Pipers and buglers are always noticed. Shrimp was the name by which Walter Cameron was generally known. He was only fourteen years old, and being small he did not look even as much as that. But what could he do? Well, perhaps I should hardly have called him a soldier, for his work was not to fight, but to blow the bugle; however, he was in the army, and I doubt if in all the ranks there was one more faithful, more obedient than little Walter Cameron. His father had died when he was quite young, leaving him “the only child of his mother, and she was a widow.” (Luke 7:1212Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. (Luke 7:12).)
You might think it was not much to do; but you know there are vaous bugle calls, and with only a few notes difference between them, so that unless the bugler is very particular there might easily be mistakes and confusion. And that was just what Walter was; his calls were so clear that the soldiers were always quite sure what they meant, and what they ought to do. So his mother, though she grieved to part with him, felt proud that her little son was so worthy to be trusted. And her best confidence was that Walter was a soldier of the Cross as well as of the Queen. He had believed on the Lord Jesus in early days, and his earnest wish was that he might still be His faithful soldier and servant right on to the end of his earthly journey.
The little bugler went out to Cyprus, and from thence in the year following to the war in Egypt. He did his duty at Kassassin; he was there to meet the troops after the return from Tel-el-kebir. Now he saw something of the real horrors of war, and the sight of the dead and dying haunted the boy’s tender spirit night and day. At last came the homeward voyage, the welcome, and Mother’s arms about his neck.
Next came the review of the troops before the Queen. As the youngest who had served in the Egyptian army, Walter understood he was to have the honor of receiving a medal from the hands of Her Majesty. But two days before the time he was seized with fever, the result of fatigue and exposure, and was carried to the Woolwich hospital. It was very touching to hear the wanderings of his mind as he asked repeatedly after the much-desired medal.
For seven weeks he lay ill, his mother watching beside him, till, as the year waned away, it became too evident that his young life was waning too.
“Mother,” he said to her one night, when his consciousness had returned, “Mother, I have something to say to you. Mother, I am dying.”
“Are you afraid, my darling?” she asked.
“Oh, no! no! not afraid. Mother, Jesus knows about you, but I am going to tell Him a lot more.”
As the last moments of the year rolled away, the spirit of the little bugler entered into that better country where there is no more war, no bloodshed, but where “Jesus is in the midst,” and His servants shall serve Him and His name shall be in their foreheads.”
Soon after, when the Prince visited the patients in the hospital, the mother of Walter Cameron said, “His comrades have seen the Prince; but my boy has seen the King in His beauty.”
Dear young friends, do not delay; enlist in the army of the Lord Jesus now. Make Him, the Captain of your salvation, by receiving Him by faith into your heart. The Scripture says: “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12).
ML 03/08/1959