Cary, Phoebe, and her sister Alice hold an honored place among the female poets of America. Phoebe (her sister Alice being four years her senior) was born in the Miami Valley, Ohio, September 4, 1824. The sisters began writing poetry at a very early age. Their collected Poems were first published in 1850. They moved to New York City in 1852, and soon had bought and paid for with their pens a very delightful home on Twentieth Street, where they lived until their death. The death of the elder sister preceded and hastened that of the younger, which occurred in 1871 while on a visit to Newport, R. I. Miss Cary was at the time of her death a member of the Church of the Strangers (Independent), in New York City. In 1869, in coöperation with her pastor, [41]Dr. Charles F. Deems, she published a collection of sacred songs titled Hymns for All Christians. She published Poems and Parodies in 1854 and Poems of Faith, Hope, and Love in 1868. The deep devotion of these two sisters to each other and their intimate fellowship in literary work attracted widespread and admiring attention on the part of all who knew them. Three other hymns by Phoebe Cary and seven hymns by Alice Cary are found in Church hymnals.

One sweetly solemn thought 620