Did he mean to say’When..’, instead? That’s what response you’ll get from your computer, when you try to search for Alton Hardy Howard’s "Where Peace Like a River” that he penned in 1977. You get the impression that Alton knew what he was doing when he wrote his words, especially in the first verse’s opening line. He certainly was aware of, and gave a nod toward the more well-known song about a peaceful river that begins with ‘When’. From his lifelong home-state of Louisiana, Alton was thinking of a place, indeed the same place for which his predecessor and author of the ‘When’ hymn was yearning. Had Alton suffered a grievous loss as his musical ancestor had, prompting a similar spontaneous purging of his soul’s anguish?
The short answer is that we don’t know what spurred Alton Howard to compose three verses about a place with an environment like a peaceful river. Alton’s life led him down a variety of avenues, but they all led to the same destination. The biggest parts of Alton’s life, from the sources we can examine, were the Christian enterprises that he led – from a radio program, to a Christian camp, to a church he helped shepherd for decades, and to the music that he helped publish and promote. Most assuredly, we can surmise that Alton knew and had sung many times “When Peace Like a River”, by Horatio Spafford. Perhaps it was the 100-year anniversary of that song’s publication, in 1876, that sparked Alton’s imagination. Who couldn’t be moved by Spafford’s circumstances, the staggering loss of his four children in a ship’s accident in the Atlantic Ocean? From what we know of Alton’s life, at least a few of the ventures in which he engaged – including some business efforts, no doubt with a monetary cost -- were not successful, so was one or more of them cause for dejection in 1977? Horatio’s words regarding ‘sorrows like sea billows’ may have struck a nerve in Alton’s spirit, for his own poem’s first few words are nearly identical to Spafford’s – ‘sorrows like billows’. Something in Alton’s life was the source of some ‘despair’ (v.1), yet he doesn’t wallow in that state. He’s looking in the rearview mirror, in his mind’s eye, while in a place he expects will be a ‘city so fair’ (v.1). It’s a place of ‘sunshine’, and of a ‘fountain’ with ‘Calvary’ at the headwaters (vv.2,3). While Horatio dreamt of the day when the Lord would come to erase his life’s tragedy, Alton looked beyond, when he would be enjoying his inheritance.
Alton Howard was awash in despair at times, too, though he chose not to emphasize that. He could imagine that the river, though peaceful, was also powerful. To be enveloped by such a stream was not just a way relieve the troubles of existence, but it was existence itself. It’s not a temporary bath, it’s where one resides. All the surroundings feed you, sustain you. We can hardly fathom such a place, since earthly life is mingled with struggle, and that is the only place any of us have ever been. So, was somebody communicating with Alton from another place, or was he merely wishfully letting his mind wander? Perhaps Alton allowed himself some dreaming, because it helped transform his present, and held the promise of transport, too. You and I don’t need more of everyday reality. Let’s live for what Alton could see.
See following links for information on the composer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Books
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Hardy_Howard
See also “Our Garden of Song”, edited by Gene C. Finley, Howard Publishing Company, West Monroe, Louisiana, 1980.
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