The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-02-24
.ANKATo FREE PRESS.
FaIpAY. FnBRuARY "a 1888
DARING And SUFFERING.


We were eager for this privilege, and no
Irought over the eight who were In the
ront room and placed them with us. We
we're now fourteen, including Capt. Fry,
Z East Tennessee fame, who was placed
Nth us. There would have been much
o talk about I'm our separate experiences
n Knoxville and Chattanooga at any
ost swallowed up everything else.
At length some voice suggested-rather
aintly at first, for only few hours be-
ore &c would have met keen ridicule--
hat II would be well for us to pray. The
hought was warmly welcomed. Not the
highest objection was offered by any one,
md we at once all knelt, One member
q the party has lately told me that while
le knelt with the rest, and was careful to
ay nothing to discourage us, yet he never
ed in prayer, or said anything to indicate
hat he had changed his life purpose.
lid not notice the exception at the time,
IS every head was bowed and every face
covered. Capt. Fry was first requested
o lead us, which was peculiarly appro-
,riate, as he had always maintained q
consistent religious life, and now seemed
o feel our great sorrow as II it were his
,wn. He prayed with deep earnestness,
strong sobs mingling with his fervent Pc
itions. Then others led, and we con-
inued until all but the one already al
uded to had prayed in turn; then those
Who had prayed before began again.
There seemed to be some help in simply
elling our trouble. On my own part, /
10 not think that there was a great deal
If faith, at least so far "a temporal deliv-
france was concerned, but there came
,almness and o passing away Of bitter.
ness that was restful to our tired hearts.
We besought God mainly that he would
prepare us for the fate that seemed
and that as he had led
is into great trials, he would in some
manner sustain US there. We kept on
praying with but short intervals till the
sun went down. AS twilight deepened
INTO darkness-the emblem of our own
Iives-so our petitions grew more solemn.
God seemed nearer than ever before. In
the darkness it apnearad ansier TO -bearOfd
the heavenly light. We began to ask for
", fhiS world as well as in the
hour of death, and to have a hope, very
faint and trembling, that it might be grant
ed. Then little by little we began to profess
our purpose to live religious lives while
we were spared, whether the time was
long or short. do not know that there
was anything clear and definite in the
way of conversion or sudden change on
the part of any; but when it is remem-
bered shat in the forenoon we had amused
ourselves by all kind of games, that pro-
fame words and jests were not uncommon,
and that we would have been ashamed to
speak of prayer or Of religion in any way
except as a mere theory, it will be seen
that there was no slight alteration in us
already. From that hour / date the birth
of an immortal hope and a new purpose
in'life. And in this experience am not
solitary.
IT, is an interesting fact, which the ra-
tioralist may explain as he will, that from
the time of that long prison prayer meet
ing-from early afternoon to midnight
the fortunes Of our party began to i'm
prove. There were fearful trials still be-
fore us, not much inferior to any that we
had passed; we long held our lives by the
frailest thread; yet t IL the close of the
war, though many persisted around us,
death did not claim another victim from
our midst. We committed ourselves to
the Lord, not expecting deliverance in
this world; and in his boundlesa mercy
he bestowed upon us all we asked, and far
more than we had dared to hope.
Few things in our whole prison expert
ence were more fearful than awakening
the next morning The chill light of a
new day-the dispelling of dreams that
may have been very pleasant, and have
brought home wildly before us-always
made the morning hour the most dreary
of the day But on this occasion we
looked around and saw the places of our
friends vacant, and all the great sorrow
of our bereavement again rolled over US
like the incoming of the sea.
But we wished to do something. A
small Bible was borrowed from Mr.. Tur-
ner when he came to bring our scanty
breakfast-Mr. Thoer, who was always
with him to see that he gave us no undue
Indulgence, did not object-and then we
had reading, singing and prayer-nearly
every one praying, so that it might rather
be called morning prayer meeting than
''family worship" though the latter was
the title used. We now resolved to con-
tinue this practice as long as our prison
life lasted.
From this time forward we had relig-
iOus exercises morning and evening, and
found them a great consolation and sup
port. They began and closed the day
Alright, and thus added sweetness to all its
hours, supplying a subject or thought not
bearing directly upon our own gloomy
prospects, and thus enabling us to main
tain better mental health. We always
sung a hymn or two on these occasions.
thpra aTlu cir linz
as Mt Chattanooga, but of a far different
and more inspiring character. Instead OF
'Nettie More" Carrier Dove" and such
harmless sentimentality, we sang Crock
of Ages" Jesus, Lover of Ny Soul, ~
and others of a pronounced spiritual cast.
This greatly astonished the guards. They
were given strict charge to watch us
closely, with the statement that we were
the most desperate characters in the whole
United States; then to hear us sing Meth
odist hymns, and to know that we had
prayers, morning and evening, was a con.
traGiction they found it hard to reconcile.
Soon the story of the heroic death of our
comrades and our own religious bearing
was noised about Atlanta, and no doubt
there were many expressions which gave
some ground for the bitter complaint of
sympathy" made afterward by the pro-
vost marshal in his report. But we cared
comparatively little for this, of which, in
deed, we then knew nothing. We had
never expected to receive much help from
the people outside, and would not have
dared, for fear of treachery, to accept it if
offered. But we wished to find that
peace in believing that we had heard of
Christians possessing. What would we
not now have given for the counsels and
assistance of minister we could fully
trustl
1t is delicate matter to speak of the
beginning of ones own religious life-to
say neither too much nor too little; but in
the hope Of guiding some other who is
feeling after the truth, will venture,
using the light that twenty-five years
have thrown back on those early days.
After the terrible 18th of June l am
not conscious of any experience of re-
ligious character for several days, except
a profound and burning conviction that it
Is folly to wait for death before trying to
be right with God. l might be sinful or
wicked again, but the idea that the great
business of life may safely he left to the
last could influence me no morel Just
how to be religious was puzzle. knew
If had a command to execute from an
army officer would do It, IL in my power,
no matter how difficult or dangerous; and
wished intensely that it was just as easy
to be religious as to be a soldier. But
there was the question of right feelings
and right motives that did not seem to
come into play very much in the army;
for II soldier did his duty, he was not
apt to be asked how he felt about it; had
the belief that 1 must have joy and rap
ture in thinking of death, readiness to
shout Gods praises which l did not feel;
and for time it seemed as II / could never
reach genuine conversion. diligently
read the Bible which we had borrowed,