ent of war and
its dangers he never omitted writing to his mother; an example I hope my
readers, if boys, or girls, will studiously copy. He loved his mother
with the passion of his great loving heart. Soldier lads often forget
their mother's influence, their mother's prayers, and their mother's God.
Writing home to his mother he says "We are giving the Redan shells day
and night, in order to prevent the Russians from repairing it and they
repay us by sending amongst us awful missiles of death and destruction,
and it requires one to be very nimble to keep out of their way. I have
now been thirty-four times, twenty-four hours in the trenches; that is
more than a month without any relief whatever, and I assure you it gets
very tedious. Still one does not mind if any advance is being made."

An eye witness of this bloody work in the trenches and the storming of
the Malakof and the Redan, writes:--

"On that terrible 8th of September, every gun and mortar that our
people and our noble allies, the French, could bring to bear upon the
enemy's work, was raining death and destruction upon them. The
stormers had all got into their places. They consisted of about 1,000
men of the Old Light and 2nd Division; the supports were formed up as
closely as possible to them, and all appeared in readiness. History
may well say, 'the storming of a fortress is an awful task.' There we
stood not a word being spoken; every one seemed to be full of thought;
many a courageous heart, that was destined to be still in death in one
short hour, was now beating high."

"It was about 11.15 a.m., and our heavy guns were firing in such a way
as I have never heard before. The batteries fired in volleys or
salvoes as fast as they could load and fire, the balls passing a few
feet above our heads, while the air seemed full of shell. The enemy
were not idle; for round shot, shell, grape and musket balls were
bounding and whizzing all about us, and earth and stones were rattling
about our heads like hail. Our poor fellows fell fast, but still our
sailors and artillery men stuck to it manfully. We knew well that
this could not last long, but many a brave soldier's career was cut
short long before we advanced to the attack--strange some of our older
hands were smoking and taking not the slightest notice of this 'dance
of death.' Some men were being carried past dead, and others limpi