Words and music by James M. Black
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James Black was a songleader and Sunday school teacher in Williamsport, PA. This song was inspired by the testimony of a little girl named Bessie, from a poverty-stricken family, who never missed his Sunday school class.
One day her name was called at roll time and she did not respond; she was at home and deathly ill. Black called his own physician to examine her, and it was found that she had advanced pneumonia. He went home and in tears penned this song in one sitting at his piano. Black recalled, "I felt that I was only the transcriber; I dared not change a note or word."
A few days later, Bessie went home to heaven, and the song was first sung publicly at her funeral.

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