Henry Van Dyke was an American poet, educator, author and clergyman. He was a professor of English literature at Princeton University from 1899-1923. He was appointed minister to the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 1913.He chaired the committee that wrote the first Presbyterian printed liturgy, The Book of Common Worship of 1906. He wrote several of his hymns and essays in two short stories entitled ‘Little Rivers’ in 1895 and Fisherman’s Luck in 1899. Among his popular writings are the three Christmas stories The Other Wise Man (1896) , The First Christmas Tree (1897) and The Spirit of Christmas. In one of these stories, Henry came up with the popular quote that is used quite extensively during the holiday season in which he tells people to look beyond the material conception of the gift and look into one’s heart to find out where the true heart of gift giving lies…
| “It is not the gift, but the thought that counts.” -Henry Van Dyke |
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