GOD MAKING HIMSELF FELT

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 205, 1 September 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

GOD MAKING HIMSELF FELT

THE EVIDENCES F A GLORIFIED NATION. Rene Bazn, a member of the French Academy, and a writer very dear to thousands of his countrymen, has, says "Life," collected from private letteis and personally related experiences somo examples of what be calls the poetry ot chivalry ; incidents that, he says, show that God is making Himself manifest through purified France. We quote a few examples, striking .in their very simplicity : BEYOND PRICE. "At 8., in the hospital of the Gran 1 Hotel, a wounded soldier was to have :. limb amputated. But he was so weak that the surgeon hesitated. 'lf we could only give him soma blood!" " 'lf that is all that is needed I am ready to give -t!' answers anothor wounded soldier, a Breton. "The transfusion is made. The staff of the hospital, touched by the devotion of this wounded soldier, who was known to be v.ery poor, made a little collection here an dthere, very quietly, and gathered five hundred' francs, which they took great satisfaction n offen ncr to him. Oae day one of them came close to his bed, spoke of the service he had rendered, thanked him and offered him tho money. Mark the answer: " 'Oh, no! I give my blood: I do not sell it '.' " FOR MY COUNTRY. "A very young soldier from th'j Nonh, with beardless and rather childish face, -s stretched at the back of a trench, dying from a terrible shell wound in the stomach. In spite of the frightful wound he does not complain, he does not repine, and in his wide, upward-gazing eyes one could just perceive the expression of sadness which he often had. For since mobilising he had received no news from his home in the occupied territory. His comrades arc doing what they can for him, offering him water to drink, unbuttoning his tun/'c, trying to staunch the blood. Opening his eyes, which he had kept Co* a long moment closed, and no longce with an expression of suffering, he said to one of Irs comrades, a 'big, hair/ fellow, who was bonding over him • 'Friend, you must not tell mother what a frightful wound I had! A bullet 's better than what I have!' Then he distributed a few little things he flad in his pocket—his knife, his purse, a corkscrew, a tinder-box—a last testament soon ended. Finally, with difficulty, he opened his notebook and. setting himself to write, though he could no longer see very clearly, he traced a few lines. When he had finished his soul departed. . . . Three minutes later, as the word of his end spread along the trench, at this time not under heavy bombardment by the enemy, a captain arirved, smeared with mud up to tho shoulders. He saw the solder. 'Oh, poor boy! One of my bravest!' Respectfully he took the notebook, whici'i had fallen on tho ground, opened it and read: 'Au revoir, father: au revoir. mother; au revoir little s.sters; I am dying for my country. Vive 'a France!' " AT PEACE. "Sergeant Raissac, of Bezicrs, was mortally wounded in an assault on <i German trench. When they lifted In* body bis hand still held a photograph representing his mother, his sisters and himself, and on the back of the picture he had managed to write, with his last effort, 'Adieu! No tears, but a Chr:-> tian acceptance. I am at peace With God.' " Yesterday, during his two days' leave, 1 met the son of a poor countrywoman, a workman whom I have loved f(\r a long time. When I took leave o ¥ him, saying, 'Good luck to you. Marcel!' lie looked up with unreproachuig answered me : 'On one side. an ao n the other, I fear nothing!' AnJ this meant: 'Life? Death? What dees it matter? lam ready!' "I could go on multiplying these incidents without end," says M. Brazin; " they are not rare, they arc everyday affairs. And," he asks, "what does all this signify? It is tne poetry of chivalry that continues; it is the unfinished Crusade; it is God making Hlmselt manifest through purified France. "Those who seek the sublime will find nothing better."