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