The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-01-05
Corporal Dick.

In June, 1868, while the confederate
army was marching into Pennsylvania.
one of its chaplains received letter
from lady living in South Carolina,
who had known him when small boy.
1t was a letter of mother, anxious
about the religious welfare of her only
son. the chaplain's former playmate,
then a corporal in a regiment Of
Rhodes brigade. in the army of North
ern Virginia.
Corporal Dick, the chaplain learned,
was great favorite in the regiment.
the lie of the squad which gathered at
night about the camp fire, and the
most reckless of those who charged a
battery or mounted breastwork. His
comrades looked to him to cheer them
with his contagious laugh or to stimu-
late them in battle with his resounding
yell.
Bu. Corporal Dick had fallen into
| bad habits, and his mother knew it.
| Her letter expressed her great fear
lest he should suddenly be shot down
an impenitent sinner.
1t was not until after Gettysburg
that the chaplain found the opportu-
nifty, which he had anxiously sought.
of seeing Corporal Dick. During the
retreat through the Shenandoah val
| ley, as the chaplain, at dusk, was rid
Rhodes brigade, inquired his way to
the regiment to which Corporal Dick
| belonged, and speedily found his
friend.
Though the two men had not met
| for ten years, yet each greeted the
other as an old comrade. They walked
away from the camp fire, and, after
talking over boyhood days and the in
cidents OF the recent battle, the chap
lain told the corporal of the anxious
letter he had received from his moth
er.
"Dick," said he, putting his hands
on the corporars shoulders, "don't
you think you ought to become a
Christian?"
Il think l have become one,
George" answered the corporal with
| intense feeling.
Then he told the chaplain of the
wicked life he had led in the army, and
of his shame and pain, when he re-
| ceived his mothers prayers and warn
| ing words. A few nights before he
had attended soldiers prayer meet
ing, and then and there he became a
| Christian soldier. Drawing from his
breast the bible his mother had given
him, he said: 81 seldom looked into
it until after Gettysburg, but now l
read it every day and it helps me to
live as Christian"
The two friends knelt in prayer and
then parted, hoping to meet again in
few days. But it was long time
before the friends again met. A bat
tie had begun, and the chaplain's regi-
ment was ordered up. AS it came I'M
der fire the chaplain noticed a wound
ed man, whom comrades were proping
| up against a tree.
Turning aside to see if he could aid
the poor fellow, he recognized his
friend. 1t was Corporal Dick, terri
bly, torn by piece of a SHE'LL Seeing
that his friend would in a few minutes
be dead, the chaplain said: ''Dick, my
old friend, what can | do for you?"
George, take my bible from my
blanket" whispered the dying cor
poral.
The blanket was unrolled, and the
bible given him by his mother was
placed in his hands.
George" he whispered, "send this
book back to mother. Tell her found
| these verses great comfort to me in
my last moments. Tell her l marked
them with my blood"
Opening the bible the corporal
turned to passage after passage and
stamped them with his bloody finger
amid the roar of the battle. The
chaplain administered no consolation;
ne was silent before this testimony of
the gospels power.
When that bible with its bloody fin
ger prints. was given into the hands
of the mother, she; sorrowing for the
bereavement, thanked God who had
heard a mothers prayers Youths
Companion.