Now the day is over

Now the day is over. Sabine Baring-Gould* (1834-1924). Written at Horbury Brig, or Bridge, Yorkshire, and first published in the Church Times, 16 February 1867. It was then included in the Appendix (1868) to the First Edition of A&M. It remained popular, and was to be found in most hymn books until the late 20th century, when its simple tenderness no longer commended itself to hymn book compilers. It is mainly a children’s hymn, even though it prays for them (as if sung by an adult) in verse 4: most of the images of night falling are those which would occur to a child, and the angels watching round the bed are those of a child’s sensibility. The prayers are for the weary, for children,...