CHARLIE COULSON, THE DRUMMER-BOY.
During the American War, Dr. Rossvally was surgeon in the army, and after the battle of Gettisburg, among hundreds of wounded soldiers, a drummer-boy was found entirely helpless on the field. The case seemed almost too bad for treatment, but as the lad opened his large blue eyes, the doctor felt he could not let him die there, so he ordered him to be taken to the hospital, and found that an arm and a leg required amputation. The assistant-surgeon wished to administer chloroform to the young sufferer, but he refused, and when Dr. Rossvally himself remonstrated with him, he replied—
"Doctor, one Sunday afternoon, in the Sabbath School, when I was nine and a half years old, I was brought to believe in Christ. I learned to trust Him then. I have been trusting Him ever since, and I feel I can trust Him now. He will support me while you amputate my arm and leg."
The Jewish doctor's heart was touched in spite of himself, and he thereupon asked Charlie a question he had never asked a soldier before—would he like to see the chaplain? "Oh, yes, sir!" was the quick response; and after seeing the minister, by whom he sent a loving message to his mother and the superintendent of his Sunday School, he told the doctor he was ready for the operation, promising that he would not even groan if no chloroform were offered him. He kept his promise, only putting the corner of his pillow in his mouth during the most painful part of the process, saying, "Oh, Jesus, blessed Jesus, stand by me now!"
That night the doctor could not sleep. Those soft blue eyes and that gentle voice seemed to meet him continually, and he could not help returning to the hospital in the middle of the night to inquire about the lad. He found him sweetly sleeping, and one of the nurses told him how two friends had visited him, and had sung "Jesus, Lover of my soul" by his bed-side, and Charlie had joined in the sacred song.
Five days afterwards, he felt he was dying, and sending for the doctor, he thanked him for all his kindness, and begged him to remain and see him die, trusting Jesus to the last moment of his life. He tried to stay, but it was too much for his Jewish feelings to see that dying youth rejoicing in the love of the Jesus whose very name he had been taught to hate, and he hurriedly left the room.
Twenty minutes after, he was again summoned to that bed, and, asking him to take his hand, Charlie said, "Doctor, I love you because you are a Jew. The best Friend I have found in this world was a Jew, Jesus Christ, to whom I want to introduce you before I die; and will you promise me, doctor, that what I am about to say to you you will never forget?" The doctor promised, and the lad went on—"Five days ago, while you amputated my arm and leg, I prayed the Lord Jesus Christ to convert your soul."
These words sank into the doctor's heart. How could that sufferer, in the midst of such intense pain, be thinking only of his Saviour and an unconverted soul? and he could only answer, "Well, my dear boy, you will soon be all right." With these words he left him, and a few minutes later the youth fell asleep in Jesus, at seventeen years of age.
Dr. Rossvally followed him to the grave, and for some months the impression his patience and faith had made upon him still remained. Gradually it wore off, however; and for ten years longer he remained a despiser of the Saviour, when God, in mercy, sent another message to His wandering child.