Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/70

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"When on guard I was struck with a proof that God is no respecter of persons, and has his own people in every class. I saw two miserable, wretched-looking men, picking up pieces of rag, as I thought, in front of the guard tents; after they had collected several, they sat down. I went to them, and found they were collecting bits of meat and biscuit, which had been thrown away by the men after their dinner, and were covered with dirt. These they ate ravenously. I got them some clean meat and a loaf of bread, and conversed with them for about ten minutes.

"They seemed surprised at an officer, in 'such fine clothes,' talking to them about Christ. One of them had been a stoker on a railway, who had been run over by a train which had smashed his foot and hand. Yet he could talk with delight of the mercy of God his Saviour, and of his goodness and forbearance. Who knows but that I may meet and recognise those poor fellows in heaven?

"We started from camp on Saturday morning at five o'clock, and marched to WorkingWoking [sic] station, distant about five miles from Chobham. During a half hour's halt on the road, I fell to nutting, as nuts were plentiful in the hedges, and back went my thoughts to the days of my boyhood.

"We are now quartered at Canterbury. On Sunday evening I went to Mr. Lee Warner's church, and heard a beautiful sermon, from 'Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him.' A brother officer of mine told me that he had went to a church which was decked out just like a Roman Catholic chapel, and the minister, in urging the necessity of good works, stated that they, and they alone, could bring a