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Nellie's prayer (La prière de Nellie)
![[3. Then they counted the dead and wounded, and found him among the slain]](images/collections/PLM-00075/370/PLM-00075-004.jpg)
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| Titre | [3. Then they counted the dead and wounded, and found him among the slain] |
|---|---|
| Fabricant | James Bamforth |
| Date | 1890 |
| Lieu de fabrication | Angleterre (Holmfirth, Yorkshire) |
| Description technique | life models, photographie rehaussée de couleurs, plaque carrée fixe |
| Dimensions | L. 83 mm l. 83 mm |
| Cote | PLM-00075-004 (Coll. Cinémathèque française) |
- Nellie's prayer - Poésie
- It's a month today since they brought me
The news of my darling's death ;
I knew what it meant when the neighbours
Whispered under their breath ;
And one good motherly creature,
Seeing my Nell at play,
Stooped down, with her eyelids streaming,
And kissed her and turned away.
I knew that my Nell was an orphan
And I was a widowed wife,
That a soldier for Queen and country
Had bravely given his life ;
That out an field of battle,
Under the far-off skies,
He had thought of his absent dear ones
With the film of death in eyes.
It was there in the evening paper,
His name was among the dead -
We had won a glorious beaten, fled.
Then they counted the dead and wounded,
And found him among the slain ;
O God ! had I know when we parted
We were never to meet again !
I couldn't believe the story -
I Couldn't believe he,
My darling - my soldier husband -
I had thought of him night and morning :
I had passed long nights on my knees
Praying that God would bring him Back to me over the seas.
It all came back like a vision ;
I could hear the band as it played
When the regiment marched to the station,
And the noise that the people made
As they shouted "Good luck" to the soldiers,
And gave them three ringing cheers,
While the women, with ashen faces,
Walked by the side in tears.
We walked by his side that morning,
And Nellie was quite elate
With the hand and the crowd and the cheering -
My Nellie was only eight.
She never thought of the danger ;
He had tried to make her gay,
And told her to take care of mother -
He wouldn't be long away.
He held her up at the station,
Lifted her up to kiss,
And then, with her arms flung round him,
Said to her, softly , this :
"Nellie, my pet, at bed-time,
When you kneel at your mother's knee
To pray to the God who loves us,
Say a wee prayer for me.
I shall think of you in the twilight,
When the stars come out above,
And fancy I see you kneeling
With your blue eyes full of love,
Breathing my name to Heaven ;
And if, as the good folks say,
God hears the prayers of the children,
He'll guard me while I'm away.
He'll guard me, and bring me safely
Back, little Nellie, to you :
There's many a danger, darling,
He'll have to help me through"
And the child looked up at her father,
The tears in her pretty eyes ;
There was something of shame in her manner -
Something of sad surprise.
"You needn't have asked me, daddy,
I always do that ! " she said ;
"Don't I pray for you and for mammy
At night when I go to bed ?
God loves the little children,
And answers their prayers they say ;
I'm sure that you'll come back safely,
I'll ask in my prayers that you may."
It's only a month since they started,
We thought when the regiment went
That long ere the troops were landed
The force of the war would be spent,
And so I had taken courage,
And looked on the bright side first,
Though now and again I fretted,
And sometimes the worst.
They took little Nellie from me,
Took her away for a while ;
How could I hear her prattle,
And watch her eager smile.
As the counted the days till daddy
Would be back from the foreign shore ?
How could I tell my darling
She would see his face no more ?
I was left alone with my sorrow -
Alone in my little room,
Where the evening shadows deepened
Into the twilight gloom.
I had heard the words they uttered,
I had seen his name on the list ;
But I sat and peered through the darkness
As a sailor peers through the mist.
I sat like a sleeper doubting
Is she dreams or is wide awake,
Till the truth came on me fiercely,
And I thought that my heart would break.
As I sat in the deepening gloaming
The child came back again,
And I picked her up and kissed her
While my tears ran down like rain.
"Why are you crying, mammy ?"
I only shook my head,
"It's nothing, Nellie" I whispered;
"Kiss me, and go to bed."
"Let me say my prayers, mammy -
Will you hear me say them now ?"
She prayed for her absent father;
I listened, but God knows how.
She prayed to the Lord to bring him,
Safe and sound and well,
Back from the far-off country
To mother and little Nell -
Prayed that, with her father lying
In that far-off country dead !
"Now, father's safe till tomorrow"
She whispered, and went to bed.
I hadn't the heart to tell her,
So night after night she prayed,
Just as she promised her father
When the last good-bye he bade,
But the prayer was a cruel dagger
To me as I sat and heard,
And my heart was stabbed to bleeding
With every childish word.
So a weary month went over,
Till at last my nerves gave way,
And I told her to stop one evening,
As she came to my knee to pray.
My brain was turned with sorrow,
I was wicked and weak and wild
To speak as I spoke that evening,
And shock the faith of a child.
She heard what I said ; then, sobbing,
Broke from my knee and fled
Up for her room, and I heard her
Kneeling beside her bed.
She prayed in her childish fashion,
But her words were choked with tears -
I had told her it wasn't always
God the prayer of children hears.
She prayed that her absent father
Might come back safe and well,
From the perils of war and battle,
To mother and little Nell.
And, ere ever her prayer was finished,
The door was opened wide,
And my darling rush towards me -
My darling who had died !
I gave one cry and I fainted,
And Nell ran down at the cry ;
"They said God wouldn't hear me,"
She told him by-and-by.
When the shock of surprise was over
We knew what the miracle meant,
There'd been a mistake in eh bodies,
And the news to the wrong wife sent;
There were two of his name in the regiment -
The other was killed, and when
It came to making the list out
An error was made in the men,
Yet I think as I clasp my darling,
Would he still be here today
Had I shaken Nell's simple tenet,
"God listens when children pray ?"
George R. Sims, Nellie's prayer, 1890
Illustration fidèle de la poésie de George R. Sims, Nellie's Prayer composée en 1880.
Le point de vue adopté est ici celui d'une femme qui apprend par ses voisines que son mari est mort (plaque 1). Elle réalise alors que sa petite Nell est orpheline et qu'elle-même est veuve car son mari est tombé pour la Reine sur le champ de bataille (plaque 2). Elle voit alors la dernière vision de son époux : elle et sa fille priant pour lui (plaque 2a). Elle imagine comment son corps a été trouvé parmi les débris (plaque 3). Elle avait prié matin et soir pour que cela n'arrive pas (plaque 4), elle ne pouvait y croire et elle se souvient alors du jour où le régiment était parti (plaque 4a). Elle se remémore comment son mari avait rassuré leur fille sur le quai de la gare en lui faisant promettre de prier chaque soir pour lui (plaque 5). Elle avait gardé courage malgré son absence et espéré que d'ici à ce qu'il arrive sur le champ de bataille la guerre serait finie (plaque 6). Mais la cruelle réalité a fini par la rattraper, lui brisant le coeur à jamais (plaque 7). Arrive alors la petite Nell, qui ne comprend pas pourquoi sa mère pleure (plaque 8). La mère ne peut se résoudre à dire la vérité à sa fille et elle la laisse faire comme chaque soir ses prières pour que Dieu protège son père (plaque 9). Soir après soir, la même scène se répète et jamais la mère ne parvient à avouer à sa fille la vraie raison de sa tristesse (plaque 10). Jusqu'au jour où au plus grand étonnement de tous, le père revient (plaque 11) !
Une erreur est survenue lors du comptage des soldats et son mari a été confondu avec un autre homme portant le même nom. Abasourdie, la mère ne peut y croire, elle qui avait cesser de prier pour le retour de son mari mais qui avait laissé sa petite Nell continuer à la faire. Dieu écoute ainsi véritablement les prières des enfants !
