Cary, Alice

CARY, ALICE: Poet and hymn-writer; b. on a farm 8 m. n. of Cincinnati Apr. 26, 1820; d. in New York Feb. 12, 1871. Her name is inseparably connected with that of her sister, Phoebe, b. Sept. 4, 1824; d. at Newport, R. I., July 31, 1871. Both began to write verses early and published jointly a volume of Poems in 1850. In 1850–51 they removed to New York, where they supported themselves by literary work and gathered a wide circle of friends. Alice was the more productive writer and published stories and novels as well as poems. Ballads, Lyrics, and Hymns (Boston, 1865) is her most important volume of verse. Phoebe published independently Poems and Parodies (1854) and Poems of Faith, Hope, and Love (1868); with Dr. Charles F. Deems she compiled Hymns for all Christians (1869). The poems of both sisters are collected in the "Household Edition" (Boston, 1882) and Early and Late Poems (1887). The most familiar of their hymns is Phoebe's "One sweetly solemn thought comes to me o'er and o'er."

Bibliography: Mary Clemmer Ames, Memorial of Alice and Phoebe Cary, New York, 1872; S. W. Duffield, English Hymns, pp. 447–449, ib. 1886; Julian, Hymnology, p. 214.