“As part of the celebration, the city of Chicago sponsored a World’s Fair, which carried over to the next year. It was in the early summer of 1893, that a group of professors from Wellesley College visited the Exposition on their way to teach summer school in Colorado. The women later compared the wonders of the man-made Fair with the glory 0f God’s handiwork in the Rockies.

In 1861, during the darkest days of the Civil War, the Howe’s visited Washington and Julia toured a nearby Union Army camp on the Potomac in Virginia. There she heard soldiers singing a tribute to John Brown, who had been hanged in 1859 for attempting to lead an insurrection of slaves at Harper’s Ferry; “John Brown’s Body lies a mold’ring in the Grave.” The music was rousing, but the words need improvement. Julia’s pastor, who accompanied her asked her to consider writing new and better versus. That night, after the Howe’s retired to their room at the Willard Hotel, the words came.
He also wrote hymns like this one:

Lord, with glowing heart I’d praise Thee, /For the bliss Thy love bestows, /
For the pardoning grace that saves me, / And the peace that from it flows; /
Help, O God, my weak endeavor; / This dull soul to rapture raise;
Thou must light the flame, or never
Can my love be warmed to praise.

But nothing prepared Francis for the hostage-recovery mission he undertook at the request of the President of the United States. He was seeking the release of a prominent physician, Dr. Beanes, who had been taken captive. During that assignment he was detained by enemy troops and forced to watch a brutual assault of the eastern seaboard.

It was a deadly september attack on america. Casualties on our own shores. the nation’s capital targeted. The White House in danger. Terror. Heroes. One hero was Francis, A Georgetown attorney heavily involved in national politics. An evangelical Christian, Francis taught Bible classes and witnessed boldly, once telling a friend in Congress, “Christ alone can save you from the sentence of condemnation”

He also wrote hymns like this one:

Lord, with glowing heart I’d praise Thee, /For the bliss Thy love bestows, /
For the pardoning grace that saves me, / And the peace that from it flows; /
Help, O God, my weak endeavor; / This dull soul to rapture raise;
Thou must light the flame, or never
Can my love be warmed to praise.

But nothing prepared Francis for the hostage-recovery mission he undertook at the request of the President of the United States. He was seeking the release of a prominent physician, Dr. Beanes, who had been taken captive. During that assignment he was detained by enemy troops and forced to watch a brutual assault of the eastern seaboard.