Tell me the old, old story

Tell me the old, old story. Arabella Catherine Hankey* (1834-1911). This is Part I of a two-part poem entitled ‘The Old, Old Story’, written (according to JJ, p. 483) on 29 January 1866 when Hankey was recovering from illness. Part I, ‘The Story Wanted’, is dated 29 January 1866, and Part II, ‘The Story Told’, 18 November 1866. Part II, a metrical version of the Gospel from creation to resurrection, was not intended to be sung, and has  never been used as a hymn. The two-part poem was published in late 1866 or 1867 as The Old, Old Story, when the British Library copy, dated 1867, was described as ‘Fortieth Thousand’.  It became famous in the USA to a tune by William Howard Doane* entitled...