Postcard with hymn 'O Mighty God, Creator, King' addressed to Ellen FitzSimons aboard S.S. Cincinnati
Book 2, Page 257 ·1900–1920
Transcription
Printed hymn (slip pasted at left):
O MIGHTY God, Creator, King, Who rulest over sea and land, And dost the ocean deeps sustain Within the hollow of Thine hand; Oh, hear us as we cry to Thee For those who traverse land or sea, That they may now and ever be Safe in Thy holy keeping.
2 And Thou Who cam’st on earth to breathe The breath of peace o’er heath and hill, Didst walk upon the angry wave, And bid the troubled sea “be still;” Oh, hear us as we cry to Thee For those who traverse land or sea, That they may now and ever be Safe in Thy holy keeping.
3 Wherever danger threatens, then, O Holy Spirit, be Thou there, And breathe into each trembling heart The will and power of fervent prayer;
That we and all who cry to Thee, With those who traverse l[an]d or sea, Both now and evermore may be, O ever Blessed Trinity, Safe in Thy holy keepin[g].
Manuscript message (right side, in pencil):
[Upper right, inside the stamp box, in a separate hand:] E. F. H.
I was christened in St. Phillips Church A. F. W.
Miss Ellen M. FitzSimons.
S. S. Cincinnati —
1 day from U. S. A. on Atlantic Ocean.
AI Notes
Back of a postcard. At the left, a small printed slip with a hymn in four numbered stanzas plus a closing refrain — ‘O Mighty God, Creator, King’ — is glued to the card. The right half of the postcard is handwritten in pencil. Inside the stamp box at the upper right, in a separate hand, are the pencilled initials ‘E. F. H.’ (filer’s or owner’s mark; identity uncertain). Below, the message is signed ‘A. F. W.’ (the compiler, Amy FitzSimons Walker), reporting that she was christened at St. Philip’s Church, Charleston. The card is addressed to Miss Ellen M. FitzSimons aboard the S.S. Cincinnati, one day out from the U.S.A., on the Atlantic Ocean. The faint impression of the printed ‘POST CARD’ rule shows behind the writing.
The signature “A. F. W.” is that of the compiler, Amy FitzSimons Walker, writing to her aunt Ellen Milliken FitzSimons (1862–1953, Charleston Library Society Librarian) aboard a transatlantic voyage. “St. Phillips” is St. Philip’s Church, Charleston. The initials “E. F. H.” in the stamp box, in a separate hand from the message, are an owner’s or filer’s mark; whose initials they are is not certain from the family record.