I came across this story of a marvellous encounter in providence. Many years after the American Civil War two old soldiers met on a ship. They had never known each other before but they soon discovered that they had both fought in the war, one with the North, the other with the South. They found, too, that they had taken part in the same battle. Then this incident came out as they talked together reminiscently. One night the Northern soldier was on watch-duty on one side of a little river, and the Southern soldier was a sharpshooter just across the stream, picking off soldiers on the other side. The Northern soldier was singing softly, "Jesus, Lover of my soul," as he paced his beat, and the words of the old hymn were heard in the stillness over the river. The sharpshooter was taking aim and was about to fire upon the Northern soldier as the song revealed his place. Just then he heard the words, "Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of Thy wing.” His rifle dropped—he dared not shoot a man praying that prayer. "I could as soon have shot my mother!" he said.