Part 10 (2/2)

[7] Whittier thus gives the position which the Society of Friends held:

”Nursed in the faith that Truth alone is strong In the endurance which outwearies wrong, With meek persistence baffling brutal force, And trusting G.o.d against the universe; Are doomed to watch a strife we may not share With other weapons than a patriot's prayer;

”Yet owning with full hearts and moistened eyes, The awful beauty of self-sacrifice, And wrung by keenest sympathy for all Who give their loved ones for the living wall 'Twixt law and treason.”

James Parnel came home wounded, but returned to his command before his furlough had expired. He went back with the feeling that the days left him were few: he indistinctly saw what awaited him. In an engagement to carry a strong point held by the enemy at Crystal Springs, near Was.h.i.+ngton, he was struck by a ball from a sharpshooter. The ball had glanced from a tree and brought him a mortal wound. The two hearts deeply wrung to have their son go into the war at all were pierced at the news of his death. We can hardly conceive their grief for him for whom they had so earnestly prayed and agonized in his absence.

Henceforth whoever wore a soldier's uniform had a place in Sybil Jones's heart. Her unspent love went out to all who were suffering on the field and in the hospitals, and she could not rest at home.

Obtaining the needful credentials, she took up in a new form the arduous service of her active and consecrated life, bearing the gospel cheer to the wounded and dying in Philadelphia and Was.h.i.+ngton. She could tell the soldiers of her own son, and so touch their hearts, and her sympathy and love brought joy to many a poor sufferer. The aggregate of her visits shows that she preached and talked to thirty thousand soldiers. To and from the field of her labor, at the depots, wherever she saw a uniform, she went to speak gentle words and to bear good news; and only those to whom the balm came can tell the good accomplished. Once more she met a kind reception from all. Soldiers and prisoners welcomed her, and those high in power listened with respect to her messages. She comforted the widow of President Lincoln, and twice stood before his successor, President Johnson, and faithfully warned him to rely on the Ruler of the universe for counsel in guiding the helm of state.

She left home in 1st mo., 1865, with a certificate for service. On her way to the field in which she felt called to labor she visited her children in Philadelphia, and attended meeting at Germantown, where she was favored with a gospel message. She also attended Twelfth street meeting and the large quarterly meeting in Arch street, where she was constrained to speak for her Master. She then proceeded to Baltimore, accompanied by Lydia Hawkes of Manchester, Maine. In this city she met her dear husband, who had been separated from her for three months. He was much worn by his labors as distributing agent of the New England Friends. He had distributed to the necessities of the freedmen food, clothing, beds, etc., according to the quant.i.ty sent to the mission. He had visited them from hut to hut, administering as well to their spiritual as to their temporal needs. They together attended Baltimore quarterly meeting, and on the 9th of 2d mo. arrived in Was.h.i.+ngton.

Sybil Jones rested a few days, and then commenced the labors for which she was liberated. Her first service was in Judiciary Square. She, with her companion, was taken there in an ambulance, and they were preceded and introduced by their dear friend Jane James, who often gave them like aid. They were pleasantly received, and permission was granted them to perform any religious service. They visited nine wards and had service in the chapel, speaking words of comfort to those confined to their beds. Much seriousness and tenderness was apparent.

They also went to the hospital at Armory Square, visited all the wards of the sick and wounded, and had chapel service. It seemed that some were turning to the Lord.

Eli Jones went for a short time to Philadelphia to try and gain a little strength, being very weary with his labors among the colored people. The mud was very deep and the work of distributing very hard.

Their son, Richard Mott, accompanied his father, having spent the vacation from his studies at Haverford College with his parents at their post of duty.

Camp Hospital was also visited. They were taken out in an ambulance by Dr. Upton, who was courteous in every way. The poor wounded ones seemed thankful for the interest exhibited for their souls' welfare.

Carm Hospital was visited, and all freedom was given them to point the sick and suffering to the Lamb of G.o.d. Many were in tears at the close of service in the chapel. Her own torn mother's heart gave Sybil Jones great earnestness in prayer for the bereaved ones in the far-away homes as she was called upon to attend the funerals of the soldiers.

Often more than one coffin stood on a form before them, and the occasion was made a solemn admonition to the survivors to be ready when the Lord should call. One of the meetings was attended by a surgeon who had led a profane and dissolute life. He was reached by the Spirit of G.o.d, and in a meeting rose and said, ”I have been living for h.e.l.l; I looked toward it as my home, and fully expected it; but G.o.d has had mercy on my soul and pardoned my sins, and I mean to serve Him the rest of my days.” Nearly all were in tears. When the service was over the soldiers rushed to his arms weeping with joy. He said to them: ”I have treated you badly and sworn at you, but by the grace of G.o.d I will never swear again.” His conversion had a wonderful effect and was a powerful testimony for the truth.

Columbia Hospital was visited. They found a very conscientious, loving superintendent in one of the wards, a lady named O. L. Pomeroy. In this ward they held a most blessed meeting and made an appointment for another.

They were obliged to move from their lodgings on account of sickness in the family, and were most kindly received by their good friends William and Jane James. They found it a great privilege to be so cared for.

They went to Lincoln Hospital, where were five thousand men. Their ministrations were much blessed: at a later visit they found four hundred more wounded soldiers from City Point. The afflicted men were all broken down with suffering and were ready for the consolation of the gospel. The field indeed seemed white unto the harvest. A lad told them that he had been in the Crimean War, and had served two years in this. He was an Englishman. He showed them a silver medal gained by valor in the former war. Sybil Jones said, ”I hope thou art seeking a crown in that higher warfare?” He quickly replied, ”I am pressing after it with all my might; I am looking to Jesus as my Captain.”

She sighed for ”universal peace to reign” as she witnessed the untold miseries of cruel war. It was wonderfully touching to hear the bright testimonies of those poor feeble ones who had lain for months on their emaciated backs. Many were pa.s.sing away. No one could bear to tell one poor dying youth that he could not live, and in all tenderness Sybil Jones said to him, ”I think thou cannot get well; what is thy hope?”

He replied, ”In Jesus I believe; he has forgiven my sins. Tell my father and mother I have gone to heaven.” Some seemed insensible of their danger, but were faithfully warned to prepare to meet their G.o.d.

As these faithful messengers of good tidings saw the terribly mangled brought in, and beheld their patience and tenderness, they were sick at heart and prayed for the terrible tide of war to be stopped. They met with much kindness from Surgeon-general Barnes, who gave Sybil Jones a pa.s.s to all the hospitals in the United States, and a special one for the department of the South, with half-fare on Government transports.

Sybil Jones was presented to General Auger, the military commander of the District of Columbia. He said that he was much pleased with her mission. He was spoken to concerning the interests of eternity. She was presented to Secretary Stanton and Colonel Harder, and was pleased with their demeanor and readiness to aid her work in every possible way. The Centre Guardhouse was visited and its four hundred inmates lovingly warned to be ready.

On 4th mo. 1st, 1865, great excitement was felt in the capital city, as the President was personally directing affairs at Richmond, and the fall of the rebellious city was hourly antic.i.p.ated. On the morning of the 3d came the joyful intelligence that the Confederate capital had been evacuated, and a great tide of rejoicing swept over the loyal States. Sybil Jones describes the scene in Was.h.i.+ngton as follows:

”I was very fearful the inhabitants would be too full of joy to remember their great Deliverer and give thanks unto His name. We went to Camp Fry, and had to press our way through the throng, often pausing to note the variety of emotions exhibited--all joyful, but neither ridiculous nor profane. A subdued awe seemed to hold in check the lawless and dissipated, and tears of joy suffused the eyes of pa.s.sers-by. The whistles of the engines, the roar of cannon, the music of the various bands, and the shouts of the mult.i.tude, mingled with the prayers, praises, and hallelujahs of the colored people, some down on their knees in the dust of the street, others dancing like David before the ark of the covenant on its return to its place,--all commingled in one mighty jubilant song which I trust was not devoid of the grateful tribute of praise to the great G.o.d of heaven and earth.

We at length entered the ward of the sick and wounded of two regiments, about two thousand men. As we pa.s.sed in I said, 'To-day is the nation's jubilee, and we have come to present our thank-offering with you, as you cannot join the street celebration.' A smile and 'Thank you' went round and brightened up the scene. We read a beautiful psalm and bore a testimony to the power and goodness of G.o.d, not only in hope of the full and entire emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves, but in disclosing to us to-day, behind the folds of the dark war-cloud, the silver lining of peace. We besought them to come to the Lamb of G.o.d, seeing his mercy and loving-kindness had been so great to them as to spare them amid the din of battle when their comrades had fallen all around them.”

Sybil Jones and her friends visited Seminary Hospital, and found among the wounded a young Friend from Illinois, who was much comforted by hearing the gospel tidings from a member of the Society he loved so well. A sad scene presented itself in Douglas Hospital. There had just arrived three hundred terribly mangled soldiers, some pa.s.sing away, some in agony with lost limbs. It was an indescribably painful scene, and the one ”Physician of value” was recommended to the poor sufferers.

They addressed many prisoners of war, deserters from the South, and refugees. They were listened to with seriousness, and many were in tears. On a visit to Stanton Hospital, Sybil Jones met a young man from Maine named Eben Dinsmore. He told her that her son, James Parnel Jones, had been his captain when he first enlisted, and afterward his major. He spoke in the highest terms of his kindness to the men and his unspotted name, and said he heard a soldier of the same regiment say that he was with him from the time he was wounded until his death, and never saw a person die so happy, singing as he pa.s.sed away.

At this time Sybil Jones and friends moved their lodgings, at the kind invitation of their friend Isaac Newton, to make their home with him for a while.

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