The Washington herald., 1914-03-06
HISTORY BUILDERS.
A Direct Response to an Appeal for
Help.
6written expressly for The Heraid.)
ny DIR. n. J. EDWARDS.

| ny DIR. n. J. EDWARDS.
uC ONE weeks ago I came across
Horace Bushnelrs famous ad-
dress entitled, Natural and Su-
pernatural' and i discovered while
/ reading II q statement made BY Dr.
Bushnell of an incident. well authenti-
Gated, which seemed to point to the
direct interference of a supernatural
agency in the situation of a man who
was In dire distress"
In this way, William p. Hall. who is
president of the American Tract So
ciety and one of the most influential
and best-known of American evangel-
lists, began the narration of an anee-
dote which he had obtained from his
father.
Mr.. Hall Is not only an evangelist,
but he has very wide business asso-
Citations. being president of a corpora
tion which has extensive dealings with
the railroad companies Of the United
States.
MY grandfather, Elias Hall. was one
of the pioneers who opened up the set
| Element in the northern part Of the
State of New Hampshire about the
middle OF the last century or perhaps
little later" said Mr.. Hall He Sc
cured a tract of land in what is now
the township of North Bartlett. in the
| White Mountain district. He was COM
pelIed to clear the land SO as to raise
crops. He brought his wife and chill
dren to a log house which he built. his
nearest neighbor being fve miles away.
in a little settlement where there were
gristmill and a sawmill.
I'm the first winter there came a
week of what We should call blizzard
weather The supplies in the house
ran very low. and there was some dan
ger of starvation So my grandfather
determined to set out on snOwshoes
for the settlement, SO that he could
get some supplies. He had gone
| through the unbroken forest for about
] two miles when he broke through the
crust of snow and fell into a gully.
breaking his leg.
There he was helpless, his family
two miles distant one one side and his
nearest neighbors three miles away on
the other. and. besides being helpless.
| he was in peril Of attack by ferocious
wild animals.
| My grandfather was a fervent he
liever in the truth of the Scripturaf
| saying that il one has faith when he
prsys his prayers will be answered. As
evening came on he found that he was
gradually becoming benumbed. He
prayed earnestly for succor. A little
after that he apparently lapsed into a
| semi-cOmatoSe condltlOn.
The people in the little settlement
were accustomed to go to bed very
early-by s o'clock or half-past thev
were all asleep. About half-past eight
one of the inhabitants of that seJIle-
ment awoke and said to his WIFE that
he had had a singular dream In that
i dream he saw his distant neighbor.
Elias Hall. lying helpless upon the
snow in the heart of the forest. He
kenw exactly where the place was. His
wife counseled him to pay no heed to
| the dream. but TO go to sleep again.
He did get TO sleep. but he speedily
| awoke and said to his wife: I have had
| that dream again. and ] heard a voice
saying: You must go and succor this
| helpless man."
| "Thereupon this man got up. dressed
himself. and summoned two or thrr"
| neighbors from their beds. saving that
he would lead them to a place tw" mil"s
| distant where Elias Hall lay helpless
/ upon the snow. They went with him and
| they found my grandfather unconscious.
having been overcome by pain and by the
intense cold. They found him in the pre-
| else place which had been indicated to
this man in the dream They imprOvised
| stretcher and took him home in time
| to restore him % consciousness.
| Now that sEecdote is absolutely aU-
| thentiC'' said Mr.. Hall to me. 1t was
verified by my father. But. do YOU know.
when I used 10 tell it people looked at me
| with inCredulity. not believing IL. But
when ! read that paragraph in Howard
Bushnelrs address in which a somewhat
similar incident of ineXplicable assistance
| was rendered I made up my mind that
whether people were incredulous o. not
| should tell the story when the UC"a-
sion justified it. You can explain tn"
| incident in anV way yOu choose, Nv
grandfather and his neighbOrs were al
ways convinced that the aid that came
| to him was in response to his prayer"
Copyright. lslfl