Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/134

Rh admitted about an hour before. His eyes were sunken, and his hollow cheek and blackened face proclaimed that this fearful disease had seized upon him with the grasp of death. I spoke to him for a little while, and then passed on to others. The next day his bed was empty. Ono of the orderlies told me that he suffered much in his mind before he died. He had his senses to the last, which is very unusual. It appears that he had been a Protestant, but became a pervert to the church of Rome. He expressed a wish to die in his former faith, and asked one of the men for a Prayer-book. Not one was at hand. He then said, 'Read me the first chapter of the Gospel of St. John.' At its close, he said he felt much relieved in his mind, and died. Oh! we will believe that he was enabled to 'behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.' I cannot tell you how sorry I am that I was not there. One of the orderlies would have come for me, but not one could be spared from the hospital.

"Last Sunday one of ray brother officers was attacked with cholera, but he has, thank God, got over it. I went to see him several times, and talked to him about Jesus. Every time I went he told me how glad he was of it. I write a line by every mail now to tell you of my safety. I am enjoying great peace of soul, resting on Jesus, on him alone."

"No one can fancy in England what the arrival of the mail is here, nor the power of letters like yours to cheer one's heart when all around is gloom and death. Your letters arid your prayers have nerved me to do many things which otherwise I should not perhaps have attempted. I feel that lean never tell you what a blessing God has made you to me in every way. It was you who first raised in my heart a