This month's free tab is a 4-part arrangement of a hymn named "Near the Cross" by one of America's most prolific hymn writers, Frances Jane VanAlstyne, better known as Fanny Crosby.  She is said to have written more than 8,000 poems during her lifetime, the vast majority of which were of a religious nature that eventually were paired with melodies and made into hymns.

Fanny was blind from the age of 6 weeks, when a common cold caused inflammation around her eyes which was treated with mustard plaster compresses.  Her father died when she was barely one year old, and she was raised by her mother and grandmother until the age of 15, when she enrolled in the New York Institute for the Blind.  She was a student there for 8 years, learning to play guitar and piano, and to sing.  Upon graduation, she was offered a faculty position at the same Institute, teaching English, philosophy, and science.   She published her first collection of secular poems at the age of 24, and also wrote the lyrics for a number of secular songs, most notably collaborating with composer George Root for such songs as "Rosalie the Prairie Flower", "Hazel Dell", and "There's Music in the Air".  Shortly after attending a revival meeting at the age of 28, she began writing religious poems almost exclusively, collaborating with a number of well-known hymn composers of the time, including William Doane,  William Bradbury, Robert Lowrey, Ira Sankey, and Phoebe Knapp.  She became very well known during her lifetime and became a popular public speaker.  She had correspondence with several U.S. presidents, senators, generals, and other dignitaries.  She was asked to recite one of her poems before Congress, and performed "Safe in the Arms of Jesus" at President Grant's funeral.  Among her better known hymns include "All the Way My Savior Leads", "Blessed Assurance", "Jesus is Calling", "Pass Me Not", "Speed Away", "Tell Me the Story of Jesus", "Close to Thee", and "All the Way My Savior Leads".

"Near the Cross" was written in the space of about 2 hours one evening when noted hymnist William Doane was traveling through New York city on his way back to Cincinnati, and stopped to visit with Fanny.  He said he only had a couple of hours before he had to leave to catch his train, but wondered if Fanny could listen to a melody he had just written that day, and possibly send him some lyrics later.  She finished the hymn in time for him to take it with him.