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011 - Ch10 - A Sequel · Prison Life in Andersonville

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  Speaker 1: Chapter ten of prison Life in Andersonville by John Levy Miley.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recordings in the public domain recording by Jeffrey Smith,
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  Speaker 1: New Orleans, Louisiana, a sequel. At the age of thirteen,
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  Speaker 1: the writer attended a series of religious meetings and became
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  Speaker 1: profoundly convicted of his obligation to accept Jesus Christ as
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  Speaker 1: his personal savior. Lack of moral courage held him back
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  Speaker 1: from an open confession. He compromised by secretly pledging to
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  Speaker 1: become a Christian after he had entered upon his chosen
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  Speaker 1: profession of law. Thereupon his convictions ceased and the matter
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  Speaker 1: was forgotten. Now, in his illness in Andersonville prison, answer
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  Speaker 1: to prayer, as evidenced in the instance of Providence spring
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  Speaker 1: turned his attention to his own moral necessities. Well might
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  Speaker 1: this introspection occur, For in this month of August eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty four, his prospects of surviving the surrounding conditions were
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  Speaker 1: swiftly diminishing. Blood poisoning in the form of scurvy had
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  Speaker 1: settled in his face. He tottered from weakness. His long
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  Speaker 1: days and weary nights were spent on his blanket spread
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  Speaker 1: on the ground, just within the little sheltered tent that
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  Speaker 1: was wedged in among others. When eyes were closed to
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  Speaker 1: awful sights, the ears must listen to dreadful sounds. As
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  Speaker 1: vitality was ebbing away and the things of time and
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  Speaker 1: sense were withdrawing, the realities of eternity seemed to come
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  Speaker 1: to the front. Truly, it was time to prepare to
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  Speaker 1: meet Thy God. This must be done at once. The
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  Speaker 1: reading of the Little Pocket Testament began anew, and the
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  Speaker 1: thought was awakened to pray for self. When suddenly there
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  Speaker 1: came to mind the forgotten covenant of seven years ago.
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  Speaker 1: I will be a Christian after I become a lawyer.
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  Speaker 1: The obvious conclusion was taken on your own terms. As
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  Speaker 1: you cannot be a lawyer, you cannot be a Christian.
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  Speaker 1: Total physical and mental weakness could not cope with this
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  Speaker 1: mental suggestion. The reflections that followed led to feelings of
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  Speaker 1: utter despair. Thus he soliloquized, in the day of my strength,
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  Speaker 1: I said no to God. Now in the hour of
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  Speaker 1: my weakness, he will not hear me. He knows that
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  Speaker 1: from fear and not from sincerity, I now seek to pray.
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  Speaker 1: Hypocritical prayer will but add insult to injury, I must
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  Speaker 1: not pray. These confused reasonings were largely due to an
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  Speaker 1: anemic brain and mental temptation. The weakened mind accepted a
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  Speaker 1: lie in place of the invigorating truth that now is
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  Speaker 1: the day of salvation. Eternity seemed to open its portals
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  Speaker 1: to a realm of darkness into which the soul was
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  Speaker 1: being forced by the stress of its own past decision.
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  Speaker 1: While high over these gates, enthroned in light, appeared the
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  Speaker 1: radiant form of the Son of God. While this personage
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  Speaker 1: seemed unspeakably lovely and chief among ten thousand, the soliloquiser said,
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  Speaker 1: he has been denied. He is lost to me. These
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  Speaker 1: cogitations filled the waking and sleeping hours of several nights
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  Speaker 1: with a sense of woe unutterable. The decision of doom
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  Speaker 1: was accepted, the sensations of a lost soul seemed to
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  Speaker 1: be real. Words are entirely inadequate to express the sense
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  Speaker 1: of eternal, irremediable loss by which the heart was oppressed.
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  Speaker 1: This exhaustive strain could not long continue. The evening of
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  Speaker 1: a day of unusually oppressive heat presaged the end vividly.
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  Speaker 1: The thought stood before the mind, this is my last
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  Speaker 1: night on earth to the comrade who was blanket mate.
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  Speaker 1: The home address was given and a whispered goodbye. This
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  Speaker 1: was the fully accepted close of life. Sinking into an
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  Speaker 1: unrestful slumber, the small hours of the morning arrived and
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  Speaker 1: a forgotten incident of the long ago was revived in
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  Speaker 1: a dream. The scene in vision occurred on a beautiful
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  Speaker 1: Sunday morning of spring eleven years before. The location was
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  Speaker 1: a village on the Old Ridge Road in Niagara County,
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  Speaker 1: New York. The region was and is noted for its
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  Speaker 1: orchards of deciduous fruits. On this date, the blossoms were
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  Speaker 1: out in full. Banks of pink and white embosomed the
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  Speaker 1: homesteads that lined the historic highway. Sweet odors filled the air,
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  Speaker 1: and bevies of bees with droning song were industriously gathering
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  Speaker 1: the abundant nectar. Nothing could surpass the beauty of that
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  Speaker 1: quiet lord's day morning. As the family consisting of father, mother,
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  Speaker 1: older sister and younger brother with the lad wended its
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  Speaker 1: way to the brick church of the village, they habitually
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  Speaker 1: passed on the outskirts of the same the stone house
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  Speaker 1: of Colonel n. Whose daughter's husband was absent in the west.
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  Speaker 1: The good lady taught in the Sunday School a class
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  Speaker 1: of boys who were from seven to ten years of age,
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  Speaker 1: and although they were possessed of irrepressible juvenile energy, and occasionally,
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  Speaker 1: to her distress, seemed to be irreverent, yet they regarded
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  Speaker 1: her with sincere respect and gave willing obedience. On the
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  Speaker 1: Saturday night preceding this Sunday morning, a great burden of
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  Speaker 1: solicitude for the safety of her husband was suddenly pressed
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  Speaker 1: in upon her mind. To her imagination, he seemed to
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  Speaker 1: be in extreme peril. Perhaps he was unattended, he might
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  Speaker 1: be alone and facing a speedy and fatal termination. Possessing
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  Speaker 1: a strong faith in God, and believing his readiness to
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  Speaker 1: hear and answer prayer, at midnight, she aroused from her
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  Speaker 1: bed and engaged in an irrepressible travail of soul for
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  Speaker 1: the far away loved one for several hours. The burden
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  Speaker 1: of intercession continued. With the coming of the Sunday morning dawn,
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  Speaker 1: the light which made all nature bright and beautiful was
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  Speaker 1: suddenly duplicated in her heart. All at once. The burden
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  Speaker 1: lifted instantaneously, her being was filled with the sweet assurance
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  Speaker 1: that all was well with her husband, that whatever was
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  Speaker 1: his danger, he was being saved therefrom a tender gratitude
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  Speaker 1: possessed her heart. A sense of union with the mighty
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  Speaker 1: Jehovah suffused her being with a consciousness of strength and resource.
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  Speaker 1: Like Deborah of old, A song of triumph arose in
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  Speaker 1: her soul. As the time of going to church approached,
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  Speaker 1: the above mentioned family came along, and as was their custom,
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  Speaker 1: the teacher and her son, who was about the age
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  Speaker 1: of the writer, joined them on the way to the sanctuary.
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  Speaker 1: As the others were conversing by the way, the two
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  Speaker 1: boys ran on ahead, and the one, having observed on
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  Speaker 1: the face of his teacher the marks of suffering, said
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  Speaker 1: to his chum Newton, what is the matter with your mama? Oh, Johnny,
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  Speaker 1: was the reply. My mama has been feeling awful bad
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  Speaker 1: about my papa. I guess she thinks he is going
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  Speaker 1: to die. For in the night I heard her talking
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  Speaker 1: and talking to God about saving him and making him well. Say, Johnny,
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  Speaker 1: if God don't do what Mama asks, I won't have
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  Speaker 1: any papa, will I With their hands joined in a
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  Speaker 1: common sympathy and with mutual tears. The two lads sorrowed
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  Speaker 1: for a brief moment, but what parental anxiety could hold
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  Speaker 1: their abounding life from immediate sympathy With nature smiling all around.
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  Speaker 1: By the time the church was reached and cheery salutations
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  Speaker 1: had been exchanged with arriving classmates, all impressions of grief
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  Speaker 1: were forgotten. The teacher, in a mood of chastened gladness
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  Speaker 1: and confidence, listen to the sermon, which the venerable pastor
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  Speaker 1: extended to an unusual length. This delay absorbed the brief
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  Speaker 1: period of time usually given to an intermission, during which
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  Speaker 1: the intermediates might straighten out the kinks which seemed to
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  Speaker 1: form in their lithe limbs while perched on cushioned seats
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  Speaker 1: so high that their feet dangled short of the carpet.
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  Speaker 1: The good Superintendent, whose gracious face and form are remembered
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  Speaker 1: as but of yesterday, called the school to order immediately
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  Speaker 1: after the benediction was pronounced. We are late, he said,
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  Speaker 1: and cannot have intermission today. Classes take their places at once.
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  Speaker 1: These irrepressible youngsters combined the movement of filing into the
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  Speaker 1: pew with motions not included in the regular order one
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  Speaker 1: punched another. The lad who had recently shared the mental
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  Speaker 1: distress of his mother, now inserted a bent pen under
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  Speaker 1: the descending form of his companion, resulting in a response
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  Speaker 1: that did not improve the discipline of the occasion. The
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  Speaker 1: boisterous impulse seized the entire class, to the annoyance and
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  Speaker 1: discomfiture of the teacher, who was seated at their front
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  Speaker 1: in the adjoining pew. Several reproving glances directed towards the
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  Speaker 1: young insurgents quieted them during the opening exercises. After the
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  Speaker 1: vigil of prayer during much of the preceding night, and
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  Speaker 1: the answer of peace that had been given, we can
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  Speaker 1: readily understand the state of mind which now possessed the teacher.
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  Speaker 1: The transient sport of disorder of the little boys was
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  Speaker 1: but a harmless ripple on the surface of her thought.
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  Speaker 1: Her soul was in a continued attitude of prayer. Her
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  Speaker 1: victory and intercession made easy a renewal of request at
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  Speaker 1: the Throne of Grace. Not only her mother heart, but
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  Speaker 1: her Christian love yearned over the lads that were committed
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  Speaker 1: to her care. Not the surface question of behavior, but
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  Speaker 1: the issue of their conversion to Jesus Christ took possession
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  Speaker 1: of her mind. She thought to herself, why not now,
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  Speaker 1: why not now? Attracting the attention of the lads by
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  Speaker 1: tapping on the pew top with her ivory mounted fan,
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  Speaker 1: with countenance expressing unwonted strength, she said, my boys, I
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  Speaker 1: want you to now be perfectly quiet, and to bow
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  Speaker 1: your heads and close your eyes while I pray for you.
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  Speaker 1: The spirit of quiet firmness which accompanied these words, the
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  Speaker 1: outreaching of her soul, as in the interceding exercise of
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  Speaker 1: the previous night, profoundly impressed the lads. Instantly and willingly.
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  Speaker 1: They took the attitude of reverence. Motionless, they listened to
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  Speaker 1: the tender voice that pleaded in words like these, O Lord,
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  Speaker 1: my heavenly Father, I ask THEE to help my little
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  Speaker 1: boys to give their hearts to THEE. Wilt thou not,
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  Speaker 1: by the sacrifice of thy dear son, cleanse their hearts
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  Speaker 1: from sin. Wilt thou give to them a new heart,
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  Speaker 1: a clean heart. Bestow upon them freely of thy holy spirit,
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  Speaker 1: and help them to live always for THEE. Amen. Although
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  Speaker 1: eleven years had passed away and the immature experiences of
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  Speaker 1: boyhood had been replaced by the opening realities of manhood.
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  Speaker 1: The events above described formed the subject matter of the dream.
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  Speaker 1: On that memorable night in Andersonville, the panorama of what
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  Speaker 1: was largely forgotten unfolded before the mind in what was
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  Speaker 1: supposed to be the sleep of approaching death. These renewed
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  Speaker 1: impressions were so vivid that at the instant of awaking,
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  Speaker 1: the reality seemed to be with the old time home.
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  Speaker 1: The dream was the being in the prison pen, but
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  Speaker 1: a few moments of consciousness were required for the recognition
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  Speaker 1: of the actual circumstances of the present time in place,
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  Speaker 1: but within all was changed. In the place of despair
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  Speaker 1: and inspiring hope was in the ascendant. The forms and
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  Speaker 1: voices of loved ones had been seen and heard. The
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  Speaker 1: intercession of the teacher for her little boys had restored
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  Speaker 1: the right to pray. While yet in much physical weakness,
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  Speaker 1: the day was mostly passed in silent prayer. During the
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  Speaker 1: second night, a lessened impression of the dream was repeated.
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  Speaker 1: By the second morning, all the processes of thought were
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  Speaker 1: restored to the normal condition. The mind and will were
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  Speaker 1: able to adopt the irreversible determination to henceforth implicitly trust
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  Speaker 1: in the living God and to live the life of
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  Speaker 1: faith and prayer, and up to the present hour that
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  Speaker 1: determination has sought to be unfre alteringly kept. The mystic
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  Speaker 1: cord of memory, stretching from every battlefield in Patriot Grave,
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  Speaker 1: to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land,
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  Speaker 1: will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched,
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  Speaker 1: as surely they will be, by better angels of our nature.
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  Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln, Inaugural Address, March fourth, eighteen sixty one, end
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  Speaker 1: of Chapter ten.