Hew Morrison Collection > Reminiscence of the war in South Africa

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in the House of God — flourishing in the courts of
our God, for the Church of his country was ever
dear to him as the beautiful house in which our
fathers worshipped, and he was in it a tree planted
by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots by the
River, and shall not be careful in the year of
drought.
Many have fallen ! their seed is becoming
scarce in our Glens, for where we have not the
children in arms we have not the warriors skilled
for the fight, and we mourn the lofty, shady green
cedars that were the glory of a land — the covert
from the wind, the shelter from the heat !
Many a widow mourns, because the help of the
poor and needy, the stay of the orphan, the pride
of the home in peace and war, has gone and shall
return no more, nor see his native country !
Though we are victors in the fight, they have
bade us adieu for ever ; and the Empire and
the Church are weeping sore, "for they shall
return no more, nor see their native country."
How sad was the weeping at Modder River
as they committed to the dust the General and
officers and soldiers who were so faithful even to
death, and now lie side by side in the distant
land — full many a grave exists in that land, by
mountain stream, and shore, where they shall
sleep till the last Trumpet shall resound. But a
grave is the securest of all inheritances, and we
trust that these graves are to us secure pledges
that God has given us the land for our everlasting
inheritance.