Letter to the editor: Recalling a holy hymn writer

My family recently visited the monument dedicated to the ministry of hymn writer Philip P. Bliss. I had been wanting to travel to the little town of Rome in north-central Pennsylvania to see the monument that was built when thousands of Sunday school children gave their pennies for its construction. Though Bliss wrote many old-time hymns, the children chose to honor him as the author of “Hold the Fort.” My family members and I stood at this monument and sang that hymn.

The next day in church, I used my accordion to lead the congregation in singing that blessed hymn once again. My wife and I have led our church youth group for 31 years, and “Hold the Fort” was often the favorite hymn of the young people.

Years ago, our family visited the ruins of the Civil War-era “Star Fort” at Allatoona Pass in Georgia, where the story originated that was the basis of Bliss’ great hymn. I have also flown over the trestle area in Ashtabula, Ohio, and walked across the new trestle, where Bliss and his wife died in a train wreck. I saw the monument that bears the words “P.P. Bliss & wife,” erected over the remains of “the unrecognizable dead of the train wreck in Ashtabula.”

I hope that many of your readers will take note of Bliss’ name above various old-time hymns that they still sing in our churches.

Dan Manka

Fairmont, W.Va.

The writer is a Regent Square native.