Evening journal., 1914-03-06
NEW NERS OF YESTERDAY
A Direct Response TO an
Appeal for EeIp
By Holland.

Horace Bushnells famous address
entitled. Natural and Supernatural,
and / discovered while reading it a
statement made by DR.. Bushnell of
an incident, well authenticated, which
seemed to point to the direct interfer-
ence 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
Society and one of the most intuen-
tial and best known of American
evangelists, began the narration OF
an anecdOte 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
ton 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 settlement in the northern part OF
the State of New Hampshire about
the middle to the last century or
perhaps a little later" said Mr.. Hall.
"He secured a tract of land IN what
is now the township of North Bart
lett, in the White mountain district.
He was compelled to clear the land
so as to raise crops. He brought his
wife and children to a log house
which he built, his nearest neighbor
being five miles away, in little set
tlement where there were a 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
danger of starvation. So my grand
father determined to set out on snow
shoes 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 on one side and
his nearest neighbor three miles away
on the other, and besides being help
less, he was in peril of attack by
ferocious wild animals.
"My grandfather was a fervent be-
lever i'm the truth of the Scriptural
saying that II one has faith when he
prays his prayers will be answered.
AS evening came on he found that he
was gradually becoming benumbed.
He prayer earnestly for succor. A
little after that he apparently lapsed
into a semi-comatose condition.
"The people in the little settlement
were accustomed to go to bed very
early-by 8 o'clock or half-past they
were all asleep. About half-past s
one of the inhabitants of that settle
ment awoke and said to his wife that
he had had a singular dream. In that
dream he saw his distant neighbor,
Elias Hall, lying helpless upon the
snow in the heart of the forest. He
knew 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,
4 have had that dream again and /
hear a voice saying, you must go
and succor this helpless man."
"Thereupon this man got up, dress
ed himself and summoned two or
three neighbors from their beds, say
ing that he would lead them to a
place two miles 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 precise
place which had been indicated TO
this man in the dream. They impro-
vised stretcher and took him home
in time to restore him to conscious
ness
Now that anecdote is absolutely
authentic" said Mr.. Hall to me. 1T
was verified by my father. But, do
you know. when | used TO tell 1t
people looked at me with incredulity,
not believing it. But when / read
that paragraph in Howard Bushnell's
address in which somewhat similar
incident of inexplicable assistance
was rendered I made up my mind
that whether people were incredu-
ious or not ] should tell the story
when the occasion justified. You
can explain the incident in any way
you choose. My grandfather and his
neighbors were always convinced
that the aid that came to him was in
response to his prayer"