Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-09-25
NUMBER XIV.
Moral and Religious.
| For the Spectator.
For out Of Prison, he cometh to Reign.

i
1
For the Spectator.
For out of Prison, he cometh to Reign"
Before the recent sud war, while peace and
good will rendered many of our mountain
homes happy through sense of security and
peaceful repose, the writer visited a village
among the Highland hills
| 1t was located near green meadows, and on
| the banks of brook that came leaping and
laughing from the mountains, as if it were glad
to leave their shaded and gloomy rayines to
meander among the fowery fields of the valley.
On knoll, overlooking the beautiful prospect,
stood the village church, shaded by noble forest
trees, their branches like the wings of the cher
ubim overshadowed the holy place, and invited
| to pensiye feelings and solemn reveries. Near
the church a pleasant looking home was observ-
| ed to which his course was directed with the
| hope of securing lodging for the night. He
was kindly received and entertained. The fam
| ly was IN easy circumstances, and was happily
living in rural af1uence. The table, covered
with cloth of snowy whiteness, bleached by
mountain dews, was burdened with delicious
food prepared by the mother, assisted by her
dutiful daughters. The father was aided in his
duties by the eldest of the family, youth of
gentle manners. He was modest to fault, yet
1t seemed his greatest desire to minister to the
comfort OF the visitor. Late in the evening all
gathered around the domestic altar, and the
visitor was invited to read the Holy Word and
otter prayer. In turning over the sacred pages
no words seemed more appropriate than these
Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord,
that walketh in His ways. For thou shalt eat
the the labor "a % Of thy hands; happy shalt thou be,
and 1t shall be well with thee Thy wife shall
be as fruitful vine by the sides ofthine house,
thy children like olive plants round about thy
table. The next day was the Sabbath, the
villagers and persons from the adjacent country
assembled at an early hour for public worship.
The minister selected for his subject the Golden
Rule, and in plain solemn manner enjoined its
blessed teachings upon the audience In the
afternoon the visitor resumed his journey, hay
ing many pleasing memories associated with the
village the attentive audience, and the pleasant
family.
In the meantime, the mournful vicissitudes
of war wrought startling changes amid those
remote rural scenes. Among those taken into
the service was the modest boy who so kindly
ministered to his fathers guests. In an evil
hour he became prisoner and was carried to
Camp Chase. Innocent and unsuspecting him.
self, and free from all guile, he was the victim
OF some unfeeling fellow prisoner, who, to shield
himself, laid the youth liable to suspicion,
whereby he incurred the displeasure of the pris-
on authorities. They would hear nothing to
palliate the alleged offence, nor in any way nit
lgate the sentence pronounced neither would
they accept the humane offers that were made
by sympathizing fellow prisoners to labor in his
place.
In few days he sank under the toll and IA
tigue imposed by the sentence, and it was not
long before the innocent, heart-broken boy, was
sick unto death. In mercy it pleased Him
who hears the sighing of the prisoner to take
him from the evil to come .t5 .i-
Some time after the shadow of that great
grief had fallen upon that sweet home, the wri
come In the mourning family. Soon upon his
arrival the clouds overcast the sky, and the rain
began to fall gently and pattered on the win
dow. panes 1t was day that mourners love,
tor Nature seems in sympathy with them. The
mother narrated the history of her prisoner SON.
How her feelings had alternated between ex-
tremes OF hope and grief until the heart was
crushed by the tidings of his cruel treatment
and death: Among her remembered words are
these: Il felt that unless comfort were given
from above, could not live and turned to my
show me some comforting word. opened the
Book, and the first words saw gave me COM
fort, which were these ''For out of prison he
cometh to reign" That weeper, in her noun
tain home, like so many others amid our South
ern willows, has comfort in the life and immor-
tality brought to light in the Gospel, and
wreathes lovely graves with sweet and mellow
light When the Psalmist's acceptable words
are pondered, ''This shall be written for the
generation to come, and the people that shall
be created shall praise the Lord For He hath
looked down from the height of His sanctuary;
from heaven did the Lord behold the earth to
hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose
those that are appointed to death. psalm
102: 1S-2o.) One feels that in regard to many
of the deceased prisoners of war, the bereaved
should not mourn as others who have no hope,
but should comfort one another with these
words; For out of prison they have come to
reign @@ w. T. p.
MONTEREY, September, 1866. r.