Was he in
sight of the end of the terrestrial road? He’d moved in with one of his
offspring in Vermont (see the area of Rutland County, on map here), typically
something that an older person, including 65-year olds like James Rowe, might
choose to do as they begin to think about what inevitably happens to every
mortal. One can guess that James said “Won’t It Be Wonderful There” to himself
and probably many others as he thought about that inevitability around 1930. Was
there additional motivation for James’ mood when he penned the words of his
three verses? Difficult times might befall a person, but perhaps people like
James clung to the hope that light always appears after a time of darkness.
After a life
of various jobs and several thousand hymns, James Rowe could have looked back
upon his life with some satisfaction, with a testimony and a hope that potentially
spoke keenly to others at the time. He was a native-born Englishman who had
emigrated from the Old World (after working for the Irish government) to the
New as a young man, and subsequently held a few jobs (as a railroad worker and Humane
Society inspector in New York) before he pursued his true calling as a music publisher
with three different Texas and Tennessee companies. By 1930 when he wrote “Won’t
It Be…”, he had written the vast majority of the 9,000-plus hymn poems that
would be attributed to him at the conclusion of his life. His daughter’s home
in the small town of Wells, Vermont provided the background for his calling by
that time, one to which he was well-suited – writing verses for greeting cards.
Writing was instinctive for this 65-year old, and perhaps one or more of the
cards he helped adorn with kind words were similar to the verses of “Won’t It
Be…”, conceived in hope and trust. Since it was 1930, with the economic
upheaval of the Great Depression invading and upending the lives of vast numbers
of people, could James’ words have been intended to provide respite for that
reason? While James mentions ‘troubles and cares’ (v.1), a ‘tempest’ (v.3), and
‘burdens’ (chorus), these are overcome by the nature of the home he expected to
inhabit. A place he called ‘glory land’ and ‘wonderful’ would be quite a scene,
with Christ centrally located and the source of all delight. No darkness
inhabits heaven, just light, to which ancient believers like Peter says we are
called (1 Peter 2:9), echoing others like the prophets (Isaiah 9:1-2).
The year
1930 passed, as James must have believed would indeed come true. Nevertheless, that
year inaugurated a period that was one of the more notably dark eras in
history, making light that much more precious. James Rowe died just three years
later, at age 68, though he witnessed the mounting tempest in the U.S. as his
next life dawned. Will the world be any different when you or I prepare to
cross over? Dark corners, or maybe even entire neighborhoods, might try to haunt
you and me. Just keep the light in sight, you can hear James recommend.
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