[from "The Signet Ring"] PREFACE. In presenting this little work to the public, its authors hope that its merits will commmend it to all lovers of the Sunday School. Sacred music is the handmaiden of Religion; singing must always occupy a prominent place in devotional excercise; and in no place has it more direct and telling influence than in the Sunday School, where the young mind, actively susceptible to impression, is being molded. Hence the importance that should be attached to this excercise, and the care that should be observed in selection. Every- thing in this book, with less than a half dozen exceptions, has been written expressly for it, and the few selections are tunes that long use has proved to be good. Nothing of a light and trashy nature nature has been admitted--the aim being to so wed words and music, as to inspire the genuine spirit of devotion, and lead the young soul, by paths of pleasantness, up to the very fountain of revealed religion. --------------------------------------------------- Entered according to act of Congress A. D. 1868, by J. P. Webster and F. Filmore Bennett, in the Clerk's office of the Dist. Court for the Northern Dist. of Illinois. --------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ A. B. Case, Music Printer, Chicago. [Chicago: Lyon & Healy, 116 Washington St.]