Of the great army of the dead,
The trenches cold and damp
The starved and frozen camp,-
The wounded from the battle plain
In dreary hospitals of pain,
The cheerless corridors,
The cold and stony floors.
A Lady with a lamp shall stand
In the great history of the land,
A noble type of good,
Heroic womanhood.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Not many think of her as a lady with a lamp, that haven't read about her I would guess.
But the ones she helped the most sure seemed to think of her that way.
The night was dark now, every star obscured, rain was falling and the wind tugged at her skirts. She picked up the lamp and holding it before her, shielding the glow with her hand, she went through the door into the corridor, walking very softly and cautiously, making her way between the rows of huddled forms lying on the floor, seeing her shadow, tall and distorted, moving along the wall.
At the far end of the corridor, a young corporal, scarcely more then a boy, startled up from fitful napping and the incessant pain which had made him delirious. His eyes widened, and he lifted his battered body,
propped himself on an elbow, staring incredulous.
"What-what's that?" he muttered hoarsely. "Why, it's the lady! A lady with a lamp!"
Then, strangely solaced, he slumped down again and slept.
When she first took charge-
"Isn't clothing ever laundered? she demanded.
"Well," someone had said, "it is-at the rate of six shirts a month."
"You mean six shirts a month for each man?"
"Oh, no, six shirts for all the men."
Hundreds, thousands of sick and dying men, and a monthly laundry of six shirts!
Advancing age made it necessary that she have a nurse to care for her, and she did not object. But at night after the nurse had tucked her into bed, she would clamber out, patter into the next room and tuck in the nurse. (I thought that was rather funny wen I read it, and it was one of those times you laugh out loud when reading a book, and then wonder if anyone heard you!)
She did many things in her life, and though she talked and thought of God, I couldn't in just this one book pick up on whether or not she was a christain.
She seemed to hide from God. But at the same time, she wanted to do good.
I could not tell what to think of her. She did so much, found joy in work, was restless if she was not doing something of any worth, was very heady, strong willed, and was going to get her way even if she had to sit out in a snow storm to get the men to open the door to her.
There were many things we could look up to her for I guess. But we can't really take on all her ways.
But, in the way that she was a light of hope to her men, we should be a light of hope to the world around us.
We have all heard the songs and such about being lights, but how hard do we really work for it?
I should have gotten this post up as soon as I was done with the book, but with putting it off I lost many thoughts I was going to share on it, while at the same tie coming up with new ones. So this is the post you get. I may add more if I think something. Maybe a comment or another post. But there was something else I was wanting to post about too, and now I can't think of that. I guess that's what you get for posting after such a long day and having smoke clogging up your mind.
(Yeah, at 6 this afternoon as I was getting ready to head down to the Church, Mom asked me to go check on the fire because it was rather smokey smelling. So down I went and at first sight of the door of the furnace I could tell something was up, for out of the bottom of the door pored out smoke. So with that, I opened the door to see if I could help the fire breath by moving some wood around. I thought that might do it, but just in case I went around to the pipe in the back (with my scarf around my face for all the smoke) to make sure it wasn't coming out there as well. Sure enough, it was.
Running up stairs, I grabbed the phone to call Dad, whom is already down at the Church. He came right home and we hurriedly cleaned out the pipe what we could, and turned on some fans to blow what we could of the smoke out the garage. (Can you tell we've done this before?)
Anyways, just thought I'd come up with another excuse as to why I wasn't thinking clearly on another post. :)
In all, I wasn't too late for the time I meant to get to the Church, and I even got to talk to an old friend of which I haven't for a very long time.
Wow, what a day!
What does tomorrow hold Lord? :)
We shall see I guess!
Oh the joy of a new day that the Lord gives!
"Joy cometh in the morning!"
Alright, I'm rambling! Time to stop!
But remember-
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven."
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