"My Creed" by Howard Arnold Walter

08/17/1914 |

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The Courant published an article celebrating Howard Walter as the poet who wrote “My Creed.”

More details

The article reprinted Walter’s poem.
The article paraphrased the history of the poem from an article in Christian Advocate
Walter wrote the poem on New Year’s Day, 1907, while in Japan.

He inscribed the poem on a leaf in his Bible
It was intended as an expression of a personal prayer for the new year.
He sent the poem in a letter to his mother in the United States.
His mother got the poem published in Harper’s Bazar in May 1907.

The article wasn’t certain how the poem came to be published in Hartford

The assumption was that it was printed in the Asylum Hill Congregational Church calendar.

The article reported that Walter might have published a small volume of poems that included “My Creed”

Walter would have done this before leaving Hartford for India

The past recalled

Walter resigned as assistant pastor on December 1, 1911.

The future foretold

The church’s Men’s Club would host a reception for Walter on May 9, 1916.

Caught my eye

“He was a man of such remarkable abilities and made such a proof of his ministry in that position that he might have succeeded Dr. Twichell, had he not persisted in the conviction that his duty and service were elsewhere.”
“So often the best things which men and women do are those which are done with least self-consciousness.”

For the record

“My Creed” is also the hymn “I Would Be True.”
According to Wikipedia, Dorothy Walker Bush inscribed “My Creed” in the confirmation Bible belonging to her son, George Herbert Walker Bush.
According to the BBC, “I Would Be True” was sung as part of the funeral service for Diana Spencer, better known as Princess Di.
A 2017 edition of this book is currently available on Amazon in both hardcover and paperback.

Sources

Unattributed, “Howard Arnold Walter’s Poem,” Hartford Courant, August 17, 1914, page 10.

Howard Arnold Walter

History

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