The War Romance of the Salvation ArmyHill, Grace Livingston
History
The War Romance of the Salvation Army
Hill, Grace Livingston
World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Salvation Army
She gave the boys one of her beautiful motherly smiles and that made
them feel they had all got home, and they hesitated no longer. “Ma,”
however, was more deeply interested in her meetings than in mere pie.
The Sunday before this contest over five hundred soldiers had attended
the evening meeting, and almost as many had been present at the morning
service. Also, there had been twenty-eight members added to her Bible
class. Though the hut was a large one it had been crowded to its utmost
capacity in the evening, with men packed into the open doorways and
windows on either side, and forty of the men who announced their
determination to follow Christ that night could not get inside to come
forward. More than a dozen gave personal testimony of what Christ had
done for them. One notable testimony was as follows:
“I used to be a hard guy fellers,” he said, “and maybe I had some good
reasons when I used to say that nothing was ever going to scare me, but
when we lay out there with a six-hour barrage busting right in front of
us and ‘arrivals’ busting all around us, I did a whole lot of thinking.
It seemed as though every shell had my number on it! And when we went
over and ran square into their barrage, I’ll admit I was scared yellow
and was darned afraid I was going to show it! We were under a barrage
for ten hours. A shell buried me under about a foot of earth, and for
the first time I can remember, while my bunkie was digging me out, I
prayed to God. And I want to say that I believe He answered my prayer,
and that is the only reason I came out uninjured. I promised if I got
out I’d call for a new deal, and I want to say that I’m going to keep
that promise!”
A boy who had been converted in one of the meetings a few nights before
came into the hut and sought her out. He told her he was going over the
top that night, and he had something he wanted to confess before he
went. He had told a lie and he had felt terrible remorse about it ever
since he was converted. He had treated his mother badly, and gone and
enlisted, saying he was eighteen when he was only sixteen. “Now,” said
he with relief after he had told the story, “that’s all clear. And say,
if I’m killed, will you go through my pockets and find my Testament and
send it to mother? And will you tell my mother all about it and tell
her it is all right with me now? Tell mother I went over the top a
Christian. You’ll know what to say to her to help her bear up.”
She promised and the boy went away content. That night he was killed,
and, true to her promise, she went through his pockets when he was
brought back, and found the little Testament close over his heart; and
in it a verse was marked for his mother:
“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account