Our Fathers' God . . .

Gazing out his window at Andover Theological Seminary, a young divinity student suddenly reached for pencil and paper and began to write words to a tune that had been running through his head.

My country,--'tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing . . .

Samuel Francis Smith did not guess just how popular his America* would be or that it would become the nation's best-known patriotic hymn. "Such as it is " he wrote years later, "I am glad to have contributed this mite to the cause of American freedom."

Last week, after 121 years, Samuel Smith was still contributing his mite, but this time to another sort of cause. Three months ago Brooklyn Lawyer Arthur Levitt, a member of New York City's school board, proposed that New York schoolchildren sing parts of Smith's anthem at the start of each day. Up until then the mention of God had been practically taboo in the public schools, and Levitt had offered his idea as a substitute for a regular morning prayer, to which secular groups strenuously objected. Last week after months of worried debate, the school board made the proposal official. Henceforth, each morning, New York City's pupils will at last be able to pay homage to God through Smith's words:

Our fathers' God, to Thee,

Author of liberty, To Thee we sing . . .

* The tune, also used for God Save the King was already an old one. Some scholars say that Dr John Bull wrote it in 1619; others insist that t was written by the Scottish composer James Oswald in 1742. As far as Smith was concerned however, the tune was a German one--Prussia's Heil Dir im Siegerkranz.

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