Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-02-15
PRAYING SOLDIERS.
a Glance Over History Showing What
Soldiers of This Type Have Done.
(St I,OuiS CIoh,. Dan,.>,,,..


Soldiers of This Type Have Done.
(St. Louis Globe DemocU,t)
Before recent battle in Natal the
Beers are reported to have stood on
their kopjes with barred heads singing
the hymns that all in the Transvaal
know from earliest childhood. These re-
ligious songs, handed down for gener-
ctions, are ruSgedly strong and simple.
Beyond almost any other branch of the
white race the South African burghers
are openly devout Their prayers are
not secret nor their psalms chanted
apart from their daily vocutions. An
English writer refers TO them as sat
uraied with the Bible" Their remark
able old President is endeared to them
because he often goes into the pulpit
to deliver Il sermon, and one replete
with living interest as were the dis
courses of Sturgeon. In the scenes of
war, as At home. the Beers are 4 pray
ing people. sturdily and sterniy pious.
no matter IL some would call them mar
row. They are temperate, truthful.
and not unkindly. Have the British
people fully estimated the military
strength of 60.G00 or $4,000 men of this
moral fiber. fighting with their homes
at their backs? II not. then n glance
over the history of what soldiers of the
religious type have done will clear
away some OF the illusions rs to the
seriousness of the task
In the sacred book with which the
Beers are said to be extraordinarily ia
miliar. the people in the foreground are
a praying and fighting race. a people
who passed through every phase of bat
tic, siege, enslaved captivity, and mi
grafton for the sake of opinion Even
the women had the warike spirit and.
lke Miriam. sang the fervent songs of
triumph and delverance Time has
| proved that such strain of blood.
founded on stable religious ground.
| cannot be eXterminated but holds its
place i'll the affairs of the world While
not q nation, it is a part of all nations.
ana its theology and moral code tinCe
the most advanced civilization. The
| crusadcs of the Middle Ages turned
Europe into n religious camp and the
I proditsia,is-liaarches and battles of that
era were marked by constant prayer
| and religious song Modern records
present the same phenomena. The
praying soldier is a mighty man in the
earths annals. Cromwells Round
heads could not he shaken in defense
| nor resisted in attack. They. too.
sang hymns on the battle-f field and
were brought up on Scripture. New
EnSiand's Pilgrims carried hymn book
| III one hand and rifle in the other. Penn
80 a. Hittii VI peace physically, but
with Il militant spirit in the ethics that
must not he disparagcd in the govern
heht ana development of mankind.
| GuStavus Adolphus was n religions
| monitor rs well great and victorious
general His soldiers prayed openly rs
| they fought their way through q. third
vi Europe our own age has produced
military leaders like Havclocll and
s,onewaH Jackson, imbued with relig-
ious zeal and yet soldiers of the ablest
| type. Nor must the animatug purpose
OF lighting Oriental races be forgotten
when this subject is reckoned with.
me hosts of Alohammed were checked
| at last on the plains OF France. Not
many years ago the dervishes. armed
With knives and lances flung them
serves on British squares and repeating
rifles. No antagonist is more stubborn
or reckless of danger than the Turk of
to-day. Before his religious chants the
Greek army recently melted away I'm
panic, defeated even before the battle
was Joined. With the Orientals relig-
ion may be. fatal!stic fanaticism, but
with the Beers it Is profound moral
principle. He accepts It as an element
to be frankly declared in his everyday
actions. in the army as well az in his
quiet community and home. He is no
ordinary foeman. To vanQuSh $4,000
such men. in their own rocky fnstness.
in an undertaking of unknown magni-
tude