Fanny Crosby (Paperback) by Lucille Travis

If you’ve ever picked up a hymn book, the chances are that you’ve sung a song written by a blind girl… and not just any blind girl… Fanny Crosby. As a young child she knew nothing of the sighted world around her but that didn’t stop her interacting with nature, experiencing the thrill of God’s creation. She held her grandmother’s hand but she thought that was because Grandmother needed her help not the other way around. Today practically every hymn book has a number of songs written by that little blind girl.

Frances Jane Crosby was born on 24 March 1820. At six weeks old, she caught a cold and developed inflammation of the eyes. Mustard poultices were applied to treat the discharges which may have contributed to the damage to her optic nerves which blinded her. Crosby's condition was inoperable and that her blindness was permanent. By the time of her death on 12 February 1915, Fanny Crosby had become "the premier hymn writer of the gospel song period", and one of the most prolific hymnists in history, writing over 8,000 gospel hymns and songs including ‘Blessed Assurance’, ‘Rescue the Perishing’, ‘Christ the Lord is Risen Today,’ and ‘Safe in the Arms of Jesus’.