Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1899-10-28
THE BULLET STOPPED THERE.
FlipDant Remark of Soldier and
How 1t Brought with Force to
His Heart Gods Message.

Stories of pocket Bibles that have
saved life in battle are no novelty; but
their commences does not cheaper
them, if they are true, and If their moral
is not overdone.
In recent Epworth league meeting
a returned soldier told his experience
with his pocket Testament. 1t was
handed to him on the cars while OF his
way to the south with his regiment.
He had taken treat" at the last sta
ton, and TO use his own expression,
was feeling gay"
"All right" he said, laughingly, to the
donor of the book, "Pll carry it. It'll
be good to stop a bullet"
Some weeks afterward came the
fighting at Santiago, and on the day of
the famous charge of the rough riders
the young soldier was hit, and left lying
among the wounded. He regained con-
sciousness while under the surgeons
hands and heard him say: THAT was
close call" A Mauser bullet in his
breast had been extracted. 1t had bare
iy reached his heart and stopped.
what is it, .doctor?" he whispered.
but the busy surgeon had hurried on
to his next patient. Gen. Wheeler's
daughter was there, ministering to the
bleeding men, and he beckoned to her
and asked her to tell him about his
wound. She brought his pocket Tesla
ment, which he had carried in his
blouse, and showed him a hole through
it, made by the deadly lead, and told
him how narrow his escape had been.
Piercing the book in an oblique diree.
ton, the missile had found exactly rc-
sistance enough to arrest it at the dan
ger line.
For the first time the reckless soldier
took an interest in the gift he had ac-
copied with a jest. He remembered
with a strange throb the fippant re-
mark he had made on the train. He
kept the Testament near him, and In
the tedious hours of his convalescence
he often turned the leaves and noted
the texts which had been crossed by the
bullet.
There was one verse that he could not
get beyond. The shot had cut through
the middle of it, and left it's scar there
like an index.
God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whatsoever
believeth IN Him might not perish. but
have everlasting life"
Many times day he read the verse
over and thought about it. His life
must have been worth saving, he said to
himself, else he would have been under
ground with his buried comrades. But
everlasting life! Something forever
beyond and above fatal wounds! That
meant more than the "accident" that
saved one man. God has declared ever
lasting life to men, by Jesus Christ, His
Son The soldier became the pupil of
his book. To believe is to accept To
accept is'to be obedient. To obey is to
make Christ the example and His
teachings the rule of life. It was no
delusion when his heart told him that
he was willing to accept this formula
and to 'live by it."
The story is not a remarkable one
b. material or initial incident Any
other book than the New Testament |
would have diverted the shaft of death |
as easily; but its blow might not have
pointed him to word that brought
a changed motive in life with it. Out Of
this distinction blossoms the lesson,
and a natural circumstance takes an
eternal character. Whether the means
were casual or divine, the effect must be
left to testify. The man who went 10
he war scoffer came back changed
in moral purpose. He had become
Christian, because he had become fol.
over of Christ.-Youth's Companion.
Preferred the Jail.