‘ [424] wont you? Tell my mother I have read my Testament and put all my trust in the Lord. Tell her to meet me in heaven, and my brother Charlie, too. I am not afraid to die.’And then, exhausted by the effort, the head fell back and the eyes closed again. Several soldiers had gathered about, attracted by the patient heroism of the boy; and that sermon from those white lips was a swift witness to them of the power of the religion of Jesus. Strong men turned away to hide their tears as they saw that young soul strengthened and cheered in its agony by the hopes of the Gospel. It was not hard to assure him of Christ's love and remembrance, and lead him still closer to the Cross. At length the eyes opened again:
‘Tell my mother that I was brave; that I never flinched a bit.’
I have before quoted from the admirable book of Dr. John L. Johnson—the ‘University of Virginia Memorial’—and I shall now cull from it some of the many dying utterances of ‘Our Fallen Alumni,’ which beautifully and touchingly show the reality of the profession of faith in Christ which so large a proportion of these noble men made.
Holmes and Tucker Conrad, of Martinsburg, were my friends at the university, and I could add my emphatic testimony to their humble, earnest, Christian character. They fell in the thickest of the fight at First Manassas, fighting side by side and behaving with most conspicuous gallantry, and were afterwards found clasped in each other's arms. The appropriate epitaph on their tomb tells the touching story of their lives and death: “Holmes Addison Conrad
Henry Tucker Conrad
Christian brothers,
Lie buried here, side by side, as they fell in battle,
July 21, 1861.”Brothers in blood, in faith;
Brothers in youthful bloom;
Brothers in life, brothers in death,
Brothers in one same tomb.
Well fought they “ the good fight;”
In death their victory won;
Sprung at one bound to heaven's light,
And God's eternal Son.
