co­pal Church for 13 years.

He also lived for a while in Mon­son, Mas­sa­chu­setts; Rich­mond, Vir­gin­ia; and (from 1896) Bal­ti­more, Ma­ry­land. In Bal­ti­more, he worked for the music firm of San­ders and Stay­man, and was mu­sic di­rect­or at the All Saints Pro­test­ant Epis­co­pal Church.

After a Sun­day morn­ing ser­vice at Saint James Church in Woon­sock­et, Rhode Is­land, Lane’s pas­tor gave him the hymns for the ev­en­ing ser­vice. Lane didn’t care for one hymn’s tune, so while his wife cooked din­ner, he com­posed Pe­ni­tence to be used in­stead.

It was first pub­lished in The Church Hym­nal, by Charles L. Hut­chins, 1874. This tune is Lane’s sole con­tri­bu­tion to our hym­nals.