“ALMOST up—almost up!” was the cry of the wounded sergeant, as they laid him down on the battle-field, and watched tenderly his dying struggles.
“Where did they hit you, sergeant?”
“Almost up.”
“No! sergeant, but where did the ball strike you?”
“Almost up,” was the reply.
“But, sergeant, you do not understand—where are you wounded?”
Turning back the cloak which had been thrown over the wound, he showed the upper arm and shoulder, mashed and mangled with a shell. Looking at his wound he said:
“That is what did it. I was hugging the standard to my blouse and making for the top. I was almost up when that ugly shell knocked me over. If they had let me alone a little longer—two minutes longer—I should have planted the colors on the top—almost up, almost up!”
The fight and the flag held all his thoughts. And while his ear was growing heavy in death, with a flushed face and look of ineffable regret, he was repeating: “Almost up, almost up!”
“Almost up.” Christian, what is your ambition? Does the battle and the flag fill all your thoughts? Oh! when Jesus leads his army forward, and his promises are yours, and victory is sure, are you, can you be forgetful of the conflict, and too much occupied in making money and enjoying the pleasures of the world to take up your cross and follow Jesus in saving souls and redeeming a lost world?
“Almost up!” Let this be your cry in life, and your joyful shout in death; and then, from the battlements of Heaven you shall swell the anthem of victory as the last stronghold of Satan is captured, and earth echoes back the angels’ song: “Glory to God in the highest; on earth peace, good will to men.”