Trim, never said your prayers
at all. I heard the poor gentleman say his prayers last night,
said the landlady, very devoutly, and with my own ears, or I could
not have believed it. Are you sure of it? replied the curate. A
soldier, an' please your reverence, said I, prays as often (of his own
accord) as a parson; and when he is fighting for his king, and for
his own life, and for his honour too, he has the most reason to pray
to God of any one in the whole world. 'Twas well said of thee, Trim,
said my Uncle Toby. But when a soldier, said I, an' please your
reverence, has been standing for twelve hours together in the trenches,
up to his knees in cold water--or engaged, said I, for months together
in long and dangerous marches; harassed, perhaps, in his rear today;
harassing others to-morrow; detached here; countermanded
there; resting this night out upon his arms; beat up in his shirt the
next; benumbed in his joints; perhaps without straw in his tent to
kneel on, [he] must say his prayers how and when he can. I believe,
said I--for I was piqued, quoth the Corporal, for the reputation
of the army--I believe, an't please your reverence, said I, that when
a soldier gets time to pray, he prays as heartily as a parson--though
not with all his fuss and hypocrisy.
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