The next morning at the appointed hour Howard reported that everything was arranged. The officer who had been removed because of mischief had resumed his old post.
"Very well," Sherman answered, "then you ride by my side today."
"I have no right to do that," Howard replied.
"It is an order," Sherman answered smilingly.
Thus O. O. Howard rode beside General Sherman at the head of the entire army in the parade at Washington—he who had renounced glory and right for the benefit of one who had forfeited both, so that the latter might be honored.
"Removed because of mischief." That might have been written upon the brow of Adam when the portals of Paradise were closed behind him. Removed from the living God because of mischief—that was the legend above the whole story of mankind until the fullness of time.
Removed because of mischief—from one another, from the respect of fellow-beings, from honor and enviable positions among men: That was the legend above the lives of so many—of him who had stolen money from his master's till; of him who had suffered a moral lapse, etc.
But into the life of him who has been removed from God because of mischief one came and said: It is my will that you resume your old place of the child in the arms of his Father. It is my will that you take part in the ride into the new Jerusalem. I will share my rights with you and give you my glory. Yes, thus speaks the Son of the King of Heaven in His church upon earth.
This I have done for thee, Jesus says. But then, when you go among those people who have been removed because of mischief from good positions or from the respect of their fellow-beings: How much of your glory and rights can you give to them?
You are a Christian.