The Cairo bulletin., 1911-06-04
MARCHING
TO GLORY
By F. A. mitchell
Copyright by American Press Asso
citation 1911!


Ing an abnormal condition had look ed
upon a vision OF that after death pc.
fod which is almost universally be.
lleyed to be sealed from mortal eyes.
My theory as to this condition OF
mine Is that, being abnormal. it pro
duced abnormal pictures. We see NJ
colors, What we consider colors are
simply MILLIONS OF waves impinging on
| the retna Of the eye. Comparatively
SLOW moving waves produce red; rap
Icy moving waves produce violet: thos,
/ between the two produce intermediate
co'orS, Now, may not the retina whel
i turned awry be readjusted 70 receive
that which 1t Is not Intended to re
ceive? In other words, may not wha4
am going to relate have really ey
I listed Instead of having been a dream,
or Il vision produced by strained con
ditions?
was in the thick of the fight. Me,
/ were shot down beside me. ia froat
| OF me and behind me. The noise was
like thousand thunderstorms. Their,
were the dedfeaing explosions of can
non, the rattle OF muskctry. the shri,
nelgsiug Of horses, shouts, groans
sluieGs, Presently something strut
me aid turned me half around M
legs afforded no support; felt myseii
sin';inG; the terrisic. sounds about mi
grew faint-then oblivion
Suddcaiy was again cons. ious. !
sat UP. supporting myself with an arm
The fight had moved short Gistunc.
| beyond me. Mel were hurrying to
the rear, aud men were hurrying 81
the front. Two men were carrying
past me another OH d stgctchcr Az
| looked | saw something mistlikc
forming above the one borne along.
| There. was nothing describable about
1t. appealing. as 1t seemed to me, to !,
sense of which had never before
been conscious. Like a smoke wreath,
1t rose and slowly drfted away.
knew that wounded man had
died While being carried by me. did
net know how | knew it, but | had no
doubt of it, Turning my eyes to the
front, where a hundred yards from me
thimcd line OF my comrades, from
whose RANKS | had dropped, were re,
ceiving a sharp fne, saw rlen fall
ing, some crawling away, while others
pH I'm, r',.,
fell Immediately the rnistlile sub.
stance had seen on the man who had
died while passing me appeared, rose
aud drfted away. Had | not seen il
leave the body | should have taken il
for puff of smoke from the mouth of
gun.
Then | noticed that all these wraiths
were moving IN the same direction,
gathering. clustering about common
centcra. grouped in what seemed TO be
one faint luminous cloud. From It
broke away line like men marching
by platoon or company front. then en-,
other line and another till many such
lines Mt equal distances had moved
out from the whole, which gradually
grew less till a column of the dead
was marching on rising curve.
At first this curve led them away
from Inc. but the direction, ever chang.
ing, presently caused them to pass
over my head. yet since they were con.
stantly rising they passed far above
me. 1t was sight to see, these souls
of dead soldiers passing from earth on
their way TO spiritland Ever turning
as they were. at last I realized that
they were passing to their long homes
In a gigantic spiral.
l thought of those spiral nchulae,
developing universes, seen in the heav.
ems through telescopes and wondered
If this form. as 1t marks the beginning,
marks also the end of the infinite com
bination Of matter and soul
AT last the receding column became
a single line, growing thinner till it
formed a barely perceptible curve like
that of a comet.
SO rapt was / in this strange vi
sion that | was oblivious to all else
Then | noticed that the battle was
ours. dropped upon the ground
again, and gradually all things about
me vanished. / must have passed the
night unconscious on the battlefield.
When ! came to myself right above
me and within a foot of my face was
a blade Of timothy. on the end of
which a spider was crawling. watch
ed him running about on the cereal
for awhile, then noticed that it was
morning. Occasionally | heard dis
tant shot, knew a picket fred it,
for with an army in the field picket
shots are always to be heard Occa
sionally a volley came over the fields
which knew had been fred over some
soldiers grave. As grew more con
scious Of my surroundings | grew also
conscious Of pain in nv size and n
terrible stiffness through my whole
body. Then heard a voice say:
"This mans alive"
A soldier with spade In his hand
stood over me, and an officer with n
sash about his waist. the color of
which knew denoted surgeon, came
and bent over me. He called his as
slstant. who put flask to my lips.
81 saw this fellow last evening"
said the latter, "and ! was sure he
was dead"
recovered and have often since told
this story Of what ! saw on that bat
tlefeld But people usually tap their