s: O'er humble home and mansion rich the starry


s: And far and near throughout the land the men


s: The flag that flutters o'er your home is fluttering


s: O'er homes that you have never seen. The same


s: The souls of men in distant states. The red, the


s: Means to one hundred million strong, just what


s: The self-same courage resolute you feel and


s: Is throbbing in the breasts of men throughout


s: Not somewhere in America, but everywhere to-day,


s: For justice and for liberty all free men work


s: The things that make a soldier great and send him out to die,


s: To face the flaming cannon's mouth, nor ever question why,


s: Are lilacs by a little porch, the row of tulips red,


s: The peonies and pansies, too, the old petunia bed,


s: The grass plot where his children play, the roses on the wall:


s: 'Tis these that make a soldier great. He's fighting for them all.


s: 'Tis not the pomp and pride of kings that make a soldier brave;


s: 'Tis not allegiance to the flag that over him may wave;


s: For soldiers never fight so well on land or on the foam


s: As when behind the cause they see the little place called home.


s: Endanger but that humble street whereon his children run--


s: You make a soldier of the man who never bore a gun.


s: What is it through the battle smoke the valiant soldier sees?


s: The little garden far away, the budding apple trees,


s: The golden thread of courage isn't linked to castle dome


s: But to the spot, where'er it be--the humble spot called home.


s: And now the lilacs bud again and all is lovely there,


s: And homesick soldiers far away know spring is in the air;


s: The tulips come to bloom again, the grass once more is green,


s: And every man can see the spot where all his joys have been.


s: He sees his children smile at him, he hears the bugle call,


s: And only death can stop him now--he's fighting for them all.


s: But never guessed the griefs they kept--


s: In the cause of justice and human rights,


s: Grant that they and their cause shall live.


s: Good luck! That's all I'm saying, as you sail across the sea;


s: The best o' luck, in the parting, is the prayer you get from me.


s: May you never meet a danger that you won't come safely through,


s: May you never meet a German that can get the best of you;


s: Oh! A thousand things may happen when a fellow's at the front,


s: A thousand different mishaps, but here's hoping that they won't.


s: Good luck! That's all I'm saying, as you turn away to go,


s: Good luck and plenty of it, may it be your lot to know;


s: May you never meet rough weather, but remember if you do


s: Good luck! That's all I'm saying as you're falling into line;


s: And may every task you tackle end triumphant with success.


s: It's queer, the change that time has brought:


s: We're different now in speech and thought;


s: Mothers and wives, 'tis the call to arms


s: That the bugler yonder prepares to sound;


s: The drums may play and the flags may fly,


s: And our boys may don the brown and blue,


s: And the call that summons brave men to die


s: Mothers and wives, if the summons comes,


s: Must hear with courage the rolling drums


s: And dry your tears when the flags are seen.


s: Who has braver been than the mother, who


s: Mothers and wives, should the call ring out,


s: It is you must answer your country's cry;


s: For the firing line where the heroes die.


s: And never a corpse on the field of strife


s: Should be honored more in his country's sight


s: Who sent him forth in the cause of right.


s: Mothers and wives, 'tis the call for men


s: To give their strength and to give their lives;


s: Is the call for mothers and loyal wives,


s: For you must give us the strength we need,


s: Once more to guard their country's life.


s: His name was Kelly Ingram; he was Alabama's son,


s: And he whistled "Yankee Doodle," as he stood beside his gun;


s: There was laughter in his make-up, there was manhood in his face,


s: On the swift Destroyer Cassin he was merely gunner's mate,


s: But up there to-day, I fancy, he is standing with the great.


s: On that grim day last October his position on the craft


s: Was that portion of the vessel which the sailors christen aft;


s: There were deep sea bombs beside him to be dropped upon the Hun


s: From the lookout came a warning; came the cry all sailors fear,


s: A torpedo was approaching, and the vessel's doom was near;


s: Ingram saw the streak of danger, but he saw a little more,


s: A greater menace faced them than that missile had in store;


s: It was death for him to linger, but he figured if he ran


s: And quit his post of duty, 'twould be death for every man;


s: So he stood at his position, threw those depth bombs overboard,


s: Should remember Kelly Ingram--he who died to save his mates.


s: Oh, mother, be you brave of heart and keep


s: Some day the smiles of joy shall start and you


s: Beyond the dim and distant line the days of


s: When you shall have your soldier fine, and men


s: Oh, mother, bear the pain a-while, as long ago


s: You suffered then to win his smile, and you


s: And now you suffer once again, and bear your


s: Yet you shall thrill with gladness when he wins


s: Oh, mother, when the cannons roar and all the


s: Remember that the son you bore the wrongs


s: Remember through the hours of pain that he


s: Is battling there to win again a happy world


s: She'll find those splendid arms and strong


s: I don't know what they'll put him at, or what


s: I cannot guess the task that waits for him across


s: But I have known him through the years, and


s: I know he'll meet his duty well, I'll swear that


s: I sometimes fear that he may die, but never that


s: If death shall want him death must go and take


s: This splendid sacrifice he makes is filled with


s: And I have many thoughts of fear, but not one


s: The foe may rob my life of joy, the foe may


s: And desolate my days shall be if he shall have to


s: But this I know, whate'er may be the grief that


s: Upon his record there will be no blemish of


s: His days have all been splendid days, there lies


s: Along the pathway of his youth to molder in


s: Honor and truth have marked his ways, in him


s: He is as fine and true a son as ever a father had.


s: "You've heard a good deal of the telephone


s: And talked of the struggle that's taking men's


s: lives in these terrible days o'er the seas,


s: "But I've been through the thick of the thing


s: It isn't the phone you depend on for help. It's


s: "It isn't because of the phone that I'm here.


s: Because of the grit and the pluck of a boy. His


s: We were up to our dead line an' fighting alone;


s: And the help we were promised had failed to


s: "Our curtain of fire was ahead of us still, an'


s: An' there wasn't a thing we could do for ourselves--the


s: You haven't much chance to get central an' talk


s: Gettin' word to the chief is a matter right then


s: "I'd sent four of 'em back with the R. I. P.


s: But none of 'em got through the curtain of fire;


s: Then Runner McGee said he'd try to get through.


s: On his mission of death; thought he'd never get


s: "Yes, he's dead. Died an hour after bringing


s: An' for us to hang on to the ditch that we held;


s: Then we stuck to our trench an' we stuck to our


s: That new strength is coming to fill up the gaps.


s: There's heart in the force of your blow.


s: "It wasn't till later I got all the facts. They


s: They begged him to stay. He had cheated death


s: 'R. I. P. are my orders,' he answered them all,


s: Four of us died comin' out with the news. It


s: We used to think her frivolous--you know how


s: A little quick to see the faults and petty flaws


s: The girl their son is fond of and may choose


s: A little overjealous of the one who'd share his


s: But the girl he left behind him when he bravely


s: Has blossomed into beauty that we see and need


s: She was with us at the depot, and we turned our


s: And her eyes were sad and misty, though she


s: Then she put her arm round mother, and it


s: They just grew to love each other, for they


s: Now she often comes to see us, and it seems


s: A heap of solid comfort in the girl he left behind.


s: "She's so sensible and gentle," mother said last


s: "The kind of girl I've often wished and prayed


s: And I like to have her near us, for she understands


s: And I see my brave boy smiling when I look into


s: Now the presence of his sweetheart seems to fill


s: She's no longer young and flighty--she's the


s: God grant me strength to keep this creed.


s: It's a bigger thing you're doing than the most of us have done;


s: We have lived the days of pleasure; now the gray days have begun,


s: Yours must be the sacrifices of the trial time of life.


s: Oh, I don't know how to say it, but I'll never think of you


s: Without wishing I were sharing in the work you have to do.


s: I have never known a moment that was fraught with real care,


s: But to you has come a summons, yours are days of sacrifice,


s: And for all life has of sweetness you must pay a bitter price.


s: I have been a man of laughter, there's no path my feet have made,


s: But you wear the garb of service, you have splendid deeds to do,


s: You shall sound the depths of manhood, and my boy, I envy you.


s: Your dream and my dream is not that we shall rest,


s: But that our children after us shall know life at its best;


s: For all we care about ourselves--a crust of bread or two,


s: A place to sleep and clothes to wear is all that we'd pursue.


s: We'd tramp the world on sunny days, both light of heart and mind,


s: Your dream and my dream is not that we shall play,


s: But that our children after us shall tread a merry way.


s: We brave the toil of life for them, for them we clamber high,


s: And with the simplest joys of earth we'd all be satisfied.


s: The best for them is what we dream. Our little girls and boys


s: Must know the finest life can give of comforts and of joys.


s: They must be shielded well from woe and kept secure from care,


s: And if we could, upon our backs, their burdens we would bear.


s: And so once more we rise to-day to face the battle zone


s: That those who follow us may know the Flag that we have known.


s: Your dream and my dream is not that we shall live;


s: The greatest joys we hope to claim are those that we shall give.


s: We face the heat and strife of life, its battle and its toil


s: That those who follow us may know the best of freedom's soil.


s: And if we knew that by our death we'd keep that flag on high,


s: For your boy and my boy, how gladly we would die.


s: The glory of a soldier--and a soldier's not a saint--


s: Is the way he does his duty without grumbling or complaint;


s: His work's not always pleasant, but he does it rain or shine,


s: And he grabs a bit of glory when he's fighting in the line;


s: But the lesson that he teaches every day to me an' you


s: Is the way to do a duty that we do not like to do.


s: Any sort o' chap can whistle when his work is mostly fun;


s: A hundred want the pleasant jobs to every sturdy one


s: That'll grab the dreary duty an' the mean an' lowly task,


s: Or the drab an' cheerless service that life often has to ask;


s: But somebody has to do it, an' the test of me an' you


s: Is the way we face the labor that we do not like to do.


s: Now, it isn't very pleasant standin' guard out in the rain


s: But it's in the line o' duty, an' no soldier will complain,


s: An' there isn't any soldier but what sometimes hates his work


s: When the dress parade is over, an' perhaps he'd like to shirk,


s: But he's there to follow orders, not to pick an' choose his post,


s: There'll be little sacrifices that we will not like to make,


s: There'll be many tasks unpleasant that will fall to us to take.


s: His mother's eyes are saddened, and her cheeks


s: And I'm facing now the struggle that I've


s: For the boy that was our baby has been changed


s: He's enlisted in the army as a true American.


s: He held her for a moment in his arms before


s: And I watched him as he kissed her, and it


s: For I knew just what was coming, and I knew


s: 'Another little mother had a soldier for a son.


s: When we'd pulled ourselves together, and the


s: We could see his eyes were blazing with the fire


s: We could see his head was higher than it ever


s: For we had a man to cherish, and our baby was


s: Oh, I don't know how to say it! With the sorrow


s: That there isn't any coward in the make-up of


s: And with pride our hearts are swelling, though


s: For the boy that was our baby has stepped


s: Little mother, life's adventure calls your boy away,


s: Yet he will return to you on some brighter day;


s: Dry your tears and cease to sigh, keep your mother smile,


s: Brave and strong he will come back in a little while.


s: Little mother, heed them not--they who preach despair--


s: You shall have your boy again, brave and oh, so fair!


s: Life has need of him to-day, but with victory won,


s: Safely life shall bring to you once again your son.


s: Little mother, keep the faith: not to death he goes;


s: Share with him the joy of worth that your soldier knows.


s: He is giving to the Flag all that man can give,


s: And if you believe he will, surely he will live.


s: Little mother, through the night of his absence long,


s: Never cease to think of him--brave and well and strong;


s: You shall know his kiss again, you shall see his smile,


s: For your boy shall come to you in a little while.


s: The Stars and Stripes o'er men shall wave


s: And sometimes, just to catch the breeze,


s: The mother on the sidewalk as the troops are marching by


s: Is the mother of Old Glory that is waving in the sky.


s: For the brave and loyal mother of the boy that goes away.


s: And has placed upon the altar of the nation's need, her best.


s: And no man shall ever surfer in the turmoil of the fray


s: The anguish of the mother of the boy who goes away.


s: Is a lasting tribute holy to all mothers' love of right.


s: And to-day we are a people with a larger point of view.


s: In a big way we must labor, if our Flag shall always fly.


s: In a big way some must suffer, in a big way some must die.


s: There must be no little dreaming in the visions that we see,


s: There must be no selfish planning in the joys that are to be;


s: 'We have set our faces eastwards to the rising of the sun


s: Shall be vanquished by the toilers big enough to suffer pain.


s: It's a big task we have taken; 'tis for others we must fight.


s: We must see our duty clearly in a white and shining light;


s: We must quit our little circles where we've moved in little ways,


s: He is marching dusty highways and he's riding bitter trails,


s: His eyes are clear and shining and his muscles hard as nails.


s: He is wearing Yankee khaki and a healthy coat of tan,


s: And the chap that we are backing is the Wrist Watch Man.


s: He's no parlor dude, a-prancing, he's no puny pacifist,


s: And it's not for affectation there's a watch upon his wrist.


s: He's a fine two-fisted scrapper, he is pure American,


s: And the backbone of the nation is the Wrist Watch Man.


s: He is marching with a rifle, he is digging in a trench,


s: He is swapping English phrases with a poilu for his French;


s: You will find him in the navy doing anything he  can,


s: For at every post of duty is the Wrist Watch Man.


s: Oh, the time was that we chuckled at the soft and flabby chap


s: Who wore a little wrist watch that was fastened with a strap.


s: But the chuckles all have vanished, and with glory now we scan


s: The courage and the splendor of the Wrist Watch Man.


s: He is not the man we laughed at, not the one who won our jeers,


s: And I pray for God's protection for our Wrist Watch Man.


s: They have said you needn't go to the front to face the foe;


s: In a thousand different ways through the dark and troubled days,


s: You must stand behind the nation that has been so good to you.


s: You're exempt from shot and shell, from the havoc and the hell


s: You may stay among your children who are swinging on the gate.


s: But you're not exempt from love of the Flag that flies above,


s: You've a greater obligation to your country to be true;


s: You must work from day to day in a bigger, better way


s: For the glory of the nation that has been so good to you.


s: You are not exempt from trial, from long days of self-denial,


s: From devotion to your homeland and from courage in the test.


s: You are not exempt from giving to your country's needs and living


s: That you're worthy of the country that has been so good to you.


s: We know not where the path may lead nor what the end may be,


s: The clouds are dark above us now, the future none can see,


s: We could not longer idle stay, spectators of a wrong,


s: The weak were crying out for help against oppression strong;


s: And though we pray we may be spared the bitterness of strife,


s: 'Twere better that we die than live the coward's feeble life.


s: We could not longer silent sit, our glory at an end,


s: And blind ourselves unto the wrongs committed by a friend;


s: We must be tolerant with all, yet in these days of hate,


s: Some things have happened that it would be shame to tolerate.


s: And now we stand before the world, erect and calm and grave,


s: And speak the words that decency must rule the land and wave;


s: Into the chaos of despair we fling ourselves to-day


s: As guardians of a precious trust hate must not sweep away.


s: We must rejoice, if we are men, not weak and soft of heart


s: That we have heeded duty's call, and taken up our part.


s: One came to the house with a pretty speech:


s: And I know that he sought my heart to reach,


s: And he stammered: "Old man, I had to come,


s: And ever since then I have felt his hand


s: They say we must not hate, nor fight in hate.


s: I've thought it over many a solemn hour,


s: That has no thought, save only to be great;


s: I cannot love the creature drunk with power.


s: I hate the hand that slaughters babes at sea,


s: I hate that will that orders wives to die.


s: When brutes run wild in crime and lechery


s: Men seldom fight the things they do not hate;


s: A vice grows strong on mildly tempered scorn;


s: Rank thrives the weed the gardeners tolerate;


s: You cannot stroke the snake that lies in wait,


s: And change his nature with to-morrow's morn.


s: If roses are to bloom, the weeds must go;


s: Vice be dethroned if virtue is to reign;


s: Wrong must be hated if the truth remain.


s: I hold that we must fight this war in hate--


s: In bitter hate of blood in fury spilled;


s: Of children, bending over book and slate,


s: Slaughtered to make a Prussian despot great;


s: In hate of liars plotting wars for gain;


s: In hate of crimes too black for printed page;


s: In hate of wrongs that mark the tyrant's reign--


s: Such hate shall be the glory of our age.


s: He isn't long on speeches. At the banquet table, he


s: Could name a dozen places where he would much rather be.


s: He's not one for fuss and feathers or for marching in review,


s: But he's busy every minute when he's got a job to do.


s: He has listened to the cheering of the splendid folks of France,


s: And he knows that he's the leader of America's advance,


s: And he knows his task is mighty and that words will not avail,


s: So he's standing to his duty, for he isn't there to fail.


s: And you'll find him cool and steady when the guns begin to flare,


s: He has gone to face the fury of the Prussian hordes that sweep


s: With the wounded all about him and their moaning in his ears.


s: He is waiting for to-morrow, waiting there to do his share,


s: And he'll strike a blow for freedom when his boys get over there.


s: Than to live out your days 'neath a sky,


s: Wind-tossed and sun-kissed in the skies.


s: Than that flag shall pass out of the world;


s: And the few years of dearly-bought breath


s: Will be filled with worse horrors than death.


s: Through the stitch that now you're making:


s: And her prayers at night shall bless you.


s: He writes to us most every day, and how his letters thrill us!


s: He's only soldiering to-day to give the Flag protection.


s: But since he's in the army now and doing duties humble,


s: He'll do what all good soldiers must, and he will never grumble.


s: He's not so keen for standing guard, a lonely vigil keeping,


s: I'll take whatever comes my way and waste no word in kicking.


s: "I'd like to be a captain, dad, a major or a colonel,


s: I'd like to get my picture in some illustrated journal;


s: I don't exactly fancy jobs that now and then come my way,


s: Like picking bits of rubbish up that desecrate the highway.


s: But still I'll do those menial tasks as cheerfully as could one,


s: For while I am a private here I'm going to be a good one.


s: "A soldier's life is not the way I'd choose to make my living,


s: But now I'm in the ranks to serve, my best to it I'm giving.


s: Oh, I could name a dozen jobs that I'd consider finer,


s: But since I've got this one to do I'll never be a whiner.


s: I'm just a private in the ranks, but take it from my letter,


s: They'll never fire your son for one who'll do his duty better."


s: He will not come to him this year with all his old-time joy,


s: An imitation Santa Claus must serve his little boy;


s: Last year he heard the reindeers paw the roof above his head,


s: And as he dreamed the kindly saint tip-toed about his bed,


s: But Christmas Eve he will not come by any happy chance;


s: This year his kindly Santa Claus must guard a trench in France.


s: His mother bravely tries to smile; last Christmas Eve was gay;


s: Last Christmas morn his daddy rose at dawn with him to play;


s: This year he'll hang his stocking by the chimney, but the hands


s: But he that was his Santa Claus is in a trench in France.


s: Somewhere in France this Christmas Eve a soldier brave will be,


s: And all that night in fancy he will trim a Christmas tree;


s: And all that night he'll live again the joys that once he had


s: When he was good St. Nicholas unto a certain lad.


s: And he will wonder if his boy, by any sad mischance,


s: Will find his stocking empty just because he serves in France.


s: The boys upon the honor roll, God bless them all, I pray!


s: Oh, here are sons of mothers fair and fathers fine and true,


s: The little ones of yesterday, the children that we knew;


s: We missed their laughter and their cheer; it seems but yesterday


s: We had them here to walk with us, and now they've marched away.


s: So quickly did the summons come we scarcely marked the change,


s: We saw the silent honor roll on each familiar wall.


s: The laughter that we knew has gone; the merry voice of youth


s: No longer rings where graybeards sit, discussing sombre truth.


s: No longer jests are flung about to rouse our weary souls,


s: For they who meant so much to us are on our honor rolls.


s: Her flag, for truth and right, unfurled,


s: It's coming time for planting in that little patch of ground,


s: Where the lad and I made merry as he followed me around;


s: The sun is getting higher, and the skies above are blue,


s: And I'm hungry for the garden, and I wish the war were through.


s: The spring is coming back again, the birds begin to mate;


s: The skies are full of kindness, but the world is full of hate.


s: And it's I that should be bending now in peace above the soil,


s: With laughing eyes and little hands about to bless the toil.


s: Last year I brought the bulbs to bloom and saw the roses bud;


s: This year I'm ankle deep in mire, and most of it is blood.


s: Last year the mother in the door was glad as she could be;


s: To-day her heart is full of pain, and mine is hurting me.


s: Oh, who will tend the roses now and who will sow the seeds?


s: And who will do the heavy work the little garden needs?


s: And who will tell the lad of mine the things he wants to know,


s: And take his hand and lead him round the paths we used to go?


s: He has heard his country calling, and has fallen into line,


s: And he's doing something bigger than his daddy ever did;


s: He has caught a greater vision than the finest one of mine,


s: And I know to-day I'm prouder of than sorry for the kid.


s: His speech is soft and vibrant with the messages of truth,


s: And he says some things of duty that I cannot understand;


s: It may be that I'm selfish, but this ending of his youth


s: Is not the dream I cherished and it's not the thing I planned.


s: I only know he's bigger in his uniform to-day


s: Than I, who stand and watch him as he drills, have ever been;


s: That he sees a greater vision of life's purpose far away,


s: And a finer goal to die for than my eyes have ever seen.


s: I wish I felt as he does, wish I had his sense of right;


s: With the vision he possesses I should be supremely glad;


s: But I sometimes start to choking when I think of him at night--


s: The boy that has grown bigger, yes, and better than his dad.


s: "Dear Father," he wrote me from Somewhere in France,


s: Where he's waiting with Pershing to lead the advance,


s: "There's little the censor permits me to tell


s: Save the fact that I'm here and am happy and well.


s: The French people cheered as we marched from our ship


s: At the close of a really remarkable trip;


s: They danced and they screamed and they shouted and ran,


s: And I blush as I write. I was kissed by a man!


s: "I've seen a great deal since I bade you good-bye,


s: I have witnessed a battle far up in the sky;


s: I have heard the dull roar of a long line of guns,


s: And seen the destruction that's worked by the Huns;


s: Some scenes I'll remember, and some I'll forget,


s: But the welcome he gave me! I'm feeling it yet.


s: As he looked and he felt, being kissed by a man!


s: "'Ah, Meestaire!' he cried in a voice that was shrill,


s: And his queer little eyes with delight seemed to fill,


s: And before I was wise to the custom, or knew


s: Just what he was up to, about me he threw


s: His arms, and he hugged me, and then with a squeak,


s: He planted a chaste little kiss on each cheek.


s: He was stocky and strong and his whiskers were tan.


s: Now please keep it dark. I've been kissed by a man."


s: Out of it all shall come splendor and gladness;


s: Out of the madness and out of the sadness,


s: Clearer and finer the world shall arise.


s: Why then keep sorrow and doubt in your eyes?


s: Joy shall be ours when the warfare is over;


s: Children shall gleefully romp in the clover;


s: Here with our heroes at home and at rest,


s: We shall rejoice with the world at its best.


s: Not in vain, not in vain, is our bright banner flying;


s: Not for naught are the sons of our fond mothers dying;


s: The gloom and despair are not ever to last;


s: The world shall be better when they shall have passed.


s: So mourn not his absence, but smile and be brave;


s: You shall have him again from the brink of the grave


s: In a wonderful world 'neath a wonderful sun;


s: He shall come to your arms with his victory won.


s: Oh, we have shipped his Christmas box with ribbons red 'tis tied,


s: But he must miss the kisses true and all the laughter gay


s: And he must miss the smiles of home upon his Christmas Day.


s: Yet in the Christmas box we've sent, in fancy he will find


s: The laughter and the tears of joy that he has left behind.


s: His mother's tenderness is there, his father's kindly way,


s: And all that went last year to make his merry Christmas Day;


s: He cannot come to share with us the joys of Christmas Day;


s: The Flag has called to him, and he is serving far away.


s: Undaunted, unafraid and fine he stands to duty grim,


s: And so this Christmas we have tried to ship ourselves to him.


s: His comrades have enlisted, but his mother bids him stay,


s: His soul is sick with coward shame, his head hangs low to-day,


s: His eyes no longer sparkle, and his breast is void of pride


s: Who must look on life forever as a hopeless dream and sad.


s: He must fancy men are sneering as they see him walk the street,


s: He will feel his cheeks turn crimson as his eyes another's meet;


s: And the boys and girls that knew him as he was but yesterday,


s: Will not seem to smile upon him, in the old familiar way.


s: He will never blame his mother, but when he's alone at night,


s: His thoughts will flock to tell him that he isn't doing right.


s: Oh, I'm sorry for the mother from whose side a boy must go,


s: And the strong desire to keep him that she feels, I think I know,


s: And he hungers to be busy with the work that is of worth.


s: He will sicken and grow timid, he'll be flesh without a heart


s: Until death at last shall claim him, if he doesn't do his part.


s: Have you kept him, gentle mother? Has he lost his old-time cheer?


s: Is he growing weak and flabby who but yesterday was strong?


s: Then a secret grief he's nursing and I'll tell you what is wrong.


s: And he hungers to be with them--it is not his wish to shirk.


s: If it's wrong to believe in the land that we love


s: And to pray for Our Flag to the good God above;


s: If it's wrong to believe that Our Country is best;


s: That honor's her standard, and truth is her crest;


s: If placing her first in our prayers and our song


s: Is false to true reason, we're glad to be wrong.


s: If it's wrong to wish victory day after day


s: For the troops of Our Country now marching away;


s: If it's wrong to believe they are moved by the right


s: And not by the love and the lure of the fight;


s: If to cheer them to battle and bid them be strong


s: Is false to right thinking, then let us be wrong.


s: If it's wrong to believe in America's dreams


s: Of a freedom on earth that's as real as it seems;


s: If it's error to cherish the hope, through and through,


s: That the Stars in Old Glory's immaculate blue


s: Shall shine through the ages, true beacons to men,


s: We pray that no right phrase shall flow from our pen.


s: The war was, O, so distant then, the grief so far away,


s: We couldn't see the weeping eyes, nor hear the women pray.


s: We couldn't sense the weight of woe that rested on that land,


s: But now our boy is called to go--to-day, we understand.


s: There, old folks sit alone and grieve and pray for peace to come,


s: Nor dreamed such care would ever dwell beneath our happy roof.


s: But England's woes are ours to-day, we share the sighs of France;


s: This tells the world what voice will choke,


s: There are many to cheer when the battle begins


s: There are many to rail at the world and its sins


s: There are thousands to start with a rush for the fray


s: But when danger is present and rough is the way,


s: It is easy to stop with a purpose undone,


s: And many will march when the roadway is clear


s: But the many, too often, when dangers appear,


s: Aren't willing to see the fight through.


s: They weaken in spirit when trials grow great,


s: They talk of the strength of the foe at the gate


s: They begin to regret having ventured for right,


s: They haven't the heart they once had for the fight,


s: We have set out to battle for justice and truth,


s: We shall weep for the best of our manliest youth,


s: But let us stand firm for the cause that we plead,


s: The cry of the quitter let none of us heed


s: But I shall stand in silence then and hear the stories brave,


s: For I must answer at the last that gold is all I gave.


s: When all this age shall pass away, and silenced are the guns,


s: How pitiful my gift shall seem, when all I gave is gold.


s: When we are asked what did you then, when all the world was red,


s: How trivial our lives shall seem who had but gold to give.


s: He tried to travel No Man's Land, that's guarded well with guns,


s: He tried to race the road of death, where never a coward runs.


s: Now he's asking of his doctor, and he's panting hard for breath,


s: How soon he will be ready for another bout with death.


s: You'd think if you had wakened in a shell hole's slime and mud


s: That was partly dirty water, but was mostly human blood,


s: And you had to lie and suffer till the bullets ceased to hum


s: You'd think if you had suffered from a fever and its thirst,


s: In the little peaceful village, though you never fought again.


s: You'd think that once you'd fallen in the shrapnel's deadly rain,


s: And be invalided homeward, and could say you'd done your bit.


s: But he's lying, patched and bandaged, very white and very weak,


s: And he's trying to be cheerful, though it's agony to speak;


s: _The proof of a man is the danger test_,


s: _That shows him up at his worst or best_.


s: He didn't seem to care for work, he wasn't much at school.


s: His speech was slow and commonplace--you wouldn't call him fool.


s: And yet until the war broke out you'd calmly pass him by,


s: For nothing in his make-up or his way would catch your eye.


s: He seemed indifferent to the world, the kind that doesn't care--


s: That's satisfied with just enough to eat and drink and wear;


s: That doesn't laugh when others do or cry when others weep,


s: But seems to walk the wakeful world half dormant and asleep;


s: Then came the war, and soldiers marched and drums began to roll,


s: And suddenly we realized his body held a soul.


s: We little dreamed how much he loved his Country and her Flag;


s: About the glorious Stars and Stripes we'd never heard him brag.


s: But he was first to volunteer, while brilliant men demurred,


s: He took the oath of loyalty without a faltering word,


s: And then we found that he could talk, for one remembered night,


s: There came a preaching pacifist denouncing men who fight,


s: And he got up in uniform and looked at him and said:


s: "I wonder if you ever think about our soldiers dead.


s: All that you are to-day you owe some soldier in his grave;


s: If he had been afraid to fight, you still would be a slave."


s: If he had died a year ago beneath a peaceful sky,


s: Unjust our memory would have been; of him our tongues would lie.


s: But now he stands among us all, eyes bright and shoulders true,


s: A strong defender of the faith; a man with work to do;


s: Here we are, Britain! the finest and best of us


s: Taking our coats off and rolling our sleeves,


s: Answering the thoughtless that once made a jest of us,


s: Each man a soldier for what he believes.


s: Here we are, tight little island, in unity!


s: Give us a task and we'll all see it through.


s: Here we are, France! every Yankee born man of us


s: Coming to stand by your side in the fight;


s: Liberty's cause makes a whole-hearted clan of us.


s: Here we are, willing to die for the right.


s: Silently, long from our shores we've admired you,


s: Secretly proud of the pluck you've displayed.


s: Brothers we are of the love that inspired you;


s: Now we are coming, full front, to your aid.


s: Here we are, Allies! make room in your trenches!


s: Shoulder to shoulder we'll share in each drive.


s: Here we are! quitting our lathes and our benches,


s: Bringing our best that our best shall survive.


s: Here we are! Liberty's children, red-blooded,


s: Coming to share in the struggle with you,


s: Ready to die for the Flag that's star-studded;


s: Tell us the work that you want us to do.


s: What is it, fighting or building you're needing?


s: Steel work and real work? Your call we are heeding.


s: Here we are! tacklers of tough jobs and dangers,


s: Any old post where you put us we'll fit;


s: Coming to serve you as brothers, not strangers;


s: When you were just our little boy, on many a night we crept


s: Unto your cot and watched o'er you, and all the time you slept.


s: Our spirits now shall come to you--to kiss and watch and pray.


s: Whenever you shall look away into God's patch of sky


s: To think about the folks at home, we shall be standing by.


s: But all the time in prayer and thought we shall be very near.


s: The world has made of you a man; the work of man you do,


s: But unto us you still remain the baby that we knew;


s: And we shall come, as once we did, on wondrous wings of prayer,


s: And you will never know how oft in spirit we are there.


s: We'll stand beside your bed at night, in silence bending low,


s: And all the love we gave you then shall follow where you go.


s: Oh, we were proud of you back then, but we are prouder now;


s: We see the stamp of splendor God has placed upon your brow,


s: And we who are the folks at home shall pray the old time prayer,


s: And ask the God of Mercy to protect you with His care.


s: And as we came to you of old, although you never knew,


s: I sometimes wonder when I read the sorrow in his face


s: If I shall wear that look of care when time has marched apace?


s: My little boy is five years old and his is twenty-one;


s: My little boy is home with me; his boy to war has gone.


s: And I can laugh and dance with life, and I can gayly jest,


s: But heavy is the heart to-day that beats within his breast.


s: Time was, his boy was five years old; time was he smiled as I;


s: I wonder what awaits for me when youth has journeyed by?


s: Last night I sat at home and watched my little boy at play,


s: And all the time I thought of him whose boy has gone away.


s: And in the joy that I possessed I prayed in silence then


s: That God would quickly bring him back his little boy again.


s: "A hoard of gold and a few dear friends?


s: When you've reached the day that you look ahead


s: And see the place where your journey ends,


s: When Time has robbed you of youthful might--


s: And an old man smiled as he answered me:


s: "The glory of age isn't gold or friends,


s: When we've reached the valley of Soon-To-Be


s: And note the place where our journey ends;


s: When his sight is dim and his hair is gray;


s: When they share no more in the battle yell,


s: And through the years each stripe shall wear


s: The soldier bears the grim and dreary role;


s: He dies to serve the Flag that he has known;


s: Falter in faith and shrink from every test,


s: Lost to the cause is every soldier's best.


s: The men at home, the toiler in the shop,


s: The keen-eyed watcher of the spinning drill


s: Hear no command to vault the trench's top;


s: They know not what it is to die or kill,


s: And yet they must be brave and constant, too.


s: Upon them lies their precious country's fate;


s: They also serve the Flag as soldiers do,


s: 'Tis theirs to make a nation's army great.


s: You hold your country's honor in your care.


s: Her glory you shall help to make or mar;


s: For they, who now her uniforms must wear


s: From day to day, in big and little deeds,


s: At bench or lathe or desk or stretch of soil,


s: You are the man your country sorely needs!


s: Will you not give to her your finest toil?


s: The men at home must also share the fight.


s: By what they are, a nation's strength is shown,


s: The army but reflects their love of right.


s: Will you not help to hold our battle line,


s: Will you not give the fullest of your powers


s: We have wandered afar in our hunting for pleasure,


s: We have scorned the soul's duty to gather up treasure;


s: We have lived for our laughter and toiled for our winning


s: And paid little heed to the soul's simple sinning.


s: But light were the burdens that freighted us then,


s: God and country, to-day let us prove we are men!


s: We have idled and dreamed in life's merriest places,


s: The years have writ little of care in our faces;


s: We have brought up our children, expectant of gladness,


s: And little we've taught them of life and its sadness.


s: For distant and dim seemed the forces of wrong,


s: God and country, to-day let us prove we are strong!


s: We have had our glad years, now the sad years are coming,


s: We have danced to gay tunes, now we march to war's drumming.


s: We have laughed and have loved as we pleasantly toiled,


s: And now we must show that our souls are unspoiled.


s: We must work that our Flag shall in honor still wave,


s: God and country, to-day let us prove we are brave!


s: Listen to the laughter of the brook that's racin' by!


s: Listen to the chatter of the black-birds on the fence!


s: Stand an' see the beauties of the blue that's in the sky--


s: Then ask of God why mortals haven't any better sense


s: An' to slaughter one another an' to fill the world with hate.


s: An' the soul is blind to beauty that takes anger for its mate.


s: Listen to the singin' of the robins in the trees!


s: See the sunbeams flashin' where they're mirrored by the stream!


s: Hear the drowsy buzzin' of the honey-seekin' bees,


s: Then draw a little closer to your God the while you dream.


s: When your soul drinks in the beauty of the wonders in His plan,


s: In their beauty an' their bigness mock the littleness of man?


s: Oh, I never walk an orchard nor a field with daisies strewn,


s: An' I never stand bare-headed gazin' everywhere about


s: At the living joys around me, be it morning, night or noon,


s: But I ask God to forgive me that I ever held a doubt.


s: An' to think that they are being what God put them here to be.


s: He was just a small church parson when the war broke out, and he


s: Looked and dressed and acted like all parsons that we see.


s: He wore the cleric's broadcloth and he hooked his vest behind,


s: But he had a man's religion and he had a strong man's mind,


s: And he heard the call to duty, and he quit his church and went,


s: He put aside his broadcloth and he put the khaki on;


s: Said he'd come to be a soldier and was going to live like one.


s: He wasn't there a fortnight ere he saw the soldiers' needs,


s: He learned the sound of shrapnel, he could tell the size of shell


s: Then one day a bullet got him, as he knelt beside a lad


s: And they both passed out together, arm in arm I think they went.


s: He had kept his vow to follow everywhere the boys were sent.


s: I may never be a hero, I am past the limit now,


s: There are pencil marks of silver Time has left upon my brow;


s: I shall win no service medals, I shall hear no cannons' roar,


s: I shall never fight a battle higher up than eagles soar,


s: But I hope my children's children may recall my name with pride


s: As a man who never whimpered when his soul was being tried.


s: For the fighting and the dying for the everlasting truth


s: Are the labors designated for the strongest of our youth,


s: And the man that's nearing forty isn't asked to march away,


s: For there is no place in battle for the head that's turning gray.


s: He must back his country's leaders till the victory is won.


s: When this bitter time is ended I don't want to have it said


s: That I faltered in my courage and I never looked ahead,


s: I don't want it told I added to the burdens and the woe,


s: By preaching dismal doctrines that were cheering to the foe;


s: I want my children's children to respect me and to find


s: When this cruel test is over and the boys come back from France


s: I'd not have them say I hindered for a moment their advance;


s: That they found their duty harder than 'twas needful it should be


s: Though I'll win no hero's medals and deserve no wild applause,


s: I want to be of service, not a hindrance to the cause.


s: Must live his noblest through the strife


s: For strength to face the battle's might,


s: Still smile, and give their hearts to woe,


s: I'd like to be the sort of man the flag could boast about;


s: I'd like to be the sort of man it cannot live without;


s: I'd like to be the sort of man the flag now typifies,


s: The kind of man we really want the flag to symbolize;


s: I'd like to be the sort of man the flag's supposed to mean,


s: The man that all in fancy see, wherever it is seen;


s: It's funny when a feller wants to do his little bit,


s: And wants to wear a uniform and lug a soldier's kit,


s: And ain't afraid of submarines nor mines that fill the sea,


s: They will not let him go along to fight for liberty


s: They make him stay at home and be his mother's darling pet,


s: But you can bet there'll come a time when they will want me yet.


s: I want to serve the Stars and Stripes, I want to go and fight,


s: I want to lick the Kaiser good, and do the job up right.


s: I know the way to use _a_ gun and I can dig a trench


s: And I would like to go and help the English and the French.


s: But no, they say, you cannot march away to stirring drums;


s: Be mother's angel boy at home; stay there and twirl your thumbs.


s: I've read about the daring boys that fight up in the sky;


s: It seems to me that that must be a splendid way to die.


s: I'd like to drive an aeroplane and prove my courage grim


s: And get above a German there and drop a bomb on him,


s: But they won't let me go along to help the latest drive;


s: They say my mother needs me here because I'm only five.


s: He came down the stairs on the laughter-filled grill


s: Where patriots were eating and drinking their fill,


s: The tap of his crutch on the marble of white


s: Caught my ear as I sat all alone there that night.


s: I turned--and a soldier my eyes fell upon,


s: He had fought for his country, and one leg was gone!


s: As he entered a silence fell over the place;


s: Every eye in the room was turned up to his face.


s: His head was up high and his eyes seemed aflame


s: With a wonderful light, and he laughed as he came.


s: He was young--not yet thirty--yet never he made


s: One sign of regret for the price he had paid.


s: One moment before this young soldier came in


s: I had caught bits of speech in the clatter and din


s: From the fine men about me in life's dress parade


s: Who were boasting the cash sacrifices they'd made;


s: And I'd thought of my own paltry service with pride,


s: When I turned and that hero of battle I spied.


s: I shall never forget the hot flushes of shame


s: That rushed to my cheeks as that young fellow came.


s: He was cheerful and smiling and clear-eyed and fine


s: And out of his face golden light seemed to shine.


s: And I thought as he passed me on crutches:


s: Are the gifts that I make if I don't give my all."


s: More soldiers just like him we'll all have to face.


s: We must sit with them, talk with them, laugh with them, too,


s: With the signs of their service forever in view


s: And this was my thought as I looked at him then


s: --Oh, God! make me worthy to stand with such men.


s: Oh, we have friends in England, and we have friends in France,


s: Because awaiting us would be somebody that we know.


s: Full many a journey here we make where countless strangers roam,


s: Yet everywhere our faces turn we find a friend from home.


s: Yet he has merely traveled on, as many a friend must do;


s: Within a distant city fair he waits for me and you,


s: And yet will keep their faith, and fight,


s: His step has claimed the old-time swing,


s: And though _his_ absence hurts him, too,


s: With ribbons red we deck our gifts; theirs bear the red of pain.


s: They die that children yet unborn shall have their Christmas Day.


s: Ye brave of heart who dwell at home, make merry now a-while;


s: The world has need of Christmas cheer its sorrows to beguile;


s: That peace shall rule the lands of earth, and only war shall die.


s: Let love's sweet tenderness relieve war's cruel crimson clutch,


s: Send forth the Christmas spirit, every troubled heart to touch;


s: Blest will be all we do for them who do for us so much.


s: Come you with dangers to fright us? or hazards


s: Then may you find us undaunted; determined to


s: Now, white are the pages you bring us to fill


s: And I pray we shall square at the finish the work


s: Oh, child of a year, do you wonder what here


s: America shows you a people united in purpose


s: Whatever you bring us of danger, whatever you


s: I pray that we never shall lower our standards


s: You find us a people united, full pledged to the


s: To banish the despot and tyrant, our banner in


s: And here to a world that is bleeding and weary


s: Whatever you've brought us of duty--we'll


s: We may weep in our grief and our sorrows, we


s: But never our courage shall falter, and never


s: We know not how troubled our pathways shall


s: But I pray we shall cling to our honor as men


s: The men are talking peace at 'ome, but 'ere we're talking fight,


s: There's many a little debt we've got to square;


s: A sniper sent a bullet through my bunkie's 'ead last night,


s: And 'is body's lying somewhere h'over there.


s: Oh, we 'ear a lot of rumors that the war is h'almost through


s: But Hi'm thinking that it's only arf begun;


s: Every soldier in the trenches has a little debt that's due


s: And Hi'm telling you it's not a money one.


s: May some day get together and arrange some sort of terms,


s: And Hi cannot 'old my 'ead up, 'ere or in the other place,


s: Till Hi've settled for my bunkie, lying there.


s: We all are warriors with sin. Crusading knights,


s: With spotless plumes and shining shields to joust


s: The world is but a battlefield where strong and


s: And some make war with humble prayers, and


s: And some for pleasure or for peace forsake their


s: And barter for the scarlet joys of ease and pomp,


s: We're all enlisted soldiers here, in service for


s: And each of us in some grim way must bear his


s: Temptations everywhere assail. Men do not rise


s: Nor he who keeps within his tent, unharmed,


s: When wrongs are trampling mortals down and


s: Real manhood to the battle flies, and dies or puts


s: 'Tis not the new and shining blade that marks


s: His glory is his broken sword, his pride the


s: The crimson stains that sin has left upon his


s: The victory of new found strength by one who


s: And meaningless the spotless plume, the shining


s: And quits this naming battlefield without one


s: We all are warriors with sin, we all are knights


s: And with some form of tyranny, we're sent to


s: The courage of the soul must gleam in conflict


s: No man was ever born to life its luxuries alone


s: And he who brothers with a sin to keep his outward


s: And fears to battle with a wrong, shall find his


s: And I say to myself, as the cripple goes


s: I may brag and boast, but that brother knows


s: That I've served with all of my fellow men


s: The cannons cease and the darkness falls,


s: Out there in the night they beg for death,


s: And it seems his jest to leave them breath


s: I have marched with life in its best parade


s: In the flowers of ease I have ever basked,


s: How much of service from some it's asked,


s: And sometimes short of speech and gruff,


s: Oh, tongue, be silent through the years,


s: The officers' friend is the waiter at camp.


s: In the night air 'twas cold and was bitterly damp,


s: And they asked me to dine, which I readily did,


s: For at dining I've talents I never keep hid.


s: Then a bright-eyed young fellow came in with the meat,


s: And straightway the troop of us started to eat.


s: I silently noticed that young fellow wait


s: At each officer's side 'til he'd filled up his plate;


s: I was startled a bit at the very first look


s: By the size of the helping each officer took,


s: And I thought as I sat there among them that night


s: Of the army's effect on a man's appetite.


s: The waiter at last brought the platter to me


s: A small piece of meat then I gracefully took;


s: The young fellow stood there and gave me a look.


s: "Better get all you want," he remarked to me then,


s: "I pass this way once, but I don't come again."


s: I turned in amazement. He nodded his head


s: In a way that convinced me he meant what he said.


s: I knew from his manner and smile on his lip


s: That the rule in the army is "no second trip."


s: And I thought as he left me my food to attack,


s: Life gives us one chance, but it never comes back.


s: There's nothing now to make us fret, there,


s: They'll have it won before we get there."


s: Better than all of the wealth we've made


s: For Rome grew rich and she turned to song


s: But she sapped the strength of her fibres strong


s: And a gilded shroud was her splendor fine.


s: The Rome of old with its wealth and wine


s: And they dreamed of it as their children's place.


s: They thought the joys they had won to give,


s: And which seemed so certain and fixed and sure,


s: To the end of time in the world would live


s: And the Rome they'd fashioned would long endure.


s: They passed to their children the hoarded gold,


s: Their marble halls and their fertile fields!


s: Nor the Roman courage that never yields.


s: They left them the wealth that their hands had won,


s: But they failed to leave them a purpose true.


s: They left them thinking life's work all done,


s: And Rome went down and was lost to view.


s: We must guard ourselves lest we follow Rome.


s: We must leave our children the finer things.


s: We must teach them love of the spot called home


s: And the lasting joy that a purpose brings.


s: For vain are our Flag and our battles won,


s: And vain are our lands and our stores of gold,


s: If our children feel that life's work is done.


s: "My Crown Prince was fine and fair," a sorrowful


s: "But he marched away with his regiment and


s: 'We all must go,' he whispered low, 'We must


s: Now the heart of me's torn with the grief I


s: For none of the Kaiser's princes lie out there


s: Here's a land where grief is the common lot, but


s: "My Crown Prince was a kindly prince, and his


s: And glad were the days of his youth to me when


s: Then the Kaiser flattered and spoke him well,


s: But his Crown Prince hasn't felt one hurt and


s: He talks of war in his regal way and he boasts


s: But his boys all live and he doesn't know what


s: "Rebellion gnaws at the soul of me as I think


s: And my Prince cold in the arms of death, and


s: I join with the grief-torn muttering men who


s: To build his joys on the graves of ours. We


s: And this is the thing we shall ask of him: to


s: Our boys must fall on his battlefields, but never


s: The biggest moment in our lives was that when first he cried,


s: From that day unto this, for him, we've struggled side by side.


s: We can recount his daily deeds, and backwards we can look,


s: And proudly live again the time when first a step he took.


s: I see him trudging off to school, his mother at his side,


s: And when she left him there alone she hurried home and cried.


s: And then the sturdy chap of eight that was, I proudly see,


s: Who packed a little grip and took a fishing trip with me.


s: Among the lists of boys to go his name has now appeared;


s: To us has come the sacrifice that mothers all have feared;


s: And though we dread the parting hour when he shall march away,


s: We love him and the Flag too much to ask of him to stay.


s: His baby ways shall march with him, and every joy we've had,


s: Somewhere in France some day shall be a little brown-eyed lad;


s: A toddler and a child at school, the chum that once I knew


s: Shall wear our country's uniform, for they've been drafted, too.


s: You have given me joys through the years,


s: You have given me safe harbor from harm,


s: Untroubled I've slept through the nights


s: And have waked to the new morning's charm


s: From your orchards and fields where it grew,


s: Health blooms on each bright dimpled face


s: Where I worship when toiling is through,


s: I have taken your gifts without thought,


s: That I see now with blood had been bought,


s: Then why this dreadful thought of sorrow


s: And gives his life to serve life's need.


s: Some roadway where strange feet may tread


s: Though victory's proof of the skill you possess,


s: A weakling can smile in his days of success,


s: But at trouble's first sign he will quit.


s: So the test of the heart and the test of your pluck


s: But how do you stand to the blow that is struck


s: A fool can seem wise when the pathway is clear


s: But the test of man's judgment is something to fear,


s: And the proof of his faith is the courage he shows


s: It's the way that he suffers the griefs that he knows


s: The test of a man is how much he will bear


s: How long will he stand in the depths of despair,


s: There are many to serve when the victory's near


s: But it calls for a leader of courage to cheer


s: It's the way you hold out against odds that are great


s: It's the way that you stand to the bruises of fate


s: And victory's nothing but proof of your skill,


s: He gave me a name that was free from shame,


s: Though the way be long, I must never wrong


s: Though his form is gone, I must carry on


s: He was playing in the garden when we called him in for tea,


s: But he didn't seem to hear us, so I went out there to see


s: What the little rogue was up to, and I stooped and asked him why,


s: "I am playing war," he told me, "and I'm up against defeat,


s: And until I stop the Germans I can't take the time to eat."


s: "Isn't supper so important that you'll quit your round of play?


s: Don't you want to eat the shortcake mother made for you to-day?"


s: Then I asked him, but he answered as he shook his little head:


s: I left him in his battle, left him there to end his play,


s: For he'd taught to me a lesson that is needed much to-day;


s: Not the lure of cake could turn him from the work he had to do;


s: There was nothing so important as to see his struggle through.


s: And I wondered all that evening, as he slumbered in his bed


s: If we'd risen to the meaning of the work that lies ahead?


s: Are we roused to the importance of the danger in our way?


s: Are we thinking still of pleasures as we thought but yesterday?


s: Are our comforts and our riches in our minds still uppermost?


s: Must we wait, to see our danger, till the foe is on our coast?


s: Oh, there's nothing so important, nothing now that's worth a pin


s: Save the war that we are fighting. It's a war we've got to win.


s: But now the lilacs bloom again and give us their perfume again


s: And now the roses smile at us and nod along the way;


s: And it is good to see again the blossoms on each tree again


s: And feel that nature hasn't changed the way we have to-day.


s: When will the laughter ring again in the way that it used to do?


s: Not till the swords are sheathed once more and the brave of our


s: It has been decided in publishing this volume to reproduce the


s: convalescence with all the courage she so warmly advocates.


s: Found in the garden--dead in his beauty.


s: Ah! that a linnet should die in the spring!


s: Bird, beast, and gold-fish are sepulchred there;


s: Bid the black kitten march as chief mourner,


s: Waving her tail like a plume in the air.


s: Fetch the old banner, and wave it about:


s: Shallow his grave, and the dogs got him out.


s: Kiss his poor feathers,--the first kiss and last;


s: Tell his poor widow kind friends have found him:


s: Plant his poor grave with whatever grows fast.


s: Farewell, sweet singer! dead in thy beauty,


s: Silent through summer, though other birds sing;


s: Muffle the dinner-bell, mournfully ring.


s: Fritz and I are not brother and sister, but we're next-door


s: I mean we both live next door to each other; for I live at


s: number three, and Fritz and Nickel the dog live at number


s: In summer we climb through the garret windows and sit


s: And if the sun is too hot Mother lends us one big kerchief


s: Sometimes she gives us tea under the myrtle tree in the big


s: (One slice each, and I always give Fritz the one that has


s: In winter we sit on the little stool by the stove at number four;


s: have a house to myself with you Grethel, and Nickel." And I


s: I saw the pictures of it in a book I was looking in, to see where


s: So I took my darling Katerina in my arms, and we went in to tea.


s: You've kept your apple, I see--I've eaten mine--well, it will be


s: I call it your cake and your apple, but of course now you're my


s: Though I can't think what you want with Katerina when you've got


s: There once was a Willow, and he was very old,


s: And all his leaves fell off from him, and left him in the cold;


s: But ere the rude winter could buffet him with snow,


s: There grew upon his hoary head a crop of Mistletoe.


s: All wrinkled and furrowed was this old Willow's skin,


s: His taper fingers trembled, and his arms were very thin;


s: Two round eyes and hollow, that stared but did not see,


s: And sprawling feet that never walked, had this most ancient tree.


s: A Dame who dwelt near was the only one who knew


s: That every year upon his head the Christmas berries grew;


s: And when the Dame cut them, she said--it was her whim--


s: "A merry Christmas to you, Sir!" _and left a bit for him_.


s: "Oh, Granny dear, tell us," the children cried, "where we


s: May find the shining Mistletoe that grows upon the tree?"


s: At length the Dame told them, but cautioned them to mind


s: To greet the Willow civilly, _and leave a bit behind_.


s: "Who cares," said the children, "for this old Willow-man?


s: We'll take the Mistletoe, and he may catch us if he can."


s: With rage the ancient Willow shakes in every limb,


s: For they have taken all, and _have not left a bit for him_!


s: Then bright gleamed the holly, the Christmas berries shone,


s: But in the wintry wind without the Willow-man did moan:


s: "Ungrateful, and wasteful! the mystic Mistletoe


s: A hundred years hath grown on me, but never more shall grow."


s: A year soon passed by, and the children came once more,


s: But not a sprig of Mistletoe the aged Willow bore.


s: Each slender spray pointed; he mocked them in his glee,


s: And chuckled in his wooden heart, that ancient Willow-tree.


s: Oh, children, who gather the spoils of wood and wold,


s: From selfish greed and wilful waste your little hands withhold.


s: Though fair things be common, this moral bear in mind,


s: "Pick thankfully and modestly, and leave a bit behind."


s: The winter is gone; and at first Jack and I were sad,


s: Because of the snow-man's melting, but now we are glad;


s: Of our beds--all colours--blue, white, yellow, purple, and pink,


s: carnations, musk, and everything good to smell;


s: And then if we could get an old "preserved-ginger" pot, and some


s: But whatever can be got to grow in a garden we mean to grow.


s: We've got Bachelor's Buttons, and London Pride, and Old Man, and


s: And then when my turn comes to water he says it's too hot!


s: We sometimes quarrel about the garden, and once Jack hit me with


s: So we settled to divide it in two by a path up the middle, and


s: The primroses look quite withered now, I am sorry to say,


s: But when it is up the cats roll on it, and that is the worst!


s: Jack made a great many cuttings, but he has had rather bad luck,


s: So everything will belong to us both, and we shan't ever quarrel


s: It is such a long time, too, to wait for the sand, and perhaps


s: And you really can't possibly rake a bed smooth with so many


s: We are so fond of flowers, Jack and I often dream at night


s: The worst is, we often start for the seaside about Midsummer Day,


s: When we come back, our flowers will be all in full bloom,


s: Bright, bright sunshine above, and sweet, sweet flowers below.


s: Come, oh Midsummer, quickly come! and go quickly, Midsummer, go!


s: P.S. It is so tiresome! Jack wants to build a green-house now,


s: I tell him there's not glass enough, but he says there's lots,


s: And he's taken all the plants that belong to the bed and put


s: With stealthy stride and glistening eye,


s: Susan, Jemmy, and I--with remorseful tears, at this very minute,


s: That if there are eggs or little birds in it--


s: Robin or wren, thrush, chaffinch or linnet--


s: There were three of us--Kate, and Susan, and Jem--


s: I don't know _their_ names, for they couldn't speak,


s: But squeaking dolls will lie on the shelves


s: For years and never squeak of themselves:


s: The reason we like little birds so much better than toys


s: Is because they are _really_ alive, and know how to make a noise.


s: There were three of us, and three of them;


s: And theirs, we think, was up in the sky;


s: But for all Susan, Jemmy, or I can tell,


s: She may have been getting their dinner as well.


s: They were left to themselves (and so were we)


s: In a nest in the hedge by the willow tree;


s: Both what Mother told us to do, and the voice of the mother-bird.


s: Thought we knew better than either of them:


s: And in spite of our mother's command and the poor bird's cry,


s: We determined to bring up her three little nestlings ourselves


s: Jem got wriggling worms for his instead.


s: But, oh dear! oh dear! oh dear! how we cried


s: When in spite of milk and bread and worms and roast beef, the


s: It's a terrible thing to have heart-ache,


s: And her three little children dead, and as cold as stone.


s: "There are some wrong things one can never undo."


s: Would bring life back to the birds that day.


s: Wouldn't wake them out of their stiff cold sleep.


s: We--Susan and Jem and I--mean never to be so selfish, and wilful,


s: And we three have buried those other three


s: In a soft, green, moss-covered, flower-lined grave at the foot of


s: And all the leaves which its branches shed


s: We think are tears because they are dead.


s: Yellow-haired Dolly, with eyes of bright blue;


s: Though I say "Hush!" because Mother does so,


s: Sings to you softly, or rocks you without;


s: If you slept sounder, then I might walk too,


s: Sing to my Dolly, and rock her like you!


s: Dear Mamma made you this fine berceaunette,


s: Muslin and rose-colour, ribbon and lace;


s: Why, dear Mamma, don't you shut baby's eyes?


s: You, my dear baby, would sleep for a week.


s: Hear me now, my hobby-horse, my steed of prancing paces!


s: Time is it that you and I won something more than races.


s: I have got a fine cocked hat, with feathers proudly waving;


s: Out into the world we'll go, both death and danger braving.


s: Doubt not that I know the way--the garden-gate is clapping:


s: Who forgot to lock it last deserves his fingers slapping.


s: When they find we can't be found, oh won't there be a chorus!


s: You and I may laugh at that, with all the world before us.


s: All the world, the great green world that lies beyond the paling!


s: Out into that grassy waste where dwells the Goosey Gander.


s: Months ago, my faithful steed, that Goose attacked your master;


s: How it hissed, and how I cried! It ran, but I ran faster!


s: Down upon my face I fell, its awful wings were o'er me,


s: Mother came and picked me up, and off to bed she bore me.


s: Months have passed, my faithful steed, both you and I are older,


s: Sheathless is my wooden sword, my heart I think is bolder.


s: Always ready bridled thou, with reins of crimson leather;


s: Woe betide the Goose to-day who meets us both together!


s: Up then now, my hobby-horse, my steed of prancing paces!


s: Time it is that you and I won something more than races.


s: I a knight, my charger thou, together we will wander


s: Sally is the laundress, and every Saturday


s: She says we do it on purpose, and never try to take care;


s: But if things have got to go to the wash, what can it matter how


s: Last week Mary and I got a lot of kingcups from the bog, and I


s: But Sally was as cross as two sticks, and won't wash our dolls'


s: But never mind, for we'll ask Mamma if we may have a real Dolls'


s: Mamma says we may on one condition, to which we agree;


s: We're to _really_ wash the dolls' clothes, and make them just


s: That any one in the world can wash out a few dirty clothes.


s: Well, we've had the Dolls' Wash, but it's only pretty good fun.


s: We're glad we've had it, you know, but we're gladder still that


s: As we wanted to have as big a wash as we could, we collected


s: It was going to the wash, and Mary and I were house-maids--fancy


s: Unless it was when we made that Macassar-oil, because she has


s: Then Mary put the iron down to heat, but as soon as she'd turned


s: So we had to clean this one with sand and brown-paper before we


s: It was very hard work, but I rubbed till I made it shine;


s: Father is building a new house, but I've had one given to me for


s: pestle-and-mortar is rather too heavy for it, and everybody


s: Father says that whilst he is about it, he thinks he shall add on


s: And brother Bill says he'll nail my Doll's House on the top of an


s: Father's house is not finished, though the wing is; for now the


s: builder says it will be all wrong if there isn't another


s: And he means to paint it for me, inside and out, when he paints


s: I almost wish I had kept the house as it was before;


s: mine is finished, I'll never have it altered any more.


s: We'll chase him up, we'll chase him down


s: The toad-stools are with sweetmeats spread,


s: Our hearth is warm, the fire burns bright,


s: When I go to tea with the little Smiths, there are eight of them


s: Because as to a tea-party with only one teacup and no teapot,


s: sugar-basin, cream-jug, or slop-basin, he never heard of such


s: The dolls can only pretend, and then it washes the paint off


s: He's a perfect darling, though he whisks everything over he comes


s: I've called her Cinderella, because I'm so fond of the story, and


s: I don't feel so _only_ now there are so many of us; for, counting


s: She, and I, and Towser, and Charles, and the Prince of Wales--and


s: And four of us can speak, and I'm sure the Prince of Wales is


s: I shall be seven years old then (as old as Joe), but I don't like


s: Like mine; and the next year I should like a collar for Towser if


s: And it would be very nice if the Prince of Wales could be dressed


s: But I don't think he really and truly knows how much Towser and I


s: Can any one look so wise, and have so little in his head?


s: No, it's no good your shaking hands and licking me with your


s: But sitting up, and giving paws, and kissing, won't teach you to


s: You wag your tail at that, do you? You would like it a great deal


s: But the newspaper after that, Papa Poodle, must be kept to make a


s: "In my young days," the grandmother said (Nodding her head,


s: Where cap and curls were as white as snow),


s: Of neighbours' children, seriously straying,


s: And lifting a slender, straight forefinger,


s: In that beautiful, beautiful, beautiful wood,


s: Where the little birds' heads get so turned with delight,


s: Picked from the stalk, or pulled up by the root,


s: "After all these years," the grandame said,


s: There is nothing more destructive and wild,


s: And wasteful of all things lovely and good,


s: Than a child, with the face of a boy and the ways of a bear,


s: That he couldn't think and care for himself.


s: And of all that your little fingers find,


s: Some, perchance, to cool tired eyes in the moss that stifled your


s: "We were very young," the grandmother said,


s: One listens with half an ear, and speaks with a hasty tongue;


s: Stretching the whole wide width of the lane;


s: That goes to the beautiful, beautiful wood;


s: By hedge and by ditch, by marsh and by mead,


s: In certain out-o'-way nooks, rare ferns and uncommon flowers.


s: The little fairies inside the flowers rubbed coloured dust on


s: I kept thinking I heard my mother's voice.


s: For she was at home, and I sometimes thought it was


s: To the Shepherd's Purse by the bare road-side;


s: From the snap-jack heart of the Starwort frail,


s: Butterfly-orchis which never takes wing,


s: Robert-the-Herb with strange sweet scent,


s: To dream that through every woodland noise,


s: Of dark-eyed, tawny-tailed squirrels flitting about the trees,


s: Are the voices of tender wisdom apt to die?


s: And the air, that used to feel fresh, strikes chilly and cold,


s: To the seat from whence I can see, below,


s: The marsh and the meadows I used to know,


s: Picked from the stalk, or pulled up by the root,


s: The following note was given in _Aunt Judy's Magazine_, June


s: interest old readers of _Aunt Judy's Magazine_ to know that


s: 'Leave some for the Naïads and the Dryads' was a favourite


s: phrase with Mr. Alfred Gatty, and is not merely the charge of


s: an imaginary mother to her 'blue-eyed banditti.' Whether my


s: mother invented the expression for our benefit, or whether she


s: only quoted it, I do not know. I only remember its use as a


s: check on the indiscriminate 'collecting' and 'grubbing' of a


s: large family; a mystic warning not without force to fetter the


s: same fingers in later life, with all the power of a pious


s: Are you a Giant, great big man, or is your real name Smith?


s: Nurse says you've got a hammer that you hit bad children with.


s: I'm good to-day, and so I've come to see if it is true


s: That you can turn a red-hot rod into a horse's shoe.


s: Why do you make the horses' shoes of iron instead of leather?


s: Is it because they are allowed to go out in bad weather?


s: Although he's not a real live horse, I'm very fond of him;


s: His harness won't take off and on, but still it's new and trim.


s: His tail is hair, he has four legs, but neither hoofs nor heels;


s: I think he'd seem more like a horse without these yellow wheels.


s: I do so wish, Big Smith, that I might come and live with you;


s: To rake the fire, to heat the rods, to hammer two and two.


s: To be so black, and not to have to wash unless I choose;


s: To pat the dear old horses, and to mend their poor old shoes.


s: When all the world is dark at night, you work among the stars,


s: A shining shower of fireworks beat out of red-hot bars.


s: I've seen you beat, I've heard you sing, when I was going to bed;


s: The more you work, the more you sing, the more the bellows roar;


s: It must be very nice to be allowed to play with fire.


s: I long to beat and sing and shine, as you do, but instead


s: I put away my horse, and Nurse puts me away to bed.


s: I wonder if you go to bed; I often think I'll keep


s: Awake and see, but, though I try, I always fall asleep.


s: I know it's very silly, but I sometimes am afraid


s: Of being in the dark alone, especially in bed.


s: But when I see your forge-light come and go upon the wall,


s: And hear you through the window, I am not afraid at all.


s: I often hear a trotting horse, I sometimes hear it stop;


s: But then I dream of hammering that horse's shoes with you!


s: That I made myself with the Shetland shawl,


s: By that great black stove in the entrance-hall.


s: I won't sleep there; I'm resolved on that!


s: They may think I will, but they little know


s: My fur's feeling rough, and I rather doubt


s: On the drawing-room sofa they've closed the door,


s: They've turned me out of the easy-chairs;


s: That they make their beds for themselves up-stairs.


s: I've found a crib where they won't find me,


s: Though they're crying "Kitty!" all over the house.


s: Hunt for the Slipper! and riddle-my-ree!


s: But they'll never think of the wardrobe-shelves.


s: They may keep the hamper and hay themselves.


s: Nourished with dews by the earth, and with tears by the sky,


s: Though the surly slave would rather stand still.


s: For when I come running and dance on his toes,


s: With a creak and a groan the monster goes.


s: And the miller smiles as he stands on the bank,


s: Then when he swings the fine sacks of flour,


s: At the water-rat's threshold they gleam.


s: The Frog-bit spreads me its blossoms of snow,


s: The Willow-herb, the flags, and the grasses,


s: By all that run or swim or crawl or fly?


s: The poet with rippling rhymes so fluent,


s: And the flower-plucking parson's daughter.


s: Who rise from my bosom on rainbow wings,


s: For--too swift for a school-boy's prize--


s: Hither and thither above me dart the prismatic-hued dragon-flies.


s: I, who was born to be free and unfettered--a mountain rill!


s: And fill with Forget-me-nots countless neglected byways.


s: Why should the rough-barked Willow for ever lave


s: Faints with midsummer heat in the meadow just out of my reach?


s: The miller might grind a day's corn in an hour.


s: When the spirits of the storm and the blast,


s: Breaking the bands of the winter's frost and snow,


s: Swept from the mountain source of the stream, and flooded the


s: And burst out of bounds to left and to right,


s: But with such torrents the poor tree died,


s: Torn up by the roots, and laid on its side.


s: Looked to see what the Mill Stream had done


s: And what was left when that had passed by,


s: The Mill Stream had been its own undoing.


s: Oh boy, down there, I can't believe that what they say is true!


s: We squirrels surely cannot have an enemy in you;


s: We have so much in common, my dear friend, it seems to me


s: That I can really feel for you, and you can feel for me.


s: Some human beings might not understand the life we lead;


s: If we asked Dr. Birch to play, no doubt he'd rather read;


s: Fine ladies, too, whose flounces catch and tear on every stump,


s: What joy have they in jagged pines, who neither skip nor jump?


s: Miss Mittens never saw my tree-top home--so unlike hers;


s: What wonder if her only thought of squirrels is of furs?


s: But you, dear boy, you know so well the bliss of climbing trees,


s: Of scrambling up and sliding down, and rocking in the breeze,


s: Of cracking nuts and chewing cones, and keeping cunning hoards,


s: And all the games and all the sport and fun a wood affords.


s: It cannot be that you would make a prisoner of me,


s: Who hate yourself to be cooped up, who love so to be free;


s: An extra hour indoors, I know, is punishment to you;


s: _You_ make _me_ twirl a tiny cage? It never can be true!


s: Yet I've a wary grandfather, whose tail is white as snow.


s: He thinks he knows a lot of things we young ones do not know;


s: He says we're safe with Doctor Birch, because he is so blind,


s: And that Miss Mittens would not hurt a fly, for she is kind.


s: But you, dear boy, who know my ways, he bids me fly from you,


s: He says my life and liberty are lost unless I do;


s: Hey, presto! Friend, come up, and let us hide and seek and play,


s: If you could spring as well as climb, what fun we'd have to-day!


s: Oh, how greedy you look as you stare at my plate,


s: Your mouth waters so, and your big tail is drumming


s: Flop! flop! flop! on the carpet, and yet if you'll wait,


s: When we have quite finished, your dinner is coming.


s: Yes! I know what you mean, though you don't speak a word;


s: You say that you wish that I kindly would let you


s: Take your meals with the family, which is absurd,


s: And on a tall chair like a gentleman set you.


s: But how little you think, my dear dog, when you talk;


s: You've no "table manners," you bolt meat, you gobble;


s: And how could you eat bones with a knife, spoon, and fork?


s: You would be in a most inconvenient hobble.


s: And yet, once on a time it is certainly true,


s: My own manners wanted no little refining;


s: For I gobbled, and spilled, and was greedy like you,


s: And had no idea of good manners when dining.


s: So that when I consider the tricks _you_ have caught,


s: To sit or shake paws with the utmost good breeding,


s: I must own it quite possible you may be taught


s: The use of a plate, and a nice style of feeding.


s: Therefore try to learn manners, and eat as I do;


s: Don't glare at the joint, and as soon as you're able


s: To behave like the rest, you shall feed with us too,


s: And dine like a gentleman sitting at table.


s: I always _was_ a remarkable child; so old for my age, and such a


s: And I'm the sweetest, little dear in my blue ribbons, and quite a


s: And I'm a sacred responsibility to my parents--(it was what the


s: And a solemn charge, and a fair white page, and a tender bud, and


s: fiddlestrings, as any one with common sense could see with


s: And Nurse said, "Go and play, my dear, and let your Mamma rest;"


s: but Mamma said, "No, my love, stay where you are.


s: Dear Nurse, lift me up, and put a pillow to my back, I know


s: And if her mother thought less of her and she thought more of her


s: But Nurse is a nasty cross old thing--I hate her; and I hate the


s: doctor, for he wanted me to be left behind


s: But when I got on to the sands, I thought I'd rather be on the


s: esplanade, for there was a little girl there who was


s: Dressed in a navy-blue suit and a sailor hat, with fair hair tied


s: And she got me a suit, ready-made (but she said it was dreadfully


s: Of course that's impossible, I know, but I wish I knew what to


s: It seems such a pity that a sweet little dear like me should


s: And Mamma says she buys everything I want, and has taught me


s: everything I will learn, and reads every book, and takes


s: every hint she can pick up, and keeps me with her all day,


s: and worries about me all night, till she's nearly mad;


s: Me to humbly commend to your tender mercies


s: One's hero should have a name that rare is;


s: A Lobster, who dwelt with several others,--


s: With a red-roofed fishing village above,


s: Amid pale yellow poppies next to the sky.


s: And blue-jerseyed sailors and--lobster-pots.


s: To take the air on dry land for an hour;


s: Is toasting the fields as brown as a bun,


s: And the sands are baking, it's very nice


s: Dipping one's feelers in each green wave.


s: When storm-tossed morsels come to the claw;


s: And 'the better to see with' down below,


s: Of the tides that come and the tides that go."


s: So sang the Lobsters, thankful for their mercies,


s: All but the hero of these simple verses.


s: Though temperature may change from boiling-point to zero


s: And proof against the spiteful blows of Fate.


s: It, therefore, troubles me to have to say,


s: Whate'er the weather or the sort of day,


s: And not himself alone, but all his kindred teased.


s: I'm convinced I was formed for a larger sphere,


s: "You put your complaints in most beautiful verse,


s: That, in spite of all you have to endure,


s: You might go much farther and fare much worse.


s: We wish you could live in a higher sphere,


s: But we think you might live happily here."


s: And he swam to his cave, and took to his bed.


s: He sulked so long that the sisters cried,


s: But the brothers went to the cave to peep,


s: For they said, "Perhaps he is only asleep."


s: With a very large piece of bad salt pork.


s: "Dear Brother, what luck you have had to-day!


s: Is there any more pork afloat in the bay?"


s: "This is not life, it's only existence."


s: One day there came to the fishing village


s: But a robber whom true scientific feeling


s: May find guilty of picking, but not of stealing.


s: He picked the yellow poppies on the cliffs;


s: He picked the feathery seaweeds in the pools;


s: He picked the odds and ends from nets and skiffs;


s: He picked the brains of all the country fools.


s: He dried the poppies for his own herbarium,


s: And caught the Lobsters for a seaside town aquarium.


s: And a very fine plate-glass window is free to the public view,


s: Through which you can stare at the passers-by and the passers-by


s: From those dull old rocks, where we'd no society."


s: Why my hero chose this moment for casting off his shell.


s: And his sisters kept telling him, till they were tired,


s: There never was any one so much admired.


s: My hero was happy at last, you will say?


s: So he was, dear Reader--two nights and a day;


s: They saw, descending the opposite cliff,


s: Now hurriedly slipping, now seeming calmer,


s: With the ease and the grace of a hog in armour,


s: But the worst of the matter remains to be said.


s: These nine big lobsters were all of them _red_.


s: And when they got safe to the floor of the tank,--


s: For which they had chiefly good luck to thank,--


s: They settled their cumbersome coats of mail,


s: As shoulder to shoulder they sat in the sand,


s: And waved their antennæ in calm rotation,


s: But what were the feelings of Master Blue Shell?


s: niches of the rocky sides of the tank, where they looked like


s: blue-jerseyed smugglers at the mouths of caves.]


s: "Did you ever see any lobsters so grand,


s: As those who sit down there in the sand?


s: Why were we born at all, since not one of us all was born red?"


s: "Dear Brother, indeed, this is quite a whim."


s: (So his brothers and sisters reasoned with him;


s: The case with remarkable fairness stated.)


s: Though he looks uncommonly well in scarlet.


s: For a glow on the Alps, and the glow of a forge,


s: Sparks that are struck from red-hot bars,


s: The sun in a mist, and the red star Mars;


s: The red-haired king who was killed in the wood,


s: Robin Redbreast and little Red Riding Hood;


s: But, then, we don't think there's a pin to choose;


s: If the Guards are handsome, so are the Blues.


s: It's a narrow choice between Sappers and Gunners.


s: You sow blue beans, and rear scarlet runners.


s: Then think of the blue of a mid-day sky,


s: Of the sea, and the hills, and a Scotchman's eye;


s: The blue that the western sky wears casually,


s: Than the broad blue ribbon of Knights of the Garter?


s: And, if the subject is not too shocking,


s: But to all that his brothers and sisters said,


s: He made no reply but--"I wish I were dead!


s: I'm all over blue, and I want to be red."


s: And he moped and pined, and took to his bed.


s: "That little one looks uncommonly sickly,


s: Put him back in the sea, and put him back quickly."


s: The voice that spoke was the voice of Fate,


s: And the lobster was soon in his former state;


s: Where, as of old, he muttered and mumbled,


s: I want to be red, and I'm all over blue."


s: For as he was fretting and fuming about,


s: And in process of time, he heard a voice,


s: The voice was the cook's, and what she said


s: Was, "He'll soon come out a beautiful red."


s: It was all fulfilled to the very letter.


s: But then--which he did not expect--he was dead!


s: For naughty heroes than to leave off sinning.


s: Do what one will, does commonly end sadly.


s: But things in general are so much mixed,


s: That every case must stand upon its merits;


s: And folks' opinions are so little fixed,


s: And no one knows the least what he inherits--


s: I should be glad to shed some parting glory


s: But the truth is, he was made into salad;


s: It's not how one's hero should end his days,


s: But I'm told that he looked exceedingly nice,


s: With cream-coloured sauce, and pale-green lettuce and ice.


s: I confess that if he'd been my relation,


s: This would not afford me any consolation;


s: For I feel (though one likes to speak well of the dead)


s: He need not have died so early lamented,


s: P.S.--His claws were raised to very high stations;


s: They keep the earwigs from our carnations.


s: I was certain I heard a strange voice from afar.


s: Mamma calls me a pup, but I'm wiser than she;


s: One ear cocked and I hear, half an eye and I see;


s: Wide-awake though I doze, not a thing escapes me.


s: It's the stable-boy's hiss as he wisps down Black Bess.


s: It sounds like a kettle beginning to sing,


s: Or a bee on a pane, or a moth on the wing,


s: Or my master's peg-top, just let loose from the string.


s: I don't know who you are, and I'm puzzled to tell.


s: You look like a fly dressed in very gay clothes,


s: But I blush to have troubled my mid-day repose


s: For a creature not worth half a twitch of my nose.


s: The insect imagines we're playing, I vow!


s: If I pat you, I promise you'll find it too hard.


s: Be off! when a watch-dog like me is on guard,


s: Big or little, no stranger's allowed in the yard.


s: My dear little master, is that what you say?


s: I am greatly obliged for your kindness and cares,


s: But I really can manage my own small affairs,


s: And banish intruders who give themselves airs.


s: You defy me?--you pigmy, you insolent scrap!


s: What!--this to my teeth, that have worried a score


s: Of the biggest rats bred in the granary floor!


s: Come on, and be swallowed! I spare you no more!


s: Little master, pray save an unfortunate whelp,


s: Who began the attack, but is now in retreat,


s: Having shown all his teeth, just escapes on his feet,


s: And is trusting to you to make safety complete.


s: My poor eye! my poor ear! my poor tail! my poor toe!


s: Pray excuse my remarks, for I meant no such thing.


s: Don't trouble to come--oh, the brute's on the wing!


s: I'd no notion, I'm sure, there were flies that could sting.


s: My nose burns, my limbs shake, I'm as ill as can be.


s: I was never in such an undignified plight.


s: Mamma told me, and now I suppose she was right;


s: One should know what one's after before one shows fight.


s: Some Homes are where flowers for ever blow,


s: The sun shining hotly the whole year round;


s: But our Home glistens with six months of snow,


s: Where frost without wind heightens every sound.


s: When we're all together and nothing amiss.


s: He says that we left it five years since last Fall,


s: And came sailing, sailing, right over the sea.


s: A green, green isle in a blue, blue sea,


s: With sweet flowers such as we never have seen;


s: And Willy tells all this to Eily and me.


s: He says, "What fine fun when we all go back!"


s: When Pat's little sled flies along the smooth track,


s: Or spills in the snowdrift that shines in the sun.


s: Some day I should dearly love, it is true,


s: A little Brook, that babbled under grass,


s: A Poet with long hair and saddened eyes,


s: Who went his weary way with woeful sighs.


s: This Brook did hear that Poet read his rueful rhyme.


s: "Oh! little Brook that babblest under grass!


s: Or is your life, like other lives, a dream?


s: What time your babbling mocks my mortal moods,


s: Could purblind poesy perceive the truth,


s: Who sometimes, for man's dangerous delight,


s: "When this poor Poet turns his bending back,


s: Say, shall you rise from out your grassy bed,


s: With wreathed forget-me-nots about your head,


s: And wile some wandering wight out of his way,


s: To lead him with your witcheries astray?


s: So far the Poet read his pleasing strain,


s: "Farewell, fair Nymph!" he cried, as with a lingering look


s: The Brook passed several days in anxious expectation


s: Into a lovely nymph bedecked with flowers;


s: And longed impatiently to prove those powers--


s: Those dangerous powers--of witchery and wile,


s: That should all mortal men mysteriously beguile;


s: For life as running water lost its charm


s: Before the exciting hope of doing so much harm.


s: Though the days came and went, and went and came,


s: The seasons changed, the Brook remained the same.


s: And, smiling on them, gave them radiant wings.


s: Now when the poor Brook murmured, "Mother dear!"


s: And the sad stream poured all its woes into her sympathetic ear,


s: Do not do more for one child than another;


s: Where life runs on at such a petty pace;


s: Give me a human form, dear Dame, and then


s: See how I'll flit, and flash, and fascinate the race of men!"


s: variety (_Libellula_), with body of brilliant blue.]


s: Then Mother Nature, who is wondrous wise,


s: Safe both from giving and receiving harms;


s: Outliving human lives, outlasting human charms.


s: And this was all that babbling Brook would say--


s: "Give me a human face and form, if only for a day!"


s: Then quoth Dame Nature:--"Oh, my foolish child!


s: You shall arise from out your grassy bed,


s: Look down and see the world, and all the ways of men!"


s: Departed to the place from whence she came,


s: The sun burst forth with most amazing power.


s: Dame Nature bade him blaze, and he obeyed;


s: He drove the fainting flocks into the shade,


s: He dried the river, and he parched the mead;


s: Then on the Brook he turned his burning eye,


s: Which rose and left its narrow channel dry;


s: And, climbing up by sunbeams to the sky,


s: Became a snow-white cloud, which softly floated by.


s: And all the world with red and gold was gay;


s: When, as this cloud athwart the heavens did pass,


s: Lying below, it saw a Poet on the grass,


s: To prove the Brook was a fresh-water mermaid.


s: Holding his book above his corrugated brow--


s: And thus apostrophized the passing cloud:


s: Can you be of those female forms so dread,


s: To where undying laurels crown the warrior's head?


s: --And what, oh, what!--your message to poor me?"--


s: But ere the delighted cloud could make reply,


s: And it put forth a wild beseeching cry--


s: Dame Nature frowned, and all the heavens grew black with storm.


s: Falling most softly on the floor most hard


s: The children sang behind the window-pane:


s: "Old woman, up yonder, plucking your geese,


s: Throw down the feathers, and when you have done,


s: The snow had fallen, when with song and shout


s: Who swept and shovelled up the fallen snow,


s: I'm shaken all to pieces with that storm,


s: Raise me and clothe me in a human form."


s: They swept up much, they shovelled up more,


s: They built him bravely with might and main,


s: There never will be such a snow-man again!


s: His eyes were large and as black as coal,


s: For a cinder was placed in each round hole.


s: And the sight of his teeth would have made yours ache,


s: Being simply the teeth of an ancient rake.


s: They smoothed his forehead, they patted his back,


s: They crowned his head with the scare-crow's hat.


s: And not a trace of transcendental charms,


s: That the Brook's hopes were but a Poet's dream,


s: Or what the end was--You must ask the Poet,


s: I told him, through the hedge, "Your facings are dirty, and you'd


s: He's so young he won't make up his mind whether he'll go into the


s: I want him to be a gunner, for his frock's dark blue, and Captain


s: Besides, he always wants to be Drum-Major when we've funerals, to


s: I asked her what she would do if she were grown up into a woman,


s: and belonged to some one who was wounded in the war,--


s: And she said if she couldn't get a ship to bring him home in, she


s: to the Forces and pray for everyone at the war."


s: He began, "GOD save the Queen, and the Army and the Navy, and the


s: Sub-lieutenants, and the Quartermasters, and the


s: please I should like them all to come home safe again.


s: GOD bless the good soldiers, like Old Father, and Captain Powder,


s: And if the black men kill our men, send down white angels to take


s: Only Mary would cry in the verse about "Soon, soon to faithful


s: And now we can play at soldiers every day till Old Father comes


s: And we strongly advise you not to flout him."


s: "At my time of life," said the Dandelion,


s: The slightest sign of disturbance and riot,


s: The reason I take such very great care,"


s: The old Dandy went on, "is because of my hair.


s: It was very thick once, and as yellow as gold;


s: And comes off with the slightest fright.


s: I hope you'll attend to what we've said;


s: And--whatever you do--don't touch my head,


s: He can pull his thorns right over his nose."


s: "Is nothing to his when he's put on his mettle.


s: With your humped-up back and your spines on end,


s: Just when you're sure you can reach her,


s: I could swear that I could not possibly miss


s: But you seem to have nothing, Sir, of the sort;


s: And I should be mortified if you thought


s: I assure you I don't often meet my match,


s: And (between ourselves) I once caught a sheep,


s: And I think I could catch a weasel asleep."


s: From the whole of the hedge there rose a shout,


s: And shook it and licked it, it was so sore.


s: Were all wrapped up in his prickly clothes.


s: Like a well-stocked pin-cushion inside out.


s: He sat down on his stumpy tail and howled,


s: Then he laid his jaws on his paws and growled.


s: But "third times," you know, are not always lucky--


s: Dear Hedge-pig, pray come out of the Sun."


s: He sniffed hither and thither and peeped about;


s: To where the hedge-bottom is cool and deep,


s: Had a slug for supper, and went to sleep.


s: But the hairs and the tears that we shed


s: And when _he_ too went off, in hysterics, to bed,


s: Still, _our_ birthdays are different; we want so many things, and


s: neuralgia if she stands about where it isn't dry.


s: And (because they're the only things we can think of for birthday


s: The only things we can think of for Father are paper-cutters; but


s: He said, "What's the matter?" And Dolly said,


s: Maggie would if I'd asked her; but Dolly will go her own way, and


s: Who defended an old castle in Cornwall, against the French, for


s: She made them strip the lead off the roofs, and they did, and she


s: and then carry him to save him the trouble of walking.


s: Just when I'd dressed all their noses to a nice level (you can do


s: and Dolly's Major says that, all things considered, he never


s: vigorous measures described. On his return her husband wisely


s: "Embattled all the walls of the house, and in a manner made it


s: I behave beautifully at meals, and at church, and I can put on my


s: The reason the saddle is slippery is not because it's smooth,


s: for it's rather rough; and there's a hard ridge behind,


s: We've all of us had a good deal of practice, so we ought to know


s: I can't stick on by myself; so I sent him away, and the nasty


s: saddle slipped round directly he was gone.


s: ashamed of yourself, considering all your medals, and that


s: He likes me very much, and I like him, and when my fifth birthday


s: me, but the saddle and bridle shall be quite new;


s: And Maggie is so glad, she says her life is quite miserable with


s: thinking how miserable other lives are, if only we knew.


s: in my winter boots), and she doesn't even think a donkey


s: shan't be her fault if there isn't one poor old brute beast


s: who lives happily to the end of his days.


s: All around us spreads the Heath Bed-straw in glimmering sheets of


s: Hee-haw! for the sweet night air that gives human beings cold in


s: Hee-haw! for the civilization that sends human beings to bed.


s: Rest, Brother Donkeys, rest, from the bit, the burden, the blow,


s: holiday-maker who knows no better, and the holiday-makers


s: I've dragged pots, and vegetables, and invalids, and


s: fish, and I've galloped with four costermongers to the races;


s: I've carried babies, and sea-coal, and sea-sand, and sea-weed in


s: for the sea-side, and ridden (in a white saddle-cloth with