Article March 8, 1913 Issue

AS A MAN THINKETH

W. B. CONNOR.

No army in camp is safe without the ever-watchful pickets whose "Halt! who goes there?" is heard by every one who seeks to pass. None may enter the lines but the real friends, who bring with them no harm, and not even these may enter until they are tested and proved. The deadliest enemy may come, wearing the uniform of a friend; hence it becomes the duty of the picket to disregard what may seem to be, and demand full proof. Each comer must speak the word which alone proves his truthworthiness, and failing to do this, he suffers arrest and possible execution. A member of a company of scouts who participated in the civil war, and a man who was noted among these picked men for bravery and deeds of daring, related to the writer the circumstances under which he felt that he stood for a moment in his greatest danger. He said: —

"From the nature of my service, I went out from and came into the lines as I pleased, and was, to a certain extent, known to every one. Once, after having been out under orders from our commander, I was returning, when I was challenged by a frail blue-eyed boy on picket duty and commanded to advance and give the countersign. I was so big a man physically, and so well known, that it was with a feeling of mingled pity and contempt that I regarded this boy. I felt that he should then be at home with his mother rather than where he was, a mere child engaging in the game of war. My statement to him that I had been out on scout duty and was returning to camp, I thought sufficient. To my surprise this only brought the reply: 'I know you, sir, but my orders are explicit. You cannot pass without giving the countersign.' Angered, I tightened my bridle, settled myself in my saddle, and prepared to ride by and over him if necessary. Just then his gun came to his shoulder with a click, and looking down the barrel of that gun, I saw a wonderful change come over the boy. I saw the blue eyes change into a steady, steel gray, and I read there the stern resolve of a man determined to obey orders and to discharge his duty, cost what it would. I knew that if I advenced an inch, he would shoot. I acknowledged his authority, congratulated him as a brave and faithful man, and left, firm in the belief that never had I stood in more imminent danger than at that moment."

Charged with the responsibility of proving every man who sought to pass, regardless of whom he appeared to be or what his station, degnified by the nobility of honorable service, inspired by the solemnity of his trust, this stripling, who was one moment the object of withering pity, the next moment stood in the majesty of law and order as the representative of his commander-in-chief, displaying a courage so sublime as to challenge the admiration of the bravest.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

UNDERSTANDING VERSUS BELIEF