author
Mary A. (Mary Artemisia) Lathbury
1841–1913
Best remembered for the beloved hymns "Day Is Dying in the West" and "Break Thou the Bread of Life," this American writer also spent years shaping religious reading for the Chautauqua movement. Her life joined art, poetry, and faith in a way that still feels warm and accessible.
1 Audiobook
Child's Story of the Bible
by Mary A. (Mary Artemisia) Lathbury
About the author
Born in Manchester, New York, in 1841, Mary Artemisia Lathbury grew up in a Methodist family and showed artistic talent early. She first worked as an artist and art teacher in Vermont and New York before turning more fully toward writing and religious publishing.
Lathbury became closely associated with the Chautauqua movement, where she served as an editor and helped create reading and study materials for a wide audience. Alongside that work, she wrote poems, devotional pieces, and hymns, including "Day Is Dying in the West" and "Break Thou the Bread of Life," which became especially well known.
She died in 1913, but her writing has had a long afterlife in churches, songbooks, and religious reading. What makes her memorable is the blend of clarity and feeling in her work: even when written for worship, it remains direct, gentle, and easy to connect with.