Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1862-08-21
THE PLACE TO DIE.

this subject. The thought Of that spo
springs in every heart at the question
for no feeling is more common than ,
desire 10 die at home.
"Let thy servant. l pray thee, turn
back again, that I may die in my owl
city, and be buried BY the graves o
my father and mother" How many
times has this prayer been offered?-
So universally is this desire felt and ae'
knowledged, that the words "he died
among strangers!" go straight as an
arrow to the heart. You cannot with
stand the simple appeal to your SYM
pathy.
God used this desire Of the heart
when he said TO a disobedient people
"And 1 shall cast you out into an
other country, where ye were not born,
and there shall ye die.
To die at home! 1t is the thought,
to-day of a thousand hearts among
the sick and wounded soldiers of our
armies. Some of these, we are per-
susded, are now turning from the close,
warm hospitals, or the soldiers tent,
to the beautiful country, and longing
for the sight of their native bills, for
the old familiar home, with its pleasant
faces and loving hearts, for the country
church-yard, with its white marble and
green mounds. its quiet and rest.
"Comrade, / am going to diel" said
poor soldier in Virginia, the other
day. "Can l be taken homer"
Poor heart! How pitiful this last
struggle for earthly comfort. The
same old story--let me die at home
but with the old. touching interest,"
Home! the last point on the receding
shore to which the dying eye was
turned.
The place TO die becomes a near
question to us when, as all nature
tree, bud and blossom-has come forth
with a new and perfect life, we are
called on to lay under the green turf
many of our friends who have died
from home. Then, when we are so
often called upon to place our flags at
half mast, when the Dead March has
become so familiar sound, when sol
diers with martial tread and arms re-
versed, so often meet the eye, we must
think of the place to die.
"There is no place like home to die"
said student who came home sick.
Young friend, you do well to love
your home. There is nothing like it
to keep the heart pure. You touch a
cord which quivers when you speak
to a stranger about the bitterness Of
dying from home. But there may be
a better place than home to de-
Ruth thought so when urged to return
to her own country and kindred
"Where thou diest | will die, and there
will ] be buried" Thomas thought
so when be said to his brother deciples,
as their Master was called to meet
danger, "Let us go, that we may die
with him." Sampson found better
place than home: "And Sampson said,
Let me die with the PhiIistines.' And
he bowed himself with all his might;
and the house fell upon the lords, and
upon all the people that were therein.
So the dead that he slew in his death
were more than they which he slew in
his life." Regulus chose his place to
die, among his enemies. When Thos.
Drommond said: "Tell my bretheren
for me that 1 died at my post" do you
doubt, kind reader, that he found the
right place to die? Yes, indeed-and
trust the words bear comfort to some
heart-the right place to die is the
post Of duty, be it on the field of battle,
among strangers, or in mothers arms.