Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1884 — Thy Speech Bewrayeth Thee. [ARTICLE]

Thy Speech Bewrayeth Thee.

A Highlander, in the British army,._ during the war of the Revolution, was caught one evening creeping out of a thicket just beyond the lines, evidently returning from some secret errand. The American outposts (along the Hudson ) were then quite near to those of the British, and, being concealed ’in the forest, their exact number and distance were always uncertain. Under the circumstances the Highlander was suspected of being an informer, i. e., in communication xvith the enemy. It was shortly after the execution of Major. Andre; and the enraged British were in no state to let a man go who was accused of sympathy with the Americans. The soldier was taken before his Colonel. and the witnesses of his presumed guilt told their story. “What have you to say for yourself?” demanded the Colonel, with a threatening frown. “Only this, sir: I got away quietly from my comrades to pray a bit while in the bush, and xvas coming back when the soldiers took me.” “Are you in the habit of praying?” demanded the officer. “Yes, sir.” “Then, pray now. You never needed it more in your life. ” And the Colonel took out his watch. Fully believing that he had but a few minutes to live, the Christian soldier knelt and poured out bis soul in such language as only a friend o| God could use. All who heard it were astonished, the commander himself among thereat. “Go,” said he; “you have told the truth. If you had not been often to drill, you could not have done go well at review.”— The Watchword.