12/27/2025
A wonderful hymn, born in Pitman, New Jersey ♪
In the Garden (I Come to the Garden Alone) - Charles Austin Miles
The following is as printed in The St Augustine Record on March 5, 2015, by Lindsay Terry:
"He looked a little like a southern colonel with his white mustache and a small flower in his lapel. His extraordinary sense of humor and dry wit could be very caustic if he thought the occasion demanded it - a truly brilliant man." This is a description of C. Austin Miles, the man who wrote the song at the center of this article. Its popularity is enormous and prolonged.
According to some polls, "In the Garden" is popular abroad, as well as in the United States. More than a million recordings and printed copies of it have been sold. It is virtually impossible to pick up a standard hymnal and find it omitted.
Miles attended the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1892, he abandoned his career as a pharmacist and wrote his first Gospel song, which was published by the Hall-Mack Company. He later became editor and manager of the music publishing company and served them for 37 years.
He said of himself, "It is as a writer of gospel songs I am proud to be known, for in that way I may be of the most use to my master, whom I serve willingly although not as efficiently as is my desire."
Miles' hobby was photography, and he had managed to build his own "darkroom" for developing his film. He discovered one day that he could read his Bible in the special "red lighting" of the darkroom. He often read passages of scripture as he waited for the developing process to finish. Since he was a musician and a songwriter, he often found himself reading with the express purpose of getting ideas for Christian songs.
One day in March 1912, Miles, while developing film and waiting for the process to complete, picked up his Bible. It had fallen open to John, chapter 20. He found in that chapter the story of Mary's coming to the garden to visit the tomb of Jesus. As she looked into the tomb, her heart sank because he wasn't there. He, standing nearby, spoke to her, and she recognized Him. Her heart leaped for joy!
Miles imagined that he was present with them in the garden on that glorious occasion, witnessing the wonderful event. When his thoughts returned to the business at hand in the darkroom, he was gripping his Bible. His muscles, according to his own recollection, were tense and vibrating. Reverently, he thought, "This is not an experience limited to a happening almost 2,000 years ago. It is the daily companionship with the Lord that makes up the Christian's life."
In the inspiration of those moments, he wrote a poem. He later said the words and phrases came quickly. That same evening he composed a musical setting, and in doing so gave to the world a song that has now become extremely well-known, "In the Garden."
During his latter years, Miles often remarked that he would make it through another year if he could get through the month of March. He confessed that he did not like the winds, which March often brings. Oddly enough, he passed away on March 10, 1946, in Pitman, New Jersey. -
I also found the following in my research:
According to Miles' great-granddaughter, the song was written "in a cold, dreary and leaky basement in Pitman, New Jersey that didn't even have a window in it let alone a view of a garden." The song was first published in 1912 and popularized during the Billy Sunday evangelistic campaigns of the early twentieth century by two members of his staff, Homer Rodeheaver and Virginia Asher.
C. Austin Miles obituary states that he was author and composer of almost 3,000 hymns, including "In the Garden". His first musical assignment at the age of 12, was the occasion on which he substituted for the organist at a funeral service. In 1898, Mr. Miles sold four hymns to the Hall-Mack Co. Mr. Miles was a music editor of that firm for 43 years. His most famous hymn, In the Garden, written in 1912, was sold to Hall-Mack for $4. The hymn sold 3,000,000 copies and more than 1,000,000 records of it were made. He had registered 1,029 gospel songs with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, of which he had been a member for 21 years but did not list the great number of songs he wrote for Christmas and other special occasions. He had published 28 books of songs suitable for use in schools.
Mr. Miles was a Mason and a director of the Pitman Camp Meeting Association.
C. Austin Miles died on March 10, 1946 and is buried in Hillcrest Memorial Park in Sewell, New Jersey, near his longtime home in Pitman, NJ, resting along side his wife, Bertha (Haagen).
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupIn The Garden · Alan JacksonPrecious Memories℗ 2005 ACR Records, LLC, under exclusive license to EMI Records Nash...
