Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/291

 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 2G5 accustomed to horses he explained that towards c ii a p. the rear the balls had been dropping about very '• tliick, and that, fearing some harm might come to his master's second horse, he had thought it best to bring him up to the front. AVlien the 93d had recovered the perfectness of its ariay, it again moved forward, but at the steady pace imposed upon it by the chief The 42d had already resumed its forward movement ; it still advanced firing. There are things in the world which, eluding the resources of the diy narrator, can still be faintly imagined by that subtle power which sometimes enables mankind to picture dim truth by fancy. According to the thought which floated in the mind of the churchman who taneht to All the Piussias their grand form of prayer for victory, there are ' angels of light ' and ' angels of ' darkness and horror,' who soar over the heads of soldiery destined to be engaged in close fight, and attend them into battle.* When the fight grows hot, the angels hover down near to earth with their bright limbs twined deep in the wreaths of the smoke which divides the combatants. But it is no coarse, bodily help that these Christian angels bring. More purely s})iritnal than the old ' . . . . liear us this day praying for these troojis that are ' gathered together. Bless and strengthen them, and give them ' a manly lioart against their enemies. Send them an Angel ' of Light, and to the enemies an Angel of Darkness and Horror ' to scatter them, and place a stumbling-block Ijefore them to ' weaken their hearts and turn their courage into llight.'
 * " 'J'liis is part of the Ilussian prayer for vietory : — ' Lord !