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Discovered "in the tower of Hogue Hall" at Greenville College, this copy of the 1883 Hymn book of the Free Methodist Church appears to be the working copy that Bishop W. T. Hogue (1852-1920) marked up in preparation for the Free Methodist hymnal commissioned by the 1907 General Conference and published in 1910.  For Dr. Walters' account of the discovery and his recognition of its significance, see Free Methodist Historical Society Newsletter 12, no. 2 (Winter 2012): 4:

"When I was teaching [church history] at Greenville [before (?) Central Michigan University hired me in 1970 (?)], some of the students knew there were old papers in the tower of Hogue Hall, and soon showed up with them in class.
     "One of the items was a copy of the 1883 FM hymnbook.  It had W. T. Hogue’s name in it.  There were notes throughout the hymnal.   Some of them named tunes for this or that hymn.  Beside some hymns I found the word, ‘Out.’  Eventually I concluded that it was Hogue’s own copy in which he had written notes to guide the revision.
     "[Since the Greenville College library did not want the volume,] I kept it [as] part of my collection of Free Methodistica and holiness literature.  I [eventually] gave that collection to Seattle Pacific University, along with my father’s collection of Methodistica.  There is a fascinating study waiting to be made on the basis of that copy!"

Steve Perisho, Theology Librarian at Seattle Pacific University, writing in 2013:

     Though there are hymns in the Hymnal of 1910 that have been assigned the tunes indicated in this copy of the Hymn book of 1883 (e.g. nos. 14 and 5 respectively, both of them assigned John Hatton's DUKE STREET; or nos. 496 and 475, both of them assigned Aaron Chapin's GOLDEN HILL), this is not true in every case.  For example, the Charles Wesley hymn “Come, O my god, the promise seal” gets an 8.6.8.6. CHELMSFORD (there are many CHELMSFORDs, including at least seven 8.6.8.6.s) in the former (where it is no. 473), but Joseph P. Holbrook's REMSEN (also an 8.6.8.6) in the latter (where it is no. 349), though the Wesley hymn “God of eternal truth and grace” (no. 474 on that same page in the Hymn book of 1883) is indeed missing from the Hymnal of 1910.  No. 22 in the former is annotated "add 4th sta[nza] | Gladly the toys of earth" (this would have been the 3rd stanza on p. 188 in the original edition published in 1739, so the fact that a "+" sign has been penciled in across from the second rather than the third stanza in the left margin makes some sense), though the text (still no. 22) remained unchanged in the Free Methodist hymnal of 1910.  And "Le[s]t We Forget" (on p. 504) was not "Insert[ed]" in 1910.  (No. 580, by contrast, is clearly an example of a change suggested in pencil that was actually made in 1910:  "Though waves and storms go o'er my head" does indeed "Follow 394" ("Now have I found the ground wherein") as no. 270 (following no. 269) in the Hymnal of 1910.)

My own tentative proposal is therefore that Walters is right about corrections and the negative

(“Out” (next to no. 384—no. 452 in the Hymn book of 1910—Hogue wrote both “Out” and “d[elete]”,  but finally “In”); "That our Redeemer’s given" "By our Redeemer given", "For him who’s done did so much for me", and "I ought should his cross with pleasure bear" in no. 68, all corrected in no. 84 of the Free Methodist hymnal of 1910; the addition of "Joseph A." to "Alexander" in no. 171 (no. 608 in the Hymnal of 1910); "Out" and "d[elete]" next to no. 227 ("Come, thou everlasting Spirit"), despite the addition of "Charles Wesley" in red ink; "omit" next to stanzas 3 and 6 of no. 653 (marked "Restored", this became no. 630 in the Hymnal of 1910)),

but not always right about the positive (additions and the specification of tunes); and that (since Hogue clearly changed his mind as he went along), this was (as I've said) no more than a working copy.  Hogue may even have taken a copy of the Hymn book of 1883 that he had long since marked up for use in worship (by the indication of tunes and in other ways), and simply marked “Out” the texts that were to be excluded from the Hymnal of 1910.  A confirmation of the latter theory may be the numbers that get both a tune and an “Out” or a “d[elete]”, as, for example, the Charles Wesley hymn “Jesus, thou sovereign Lord of all” (no. 494), H. J. Gauntlett's "Captain of our salvation, take" (no. 275:  "use in Baptismal list, if at all"), and no. 418 ("substitute 'Blessed Assurance'").  That Hogue sometimes changed his mind (or had it changed for him by the Committee) is clear from the fact that several of the "Hymns to be added" that Hogue listed after the Index beginning on p. 582 were not added, for example "√ The Comforter is come", "For all the saints", "√ I need thee ev'ry hour", "More about Jesus", "I can hear my Savior calling", and "√ God of our fathers".  That a priority was, nevertheless, the assignation of tunes and the provision of musical notation (entirely absent from the Hymn book of 1883) is clear from the fact that even one of "Wesley's [two] last hymns" (p. 533), no. 827 ("In age and feebleness extreme"), though marked "Inserted without music", was in fact assigned a tune—possibly one composed for the occasion, given that CHESBRO is attributed to Thoro Harris (no. 597, p. 378), "doctor of music" and "musical editor" (p. v)—and the notation to go with it.  Cf. no. 721 ("Have music composed for this").

Through all of this Hogue was clearly keeping an eye on the hymnals of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Publication Date

1886

Publisher

Free Methodist Pub[lishing] House

City

Chicago, IL

Copyright Status

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Additional Rights Information

Please credit Special Collections, Seattle Pacific University Library.

The Hymn Book of the Free Methodist Church. Chicago: Free Methodist Pub. House, 1896 [1883]
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