Where is my wand’ring boy to-night
Where is my wand’ring boy to-night. Robert Lowry* (1826-1899).
This is from Gospel Hymns No. 3 (New York, Chicago, and Cincinnati, 1878), edited by Ira D. Sankey*, James McGranahan*, and George C. Stebbins*. It is one of several hymns of this period that use the mother-son theme: ‘I never can forget the day’* (1895) by Judson W. Van De Venter*, Charles M. Filmore’s ‘When I was but a little child, how well I recollect’ (‘Tell Mother I'll Be There’) (1898), and ‘I grieved my Lord from day to day’ (‘Mother's Prayers Have Followed Me’) (1912) by Lizzie DeArmond*.
The title of the present hymn is ‘Where is my Boy Tonight’, from the first line of the refrain:
O where is my boy to-night? O...
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Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Where is my wand’ring boy to-night."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed November 16, 2025,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/w/where-is-my-wand’ring-boy-to-night.