Excerpt from Laudamus: A Hymnal for Women's Colleges and Schools Hymnals, as a rule, are much too voluminous. Pastors are troubled with the superfluous number of hymns from which they are obliged to make selections for their Sunday services. Much more is this true of those who conduct the daily religious exercises of colleges and schools. What such persons want is a collection of hymns from which a choice may be made almost at random, without fear of falling upon inappropriateness or violations of good taste. Such a collection must be small. The approximately perfect, or even thoroughly good hymns - good in form as well as spirit - are few; and these in the ordinary hymnal are obscured, if not lost, in a mass of compositions little better than mere rubbish. It is desirable also that a college hymnal, while not neglecting doctrinal themes, should be especially full in the expression of the daily needs and experiences incident to school life. These considerations imply a great reduction in the size of the college hymnal, and they also suggest the points at which this reduction should be made. As our institutions of learning are for the most part unsectarian, and do not assume the functions of a church, the work of abbreviation is facilitated by the obvious propriety of throwing out all hymns Specifically related to church ordinances. It is not quite fair that an undenominational school should use a service of song prepared in the interest of any particular sect. In View of these facts it is believed that there is not simply room for a collection like this, but that it is really needed. In performing his work the compiler's aim has been to admit only such hymns as approve themselves to a fair critical judgment, while they cultivate the Spirit of devotion. If any of inferior merit have been retained, it is because of the lack of better compositions to take their place, or as a concession to the just claims of old and tender associations. In so brief a collection it has been assumed that other than quite general classifications of subjects and descriptive headlines would be a hindrance rather than a help. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.