and furniture should have been wantonly damaged by British soldiers on
their arrival at the place. Evidently they thought the house belonged to
a Boer. An order was, of course, promptly issued stopping such wanton
destruction for the future.

Another good Christian man at Modder River was Mr. Fraser, a Scotch
Presbyterian, whose house had been most unfortunately wrecked by the
bombardment. He and Mr. Westerman met week by week, during the period of
the Boer invasion, for Christian worship. These two gentlemen rendered
splendid service to our Christian soldiers, and to them both we are
greatly indebted. Every chaplain, every scripture reader, every agent of
every society, every Christian soldier was now busily at work. The
battles had made a great impression on the men. The war had only just
begun, and they knew there were other terrible fights in store. The
sight of the dead and dying was something to which they had not yet
become accustomed. The stern reality of war was upon them, and, as Mr.
Lowry wrote, 'There are no scoffers left in Lord Methuen's camp.' Take
one instance out of many.


='After Many Days.'=

Years ago, in Gibraltar, a sergeant came to a Christian soldier, and
with words of scorn and blasphemy asserted his own independence of any
power above him. Said he: 'My heart is my own. I am independent of
everything and everybody, your God included.' The reply was a soldier's
reply, straight and to the point: 'Jack, some day you will face death,
and, who knows, I may see you, and if the stiffness does not leave your
knees before then, my name is not what it is.'