Hymn Story: I Would be True

          I Would Be True is a hymn written by Howard A. Walter in 1906. He is credited with writing the first three verses while living in Japan. He sent the lyrics to his mother and she forwarded them on to Harper’s Magazine, who published them.

          The last three verses are attributed to S. Ralph Harlow around 1918. According to his daughter, Ruth, “My fa­ther was a friend of How­ard Wal­ter—and af­ter Mr. Wal­ter’s death, he had a dream in which Mr. Wal­ter told him that he had three more vers­es he would like add­ed to his hymn I Would Be True.”

          Joseph Y. Peek composed the music to this hymn in 1911.