“Yes,” said he, lapsing still deeper into a mood which she soon came to recognize in him as a frequent one of spiritual exaltation, “we who toil here, labor amidst the wreck and ruin of war without the benefit of that stirring impulse which fills the souls of those who actually go into battle. The terrors of human suffering which they see but for an instant, as when the lightning in the night shows the ravages of the storm, encompass us about and abide with us continually. We are called upon for another kind of fortitude, and we must look for our reward otherwise than in the victor's laurels. We can only have to animate us our own consciousness of a high duty well done. To one class of minds this is an infinitely rich meed. The old Jewish legend says that Abrahams principal jewel was one worn upon his breast, 'whose light raised those who were bowed down, and healed the sick,' and when he passed from earth it was placed in heaven, where it shown as one of the great stars. Of such kind must be our jewel.” He stopped, and blushing through his beard, as if ashamed of his heroics, said with a light laugh: “But if there is anything I fear it is self-righteousness which cankereth the soul. Come; I will show you a sight which will repress any tendency you may ever feel to exalt your services to the pinnacle of human merit.” While leading her to a remote part of the hospital he continued: “Of course greater love hath no man than this, that he gave his life for that which he loves. Considered relatively to the person the peasant who falls in the defense of his country gives just as much as the Emperor who may die by his side. In either case the measure of devotion is brim-full. Nothing more can be added to it. But there are accessories and surroundings which apparently make one life of much greater value than another, and make it a vastly richer sacrifice when laid on the altar of patriotism.” “There are certainly degrees of merit, even in yielding up one's life,” said Rachel, not altogther unmindful of the sacrifice she herself had made in coming to the front. “Judged by this standard,” the Doctor continued, “the young man whom we are about to see has made a richer offering to his country than it is possible for most men to make. It is almost shames me as to the meagerness of the gift I bring.” “If you be ashamed how must others who give much less feel?” “He was in the first dawn of manhood,” the Doctor went on, without noticing the interruption, “handsome as a heathen god, educated and wealty, and with high aspirations for a distinguished scientific career fermenting in his young blood like new wine. Yet he turned his back upon all this--upon the opening of a happy married life--to carry a private soldier's musket in the ranks, and to die ingloriously by the shot of a skulking bushwhacker. He would not even take a commision, because he wanted that used to encourage some other man, who might need the inducement.”