Mr. J. Loudon Strain writes to me about this: ―
Dear Dr. Wreford,
“I am obliged by the parcel of March ‘Message from God.’ ... I have heard from dear Gilmore, who wrote the lines ‘At Dawn’ (in March Message), that within a fortnight of his reaching home at. Shellbrook, Sask., he lost his wife from influenza, and is left with two motherless children, so he is passing through deep waters. Last night a Christian Canadian quartermaster-sergeant, at my house, told us he traveled with a wounded officer from London on Wednesday night, and gave him a copy of the ‘Message’ with ‘Shot at Dawn.’ The officer told him it was most remarkable, as he was in the same corps when the lad was shot, and there was tremendous indignation about it. Had he been a drunken scoundrel it would have been different, but his singing A hymn before death was known over a large area and much talked About. The officer had been wounded eight times himself ... This is the third testimony I have had to the veracity of the little story. ― Ever yours sincerely, J. Loudon Strain.”