The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-03-07

Il said, General, does not this
include you?'
Gle said, Yes, l bell eve So
"Then l read it, inserting his
name. He read the text, inserting
Gen. Forrest | asked him to iso-
late himself, placing himself in the
position mentioned in the Scriptures
and see if he could accept this dec
laration of God, and he said, Doc
tor, it does seem like | ought to-.
81 told him then to pray. We
got down on our knees and prayed
for him, my hand on his head. AT
the close of the prayer we arose from
our knees and there went over his
| face a glad smile and he said: Doc
tor, it is all right. trust in Him ,
Mary, his wife God bless her one
of the most noble women in the
world (now dead threw her arms
around him in her joy. We had a
regular camp-meetiug there.
"There was no half way Of doing
things with Forrest. He wen, for
ward with a vim toward the work at
hand, which was the secret of his
success, and in this way he entered
the religious faith. He said he
wished to join my church and he
was received. The news of his con
version had gone abroad and the
church was flied. When l called
for new members the following Sun
day morning he folded his arms and
deliberately walked down the aisle
to the altar. Friends, | thought
then | had never seen such a mag
nifcent man as Gen. Forrest that
day! After answ ering to the regu-
lar questions, prayed that he would
be as true a Christian as he had
been a soldier to his country. A
year later his health began to fail.
He travelled with view to restOra-
ton, but the decay of his body was
passing too far to be eradicated. He
came back home, and received a
message later that he was on his
plantation, very low, and wanted to
see me. | went to him.
"W hen ] reached his bedside |
saw he could not live much longer
1 asked him about his prospects for
better world and he said they were
bright. | said | wanted to read
Scripture to him. He assented and
l read the 23d Psalm. After read
ing this, knelt by his bedside and
prayed aud asked the good Lord TO
be with him in this hour of his SUI
premcst crisis, to light his way in
the great beyond. He asked me to
sing for him and | sang that hymn,
Nearer, My God, to Thee He
enjoyed it, and at the conclusion he
took me by the hand and said, Doc
tor, l have a message | want TO send
by you to all the boys who fought
under me in that awful struggle
Tell them that their General is 90
ing to heaven and wants them to
meet him when the roll is called ,
81 told him | would tell his COM
rades, and his face became happy
yes, radiant.
''Thus he passed away Brave
in life, fearless in life, and sublime
in his death. And he is gone where
there is no more bloodshed. There
all is peace and Joy forever. And
his last request to his old boys as
we call them, was that they should
meet him on the peaceful shores
Some of you old soldiers here, see
a number of his staff, will you meet
the immortal General in this home
of God? Young men, will you do
it, also? Will you meet him there?
This appeal brought tie 4rs to the
eyes of many of the veterans
The speaker continued, stating that
if the cd soldiers failed to meet
their old General their life would
be a failure.
He continued:
81 preached lis funeral. There
were 10000 present When l gave
his last message there was hardly |
a dry eye in the house. Men, wo-
men and children wept, and many !
said they would endeavor to meet
him on the bright shores. Cover
nor Porter and Jefferson Davis were
there, both with tears in their eyes
Mr.. Davis looked upon that face and
said, we never appreciated him as
we should This is true Mr..
Davis felt that there lay the remains
of one of the most immortal, fear
less Generals that ever commanded
a Confederate army -
As he closed Dr Stainback be-
came choked with emotion.