Mother Receives Boy’s Testament from “a Kind German”
Through the instrumentality of a German soldier, now dead, the mother of a Scottish lad of the R.N.D. who was shot by the Germans has had returned to her at Motherwell the Testament of her dead boy, inside the flyleaf of which is penned a pathetic last message. The mother had sent him the Testament before he had been to Gallipoli, and afterward to France. The Testament shows evidence of much usage, and is underlined and marked throughout. After placing in it his mother’s name and address, the young lad had penciled in this pathetic last message:—
“Dear Mother,—I am prepared to die. I have given the Lord my heart. Cheer up! I will meet you in a far better land. This is being sent to you by a kind German Christian, who took pity on me, and was very kind to me. —William.”
Inside the Testament, written in German characters, is this extract from Isaiah 43:1:— “Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” Underneath is the name of the young German benefactor, Herbert Siegmund, whose photograph was enclosed.
Another pathetic enclosure was a small snapshot of the Scottish boy’s mother, on the back of which is penciled: “Dear old mother. When shall I see you again?”