1850–1939
Rosa Hartwick Thorpe

Introduction

portrait

Born: Ju­ly 18, 1850, Mi­shaw­ka, In­di­ana.

Died: Ju­ly 19, 1939.

Cremated: Lo­ca­tion of ash­es un­known.

Biography

Daughter of a tai­lor, Thorpe moved with her fa­mi­ly to Kan­sas when she was ten yeas old, and lat­er to Litch­field, Mi­chi­gan.

Some years af­ter mar­ry­ing E. C. Thorpe, the cou­ple moved to San An­ton­io, Tex­as, in hopes of help­ing her hus­band’s tu­ber­cu­lo­sis. She lat­er moved to San Di­ego, Ca­li­for­nia, where she was liv­ing as of 1916.

Rose spent much her life ed­it­ing and writ­ing. She is best re­mem­bered for her po­em The Cur­few Must Not Ring To­night, which re­lates a story of En­gland’s civ­il war, writ­ten in April 1867.

During her Tex­as so­journ, she penned Re­mem­ber the Ala­mo and Tex­as Flow­ers.

In 1883, Hills­dale Col­lege, Hills­dale, Mi­chi­gan, con­ferred an hon­or­ary Mas­ter of Arts de­gree on Thorpe, who was then liv­ing in Grand Ra­pids, Mi­chi­gan.

Works

Poem

His Second Coming

At night on the hills of Judea,
The shepherds were watching the sky,
Where fleecy clouds gathered and drifted,
With awe on their faces uplifted,
As the dawn of God’s promise drew nigh.

They knew not the mode of His coming,
But thought of the purple and gold
Of their king in magnificent splendor,
And their voices grew solemn and tender
With hope of the blessing foretold.

Again we are waiting His coming,
Reaching up to His standard of worth.
The angel within is expanding,
And brotherhood’s right is demanding
That evil be banished from earth.

Again woman heralds His coming:
Her clear voice is heard in the van,
Proclaiming the dawn, when all nations
Shall echo the Great Heart’s pulsations,
And God be reflected in man.

She guards the Christ-love in her keeping;
By her are the Christmas chimes rung;
She rekindles the Yule-fire’s glory,
And all the world over, the story
Is written and spoken and sung.

And all the world over, the people
Are spreading the blessing abroad.
Are cleansing the depths of the fountain.
Are climbing the heights of the mountain,
Are waiting the coming of God!

Rose Hartwick Thorpe (1850–1939)

Sources

Lyrics

  1. Great White Throne, The
  2. Work for Je­sus