1840–1920

Introduction

portrait

Born: March 23, 1840, York Coun­ty, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Died: Sep­tem­ber 3, 1920, Cum­ber­land Coun­ty, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Buried: Har­ris­burg Ce­me­te­ry, Har­ris­burg, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Biography

Henry was the son of Will­iam Hen­ry Hartz­ler and An­na Vir­gin­ia Hurst, and hus­band of Sar­ah A. Zell­er.

A Unit­ed Ev­an­gel­ic­al min­is­ter, he was liv­ing in Dau­phin Coun­ty, Penn­syl­van­ia, in 1900, and in Cum­ber­land Coun­ty, Penn­syl­van­ia, in 1910 and 1920.

Works

Poem

Christmas Days of Long Ago

O Christ­mas days of long ago,
I see your lights across the snow;
I hear your voic­es, sweet and low,
And feel the mys­tic thrill and glow
That made my child heart love you so,
O Christ­mas days of long ago!

O Christ­mas days of old, so dear,
Would God that I could bring you here,
And know again the sun­ny cheer,
The sim­ple joys, the ho­ly fear,
The sol­emn sense of Je­sus near,
That made those days of old so dear.

O Christ­mas days of long ago,
You sing to me across the snow;
With play­ful hands of child­ish glee
Across the years you beck­on me;
I hear again the old re­frain,
And this old heart is young again!

Henry Burns Hartzler (1840–1920)

Sources

Lyrics