The Song on Shipboard

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 28, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 13.

The Song on Shipboard

IT WAS Sunday evening on board an ocean steamer, and the passengers had met in the cabin to sing hymns. One gentleman hearing a very rich and beautiful voice behind him, and having his memory stirred by it, turned round suddenly and asked the singer if he had been in the Civil War.

“Yes,” was the answer, “I was a Confederate soldier.” “Were you at — on a certain night?” “Yes, and a curious thing happened that night. The hymn recalls it to my mind. I was posted near the edge of a wood on sentry duty. It was dark and cold, and about midnight, when everything was still, I found myself homesick, tired, and afraid. To comfort myself I began to sing this hymn:

“All my trust on Thee is stayed, All my help from Thee I bring; Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of Thy wing.”

“It brought me into a better frame of mind. Peace came down upon me, and all the rest of the night I felt no fear.”

“Now,” said the other man, “listen to my story. I was a Union soldier, and I was in the woods with a party of scouts. I saw you. My men had their rifles focused upon you. They were waiting the word to fire. When you sang

“Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of Thy wing,”

I said, ‘Boys, lower your rifles; we’ll go home.’” —Selected.