Part 8 (1/2)

Oh, here's an officer I've been expecting to find. I knew he was missing, for I especially asked. He had a presentiment amounting to a preintimation of his coming end. In vain I argued with him. He calmly gave me his last messages. I've known several such. ”There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy.” Thank G.o.d, when he said ”the hour of my departure's come,” he was able to add, ”I hear the voice that calls me _home_”

and ”is the traveller sad,” he asked, ”when his face is turned _homeward_?”

'Who's that you've got next? Oh, I know him well. We rejoiced together. Come here, all of you, and look on his face. I'm not to preach, boys--we have other work to do--but I wish you to lay his case to heart. Some of you know him. You know the stand he took at one of our meetings at the Modder River station, and what proof he afterwards gave of the sincerity of his profession. Look at his face. What a sweet, peaceful expression--what a contrast to his surroundings! Death swift and sudden, in the horrid din of battle stript of all its terrors. As earth's light faded he must have got a glimpse of the glory beyond, for it's reflected in his face.

That's what Christ can do, and came to do, for a man.

'Sergeant, get some of the handiest of the men to break up these empty ammunition-boxes and construct a rude cross for the trench.

It's the most appropriate ”memorial.” It signifies self-sacrifice, and did they not, ”obedient unto death,” give their lives for others; it indicates the cheering hope in which we lay them to rest. By-and-by, we will erect something more permanent, and place a fence around, for 'tis holy ground, consecrated by tearful prayer and by the very fact that the remains of brave men mingle there.

Scotland to-day is poorer in men, but richer in heroes?

”Saviour, in Thy gracious keeping, Leave we now our loved ones sleeping.”'

[Footnote 5: _St. Andrew_, June 7, 1900.]

Chapter VII

THOMAS ATKINS ON THE VELDT

It will be a relief to turn from this sad record and give a sketch of Thomas Atkins upon the veldt as he appears to Christian workers. Nowhere else have we been able to see him apart from the fierce temptations which particularly a.s.sail him. Untrained, except in so far as military discipline is concerned, he is a child of nature, and nature not always of the best.

But the South African veldt has witnessed the remarkable spectacle of a sober army. No intoxicating drink was to be got, and the cup that cheers but not inebriates has been Tommy's only stimulant.

A further fact must be borne in mind. War has a sobering effect even among the most reckless. A man is face to face with eternal things, and though after a little while the influence of this to some extent pa.s.ses off, and either an unhealthy excitement or an equally unhealthy callousness takes its place, it never wholly goes, and any serious battle suffices to bring the man to his senses again.

=The Soldier's Temptations.=

The consequence of these things has been that we have seen the soldier at his best in South Africa--and that best has often been of a very high order. It is no kindness to him to make light of his vices, and they have been sufficiently p.r.o.nounced even there.

We are afraid, to begin with, that we must confess to an army of swearers. It seems natural to the soldier to swear. He intersperses his conversation with words and phrases altogether unmeaning and anything but elegant. It is his habit so to do, and even the Christian soldier who has belonged to this swearing set often finds it a great difficulty to break away from his old habits.

='Old Praise the Lord.'=

An amusing and pathetic instance of this comes to our mind. A soldier who worked at the forge was soundly converted to G.o.d, and as usual had to go through the ordinary course of persecution. It was astonis.h.i.+ng how many pieces of iron fell upon his feet, and how often a rod was thrust into his back! At such occurrences prior to his conversion he would have sworn dreadfully, and he had to guard himself with the greatest care lest some unG.o.dly word should escape his lips. And so when any extra cruelty in the shape of a red-hot piece of iron came too near, or a heavy weight was dropped upon his toes, he used to cry, 'Praise the Lord.' 'Old Praise the Lord' they called him, and truly he often had sufficient reason for some such exclamation. He came to the Soldiers'

Fellows.h.i.+p Meeting one night, and told how he had been tested to the limit. He had taken his money out of the Savings Bank, and locked it in his box; but the box had been broken open, and the money taken away. He stood and looked at it, hands clenched, teeth set. For a moment the fire of anger flashed in his eyes, and words that belonged only to the long ago sprang to his lips. A year's savings had gone. The promised trip to the old home could not be taken. And a vision of the old mother waiting for her boy, and waiting in vain, brought a big lump in his throat which it was difficult to choke down. The lads stood and looked at him. What would he do? And then that strange fire died out of his eyes, and his hands relaxed their grasp, and with the light of love s.h.i.+ning out from his face he said, 'Praise the Lord,' and came into the meeting to tell how G.o.d was flooding his soul with His love.

But the number of such as he in comparison with those who still pollute the air with their oaths is small indeed, and we have sorrowfully to admit that ours has been a swearing army upon the veldt.

Gambling, too, has been very rife, and if there was a penny to spin Tommy would spin it. This, of course, is not by any means true of all regiments, and as one of French's cavalry navely put it, 'You see, sir, we had not even time to gamble!'

There are some brutes even among our British soldiers, and sad stories reach us of men who have robbed the sick in hospital, and stripped the dead upon the battlefield. But swearing and gambling apart, and these horrible exceptions left out of the reckoning, what n.o.ble fellows our soldiers have proved themselves!

=The Patience of our Soldiers.=