3509 ES14W 1ER WAR RHYMES ANTHONY EUWER Y A 4, z^-/^/ s y // WINGS and Other War Rhymes WINGS and Other War Rhymes By ANTHONY EUWER Author of Rhymes of Our Valley, The Limeratomy, Christopher Cricket on Cats. New York MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 1918 All rights reserved. Copyright 1918 By Moffat, Yard & Company To LUCILE NELSON ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For the privilege of using the rhymes in this volume, the author wishes to thank the publishers of Leslie s Weekly, the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press, the Buffalc News, the Washington Star, the Portland (Oregon) Spectator, the Portland Oregon- ian, and the Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph. CONTENTS Then Give Us Wings .... The Man We Want .... Ships, Ships and More Ships Haig Holds the Line .... Are You Americans? .... Fags Have You House-Cleaned Yet? Let It Wait The Hands That Drive the Needles De Profundis A Definition of Sedition The Vultures The Cross of Red Number Three Lieutenant Lutie s Cootie . A Mother Speaks He Struck On Some Tomorrow Then Give Us Wings IF wings will help our men to see Some Boche s belching battery, Releasing from a screen of trees Its screeching death upon the breeze Or help our giant guns to search With truer aim each hidden perch Of Teuton guns, and make them meek Ere they again may chance to speak If wings, O God, will do these things, Then give us wings. If great destroying wings might stay Munitions on their hurried way, Or hold a reinforcement back By dropping ruin on its track, Or yet set free the pent-up hell Of depots filled with shot and shell, Or swiftly give eternal sleep To ships that prowl the nether deep If wings, O God, will do these things, Then give us wings and still more wings. If fast, avenging wings might cast On German cities such a blast Of desolating death and pain As fell again and still again On England s homes and thus awake The heart of pity and so make An end of killing mothers, wives, And maiming helpless infant lives If wings, O God, will do these things, Then give us wings and wings and wings And still more wings. If dauntless, daring wings that dash O er No-man s Land, with shot and crash Might beat back wings that would assail Advancing armies with their hail If dauntless wings like these that ride O er No-man s Land, might turn the tide Of great offensives bring about Allied success and Teuton rout If wings, O God, will do these things, Then give us wings and wings and wings, Devouring wings that cleave and soar, And yet more wings, and more and more. If multitudes of wings might rise To blind aggression s lustful eyes, And render powerless each stroke That seeks to force the tyrant s yoke If multitudes of wings might give Democracy a chance to live, And make this bloody carnage cease, And bring to earth a lasting peace If wings, O God, will do these things, Then give us wings and wings and wings, And still more wings prepared to smite Till Victory comes the hosts of light Beneath the sun, whose pinions shine Beyond our farthest battle-line. The Man We Want WHAT ho! You men! A word with you Three minutes of your time will do About a loan. So please to stay And when you ve harkened, go your way. Just what it s for the crying need You know full well aye, well indeed ! You ve had for three years back and more Your correspondence-school on war. Well then is it to plead or bribe Here is the bond will you subscribe? We want the man who s had to hump And stint to save his little lump, Who hopes to help but hasn t yet, Well he s one man we want to get. The man with kit and dinner-pail, The man in blue who totes the mail, Conductor, motorman and clerk, The man who knows the worth of work Come sign you will not run amuck, Your Uncle will not see you stuck, If you go broke that bond will talk It s solid as Gibraltar s rock. And you good man of mod rate means, If you will dig down in your jeans, [4] For Liberty pull one more trick Until you feel it touch the quick And you man schooled in big finance, Come through once more look not askance Toward those investments that would bear Much higher rates but do your share. We want the gold that came by sweat, The easy gold We want you bet, We want the gold that s honest through And tainted gold we want that too, Perhaps who knows such ill-gained pelf May have a chance to square itself. And when you loosen on your pile, Remember this for God s sake smile Or grin a bit it s all the same Just so you show the world you re game, Because you ll need to ten to one Before this Armageddon s done. Hysteria and flashing splash They will not win the final smash Will come by holding on jaws clenched A bull-dog tugging though he s drenched In blood which means that there is some Time yet ahead with loans to come, And lucky you who yet may live, If all you have to do is give ! Ships, Ships and More Ships LONG the towns that flank the rivers they are moulding guns and shells, And the skies of night are lighted with a host of flaming hells. Down the rocky Cascade ranges they are hewing mighty lanes, And they re combing out the spruce-trees for the bones of aeroplanes. We ve plowed and sown our prairies and we ve reaped the sheaves of gold, We ve garnered and we ve husbanded our grain in sacks untold. We ve gouged our earthen vitals out by damp and dusky hole, We ve clawed and clutched and brought to light our moiety of coal, And the most of us have striven by what means we ve had at hand To help the conservation of the food throughout the land. We ve got our men in training and a lot of them we ve sent And endless droves are coming still to fill each cantonment. [6] Our mills alive with action are a-stepping double-quick To turn out duds for rookies and they re go ing to do the trick. Our women-folk have given all their splen did energy, To the bandage making business, for the wounded o er the sea. We ve braced our shoulders to the wheels of our machine of war, We ve pushed along right lustily but say ! We ve reached the shore! Beyond us is an ocean. It s mighty deep and wide And only ships will float our guns unto the other side, And only ships will take our men and only ships will bear Our Uncle s pile of luggage for the big push over there, As long as we re without them though we sweat and swear and pray, We can take it out in whistling till our ships have crossed the bay. So fall to lads ! Get busy and whosoever s fit Will find a shipyard waiting for a lad to do his bit [7] Two hundred and yet fifty thousand men to give a lift For every day are needed eight hours to each shift! They want you, men! They want you! For our freight it s all a jam Don t you hear the husky calling? Tis the voice of Uncle Sam ! He s callin to employers and he s askin them each one To lend him all the men he needs until the task is done He s calling men who ve got the skill to come and show their stuff . He s offered goodly wages and his word is pledge enough! For we all have been invited to a function o er the sea By a War King called the Kaiser! and it s signed R. S. V. P. We ve sent him our acceptance and we want to go in state And we ve got to have the ships, my lads, before it is too late. [S] Haig Holds the Line EXTRIE!" the newsies call "Extrie! Big German Drive in France ! Extrie ! Ten Thousand Prisoners! Extrie! All About the Big Hun Smash ! Extrie ! Is that yer smallest, Boss ? Extrie ! Chimmie! Change a buck! Extrie!" Down ev ry street with shrill-pitched key And flying feet we hear "Extrie ! All aboui^-Extrie !" From Harlem to the Battery, From London to the Zuyder Zee, From Tokio to fair Dundee In divers tongues they cry "Extrie !" The "Blood Bath" such the name They dubbed it well, at last it came With gas and flame. Then fell Bapaume, They took Combles and crossed the Somme. To Montdidier they drove their wedge With Noyon on the southern edge. For seven days the long front bent Until it seemed their force was spent, And on they surged across their dead Yet ever in the news we read "Haig Holds the Line." [9] A million men and more they flung Against a wall that swayed and swung Out-numbered yes ! But unafraid ! The earth rocked with their cannonade, But oh the Hunnish blood that drained With every shell-swept yard they gained. In Berlin, banners waved that day And bells rang out but who can say What depth of woe they knew who read Those columns of the endless dead Who saw their wounded mile on mile Return train after train the while Haig holds the line! They strove for Paris and Calais, They thought to scatter and dismay Our hosts to split the allied mass The answer came "You shall not pass!" From guns left by the Bolshevick, From Austria s guns they had their pick. Gods what a duel! A stadium Where all the eager world had come To see the beast recoiling there In red defeat while ev rywhere Haig holds the line! 10] Are You Americans? ARE you Americans? Arise Shake off your lethargy get wise! We re fighting Germans! Then give ear! The Germans over there and HERE! And by that word I designate Those who abjure our sovereign state Who in their hearts allegiance stand For Kaiserdom and Fatherland. And so I say without amends I say we have no GERMAN friend s. The hyphen s past you cast your lot Beneath our flag or you do not. We re fighting Germans gun for gun And blood for blood and son for son! The Hell-hounds there across the seas And here amongst us if you please, Those skulking Jackals in disguise Those Hun Hyenas German Spies! Those prowling Skunks forever keen To fling their venom vent their spleen By arson, bomb or any scheme To bring about their Kaiser s dream. Thank God we ve got men who can play The prowling game as well as they And so hats off hats off, I say To the Secret Service, U. S. A. [ii] And they are getting them although The papers don t print all they know There seems to be a notion that Publicity might make the rat More cautious. Well perhaps they re right! And yet I somehow think the sight Of German Spies a swinging there In full view on the public square Beneath a sign "TAKE HEED AND LEARN! TO ALL THOSE WHOM IT MAY CONCERN OUR GREETINGS! THESE MEN MET THEIR FATE IN SEEKING TO ASSASINATE OUR NATION S LIFE!" It seems to me Somehow if this were done twould be So disconcerting to the gang Who doubtless would not care to hang Twould make them use such care that they Would likely quit the Kaiser s pay, And in the spy-trade, stocks would drop To bed-rock with a sickening flop ! But what s the use it can t be done, I tell you and you can help each one Right here at home and pull some stunt To back your nation s solid front. [12] And when you hear sedition talked, Or hear the Red Cross workers knocked, Or hear the swinish Pacifist, Or other isms down the list Of soap-box creeds the Anarchist Or Bolshevist plain Trouble-ist Or I-double-you-double-ist Whoe er he be if his attack In word or action would hold back Our fighting forces or yet seek To make our nation s spirit weak Then brand him with the double cross, E en though that branding mean the loss Of bosom friend. Then cry his name Until that crying spell his shame Our path is strewn with many rocks Without these useless stumbling blocks. And when you meet the man who s heard From sources higher up some word Some dead-sure tip that any day We may have peace wake up I say ! Forget it friend and can your hope You re drinking Wilhelmstrasse dope Tis pleasant stuff and often serves To still the pulse and soothe the nerves ! A lullaby the croon of which Will leave you sleeping at the switch. [13] Remember this our war-machine, Our army, navy and marine Must wax and wane accordingly As is the strength in you and me ! We ll have our peace when we ve seen through The thing we started out to do, And that will be in this great war, When God sees fit and not before. [14] Fags SAY Have you heard the call on the morn ing breeze From our boys in Khaki across the seas, "A fag if you please ! A fag if your please !" As he does his turn under the broiling sun With his eye close trained on the steel-blue gun Through the trench s wall with the dirt- filled bags And all that he asks is a pack of fags! In the morning fags and a fag at night, And a fag with rasher and candlelight With your coffee fags and a fag with beans, And a pack tucked tight in your bloomin jeans! There s a straight-laced species of hard- shelled folks Who would show "thumbs down" on the call for smokes, Who would tighten up on their fat purse- strings, Though they d dole the dollars for showier things ! [is] Say Had your life been saved in a fire and you Went to thank the chap who had seen you through, Would you hesitate if the fireman s shirt Were a trifle soiled or besmirched with dirt? Would your hand hang limp when you saw him drain Just a swig or two for his fevered brain? Would your thanks stop short when you learned the fraud Sought the Virgin s aid when he prayed to God? He was good enough for a noble deed But he differed some in his ways and creed. Say- Were you ever broke? Was it any joke When you simply craved for a good old smoke? If you think you can t see the day s work through Without blowing smoke till the air is blue If you ve got to puff just to lull your nerves Though the humdrum jolts and the hum drum curves Of your humdrum life with your humdrum ease [16] What of the lads who have crossed the seas? There is one thing sure that no matter what You may think you ve done for the cause, you ve got To go some I guess in this bloody strife, To approach the man who has staked his life. Say Do you see him there where the dawn breaks red, With the wild shells shrieking above his head, As he crouching waits for the one com mand For the head-long rush into No-man s Land ! Well I think perhaps as the moments lag, There s a lucky chance that he d want a fag! Do you see him there with the bands blotched red Round a shattered limb ? Well I ve heard it said That a wounded man as the long hours drag, Doesn t mind the taste of a proffered fag ! [17] Do you see his name on the honor-roll? He was killed in action he paid the toll ! Would it make you happier if you knew That the lad gone West had his smokes on you? Then what is the most you d hand a chap Who s done what a man should do Who s taken his chance in the fields of France Where he s doing his bit for you! [18] Have You House-Cleaned Yet? LAST night I spent at your behest An evening in your home your guest. You cautioned me to have a care Some German-speaking friends were there Americans of course although Twas natural they d feel thus and so About the war I did my best And held my tongue I was your guest. Our singing too it struck me strange Was kept within a certain range. It seems we skipped "My Country" You know "Sweet Land of Liberty Of Thee" we did not sing. Instead, You turned the page to "Roses Red !" And then that Pacifist! Long, lean An oldish chap who graced the scene With oily speech and cod-fish eyes Who thought we still might compromise Who quoted Christ the truly meek And stuff about the other cheek! Although my nerves grew quite unstrung, I was your guest I held my tongue. [19] But now Dear Madam here today I m not your guest I ll have my say! We ll cull the cotton from the flax And get right down to plain brass tacks. American of course you are! You ve bought your bonds to push the war, You ve done your Red Cross work perhaps, Sewed bandages for soldier chaps And yet the issues of our State And of our country s very fate Are hushed forsooth that there might be No strain nor breach of courtesy Beneath your roof. I ask of you Where is your deference mostly due? To alien folk who hold no part In our great, throbbing, national heart? And he your babbling Pacifist Who quotes his Christ and dares insist On respite from this war s alarms By meekly laying down our arms! Is that the Christ who put to rout The money-changers drove them out! Would such a Christ condone, I say, Such crimes as are abroad today? Would such a Christ e er countenance Those beasts who raped and ravished France ? Would such a Christ yield one small jot To this man s peace-schemes? I think not! [20] Then Madam would it no be fit To have your house cleaned up a bit? We are at war and want to see The unconditional loyalty Of every home. Twill not avail A courtesy of sliding scale. Raise high the emblem of your land Let no man wonder where you stand. Let none who cross your threshold, dare To dim those stars or make less fair Those flaming stripes. That clarion call Bids for no "bit" it wants your all ! Your country s splendid womanhood Has answered "Aye." Will YOU make good? [21] Let It Wait WHAT ho ! Stop a moment American Man! Just what are you doing today? You ll pardon my somewhat impertinent tone, But then well, we all have our way. Are you working on something you could set aside On some sort of notion no doubt, That you and your friends and the country at large Could exist for a moment without? Is there anything you could be doing just now Before it s too hopelessly late Is there anything you could put off for a spell? Well then my good man let it wait! Let it wait! Are you planning improvements a sky scraper, say That s going to take labor and steel [22] Or investing the outlay your government needs, Putting that in an automobile? Are your spare hours of energy going to waste ? Have you let all your talents be seen? Have you looked for the hole where your screw will slide in To the cogs of our national machine ? Man alive ev ry screw we must have so come through Before it s too hopelessly late Ev ry screw is of use if you ve got an ex cuse Well then put it by let it wait! Let it wait! If your house were on fire would you stop to play bridge? Or hope with a small china bowl To dash enough water to conquer the flames And get the thing under control? Well the world is in flames and it s working this way, And the only back-fire that will tell, [23] Is the uttermost measure of blood and of sweat For we re fighting the furies of Hell! Is there gold you could lend is there time you could spend Before it s too hopelessly late Then cut out your dreams and your little pet schemes And do in God s name let them wait ! Let them wait ! [24] The Hands that Drive the Needles OH the knitters have you seen them? Why they re knitting ev rywhere, Knitting helmets, sweaters, wristlets for the soldier-boys to wear, And those who don t are learning how and those who won t I guess, Will soon be driven to it from their very loneliness. There s a mighty nation knitting ev ry pre cious hour away A million homes a-knitting at the olive and the gray, With a work-bag for equipment and a ball or two and skein And a twitching pair of needles stitching endless chain on chain A-twitching and a-stitching while the wool in endless tons Is a-twisted into comfys for the boys behind the guns. Though I m skittish on statistics I would venture there s enough Of knitting done each day to yield sufficient woolen stuff [25] To make a sleeveless sweater and a helmet to array The statue of Old Liberty down there in New York Bay Together with the wristlets and a couple extra pairs Of socks, though she d not need them with the drapery she wears. Oh they re knitting on the mountains and they re knitting on the plains, They re knitting on the street-cars and they re knitting on the trains, They re knitting, knitting, knitting on a uni versal plan From Dallas up to Bangor from Atlanta to Spokane. They re knitting at the theatres and at the movie shows, At lectures and recitals and I venture there are those Who go to bed a knitting till the shades of dreamland creep, When I s pose they re just as likely to keep knitting in their sleep. And the pious and the worldly and the almost half-way good They re knitting, knitting, knitting in a common sister-hood. [26] And whether at a cabaret or at high mass it s one! And they may talk who will but say the knitting s being done. And the helmets and the sweaters and the wristlets they don t care Who knit em if they fit em when they git em over there! Oh there s comedy in knitting if you choose to have it so, There may be petty vanities and there is pain I know, But it s love that drives the needles and it s love that keeps alive A nation s tireless interest in the everlasting drive ! And the mothers of the nation they are knitting everywhere, A weaving with their knitting each a silent, fervent prayer For a loved one in the trenches out upon the bleak terrain, In Flanders when it s freezing or Flanders swamped in rain. A prayer that those soft woolen things will keep her laddie warm, That He in some strange wondrous way will shield her boy from harm. [27 "Oh Father God" that heart cries out it rings through Heaven s Halls, "Oh Father God who knowest when a little sparrow falls, Oh Lord of Hosts and Battles of Gentle ness and Might, Hear thou and harken to me now be with our boy tonight. Lord give him strength and hardihood through service to withstand The driving cold the long fatigue that duty may demand. Wherever he is at this time, tell him oh God above, The message of a mother s heart the yearning and the love. And when the guns belch death along the reeking battle s rim, Oh may no swift-borne messenger be there to challenge him. Hear thou my plea oh God, and hear all those who come to Thee Above all, Lord, the mothers who have loved ones o er the sea." Oh who shall say the knitters have not done a noble thing That their knitting will not figure in the final reckoning, 28 ] When the battling, blood-soaked nations shall their destinies fulfill, And the Voice that stilled the tempest shall again say, "Peace be still!" And the hands that drove the needles for the boys beneath the sod Shall be raised in supplication to the great, white throne of God? Will He not hear their pleading for a peace that will be worth All the lives that bled and suffered for a weary world s re-birth ? 29] De Profundis AN ambulance crashed down the road And halted with its shattered load, From off the hooks they took them then Those racks that rocked the wrecks of men. One s face was swathed in blood-soaked bands Quite still he lay with pallid hands. Quickly the bandage was unwound The scarlet rag dropped to the ground. The young Field-Surgeon shook his head "Poor chap he d been far better dead It s tough the way he ll have to grope He caught it in the periscope." And this was over there in France The Surgeon and the ambulance Are working yet perhaps. The man Is struggling with life s altered plan, Learning with others how to grope And shift without a periscope. A simple word five letters B-L-I-N-D! Yet can you grasp it in your mind And read the truth the truth exact The overwhelming, awful fact? [30] Just close your eyes and try to go With hands out-stretched quite helpless so! You move you touch a table here With what timidity and fear! Five minutes try it make it ten, Then picture all those wretched mn And multiply the many fears Of your brief moment with their years. You knew the darkness would all go The moment that you willed it so. Suppose that inky, velvet plane Were always there? Again, again You craved for one faint ray of light Your answer was eternal night! All those familiar forms you knew The flowers that danced the sky s deep blue The radiance of each fond face Eyes bright with love must all give place To pictured memories the kind They know who go forever blind. Oh they ve paid well the men who gave Their warm, white flesh and blood to save Their ravished France who strove to tell Their love by sacrifice. They have paid well! [31] The hammer on the auction block Of battle, rings. Gassed lungs and shock And shattered limbs such bids are dear! But hold a space the auctioneer Awaits a greater sacrifice For Liberty two mortal eyes! Oh comrade would you cast some spark Of light in that eternal dark? Help to instill some vital power To battle with each endless hour? Teach him to work to know content Who only knew discouragement? Then give those fighting men of France Who grope, some hope some fighting chance. Give well let not your gifts be staid The helpers wait they need your aid. A voice from out the darkness cries "What will YOU give? WE gave our EYES!" [32] A Definition of Sedition WHEN William Jenkins comes to me And in his ramblin way says he, "D ye know somehow it gets my goat To see the way our nation s boat Jest bumps around while bein run By them chaps down in Washington. Now take some job that at a glance Needs years of broad experience They saddle it on some poor boob Whose head is like a hollow tube, And fore you know the cable s foul And all the country s on a howl! With woods chockful of expert gents From Gen rals to Ex-presidents Who willingly would give a lift But all that s left them is to shift Around and agitate or spout To help the Red Cross workers out!" When William Jenkins airs his views On politics and war-zone news, While droppin in to have a bite, I say "Well Will perhaps you re right!" [33] When Williams Jenkins comes to me The followin Friday and says he, "Now look at them committees how It s fume and fuss, discuss and row And all them bottoms to be made Why man! the way they ve been delayed! And why in Heaven s name don t they Light on some dead-sure, certain way Of squelchin strikes that s where we re cursed, Once get them fixed, we re through the worst." When William Jenkins takes a turn Like this and lets his genius burn While droppin in to have a bite, I say "Well Will perhaps you re right And then again perhaps you re not! For how on earth do we know what The cards are that are spread out there Before the presidential chair? Don t you suppose they ve got to chew A lot of grist that s kept from you ? A government most any dunce Can run until he s tried it once!" That s how I hand it out to Will Sometimes when he has said his fill. 34] But When Heinrich Sneider comes to me And in his loud-mouthed way says he, "Now when the Lusitania sank, We only had ourselves to thank! We have no cause as I can see, To be at war with Germany. Who s this war for for me and you? It s for the profiteer that s who ! And what right has a nation got To send its men out to be shot? The President why one good look Would show him up to be a crook!" Well! If Heinrich Sneider got that far a With his prologue the chances are That I might say "Perhaps, old chap, You d better close your lyin trap Right tight and now or else by Heck, I ll break your goldarned Teuton neck!" [35] The Vultures OH what is war to a lot of folk? Does it mean Til bear the heavy yoke Of sacrifice and share the pain, And though my soul break neath the strain, I ll starve if starving bring to me And to my children Liberty!" Does it mean "Take me and be my task A big or little thing, I ask But this take me ! If it should be To die yet still I ask take me ! To plunge into that bloody Hell To wade through fire and gas and shell Is that my task Then still I ask Take me ! " Oh what is war to a lot of folk? Does it spell these things with its heavy yoke? It does not! To some, alas, this war we re in Is not a thing to fight and win [36] It s just a signal to begin To reach around and grab the tin To give as little gain as much, And fill a fist with every clutch. "In war-times why a man s a fool To traffic by the golden rule. The profiteer must have his fling And while the stinging s good I ll sting. I ll fill my wallet till it s crammed, And as for you well you be damned !" That s what war means to lots of folk A ghastly, grizzly, greedy joke! By what name shall we call these things These human shapes with vultures wings? You can not tell him by his looks, For honest faces cover crooks But whether he is one of those Who loads the dice he knows, he knows ! While through his veins the toxine flows The lust of pelf the greed that grows And ends in self. Perhaps his dice Are pies half-sized, but not the price. Perchance he fattens up his roll With slate and rubbish sold for coal. Or else his lair s an office where He sits ensconced on tilted chair [37] A-juggling through some shipping deal That smacks of bolts and men and steel. Mayhap the poison has encoiled The soul of him who one time toiled And gave his best an artisan, Now scheming with his slacker clan To clutch his nation s \\rist and hold It till the palm gives up more gold. Oh God! That cravens such as these Are spawned by war s necessities ! [38] The Cross of Red Dedicated to the Oregon Association for the Pre vention of Tuberculosis, Christmas, Nineteen- seventeen. KNOW you the seal that s going round A cross of red on ermine ground ? A cross of red upon a tree The emblem of humanity. You can t pass by that cross of red It waves you to a million dead, Who wasting, wasting day by day, Forlorn of hope, passed on their way. It points you to a million gone And hordes who still are tramping on, Who follow ever, one and all, The grinning piper s hollow call. His face is cowled while dread disease Lurks in those folds that flaunts the breeze. On swings the piper, piping free, Wan souls into eternity. Oh you who have that which would stay The piper on his ruthless way, Come buy our seals that we may give A stricken brother chance to live. 39 Oh wait no longer see the throng, Way-weary souls who march along, Who may not tarry down the track Then speed your gifts and bring them back. But you have given of your store Generously? Well then give more. The war you say has burrowed deep, These charities at home will keep. From camp to camp, a tramping he Pipes on with death-like minstrelsy, And with his piping he Will fare Across the fields of Flanders there, And through the chill and through the damp They ll join the throng with tramp, tramp, tramp. See how they re swinging into line Look closer there your boy and mine. Oh you who chance to read this rhyme About a cross at Christmas time, God grant you may be moved to feel The meaning of that little seal With mute appeal may it awake Man s big enobling heart to make Some human gift that in His eyes May prove a worthy sacrifice. [401 Number Three A TTENTION there ! Let trumpets *V blare! Thunder ye drums and boom ! Make way I say make way today For Liberty ! Make room ! You ve heard that war-cry twice before And now you re hearing it once more! There s much that sounds like old refrain ? You ll hear it still and still again ! You ll hear it cried aloud until A Kaiser s will s reduced to nill ! For Liberty another loan! Mark how it rhymes with crimes unknown, With widow s groan and orphan s moan, With homes laid low stone heaped on stone, With carrion and bleaching bone, And trusting God with shattered throne ! Tonight the lights along Broadway Will blazon forth the cabaret And song and dance will hold their sway And wine will flow to music gay [41] And merry as the month of May, And gold unstinted there will pay For each Alladin s feast ! But stay, Is there no jarring note that rings Up through this din of carnal things And brings us to a vantage where We see that des late World out there ? Another Loan ! For Liberty ! Come then your gold for number three. You are not asked to GIVE God grant Your country is no mendicant! You re LENDING it to help set right A world distraught lending your mite! Oh man at home could you do less To stem this tide of frightfulness? Attention there! Let trumpets blare! Thunder ye drums and boom! Make way I say make way today For Liberty ! Make room ! [42] Lieutenant Lutie s Cootie THERE S a tale about a cootie how he did his little stunt When he heard the call to duty on the Flanders battle-front. Not a beauty was this cootie just a com mon little coot Who had taken up his quarters on a rather raw recruit, In his boot where the coot, so minute, loved to root Till a Teut chanced to shoot the recruit laid him mute, And the coot so minute absolutely min ute Had to scoot round and root for a suite in some suit. "Just to think," said the coot, "what a bum piece of luck When you ve got a good thing then to find that you re stuck ! To have thunk you were snug as a bug in your bunk Then your home it is plugged with a slug Gee it s punk!" [43] Then it s up and it s out and it s chase round about For a krinkle-rink-chink on a khaki-clad scout. "Oh it s worse than a curse," said the coot, "it s a plague !" And he hopped on the top of a Lieutenant s leg, And he didn t say "howdy" and he didn t salute im, For the gay little rowdy knew the Lieut Would root im. t Now Lieutenant Lewis Lutie, he had slewn a slew of cooties Tutie-fruities, Cuties-cuties were the nick names of the beauties That he clutched in fiendish passion till their little souls would cash in, While the whiz-bangs and the shrapnel o er the dug-outs went a-crashin. Oh the cooties Lutie smote and oh the way they got his goat As he punched em, claw d and crunched em twas his only antidote, For no potion, drug nor lotion pharmaceu tical could floor Those progressive little parties on the cuti cle he wore. [44] While the cooties looted Lutie, he was wait ing the command To take the first-line trenches t other side of No-man s Land. Though bravely he dissembled, yet he trembled in each peg, And the newly-quartered cootie caught the tremor in his leg. " Twill never do this nervousness," the little cootie said, "The way he s bobbing round I fear he ll surely loose his head!" No sooner had he spoken thus, than sud denly there fell Upon his ear the distant shriek of an ap proaching shell. He heard the whiz saw Lutie s phiz above the parapet "Oh Lord !" the cootie said, "that boob will surely get it yet! Why don t he duck? Why won t he duck? If he should stop that shell I ll have to up and move again oh say, this life is Hell ! You must not sell yourself so cheap Lieu tenant Lewis Lutie, I tell you this though I am but an uncouth little cootie. [45] Your country needs you so do I oh duck ! oh duck I say!" And then that coot, he stuck his snoot in Lutie s fleshly clay. Lute gave a jook he grabbed that coot he held the precious booty, The shell whizzed by Lute did not die the coot had done his duty. "Alas!" said Lute, "you re so minute, your chest would scarcely bear Such fearful weight should I instate you with the Croix de Guerre! And since you are so wee, you see my mascot you shall be Nor ever scoot away, my coot, but root your snoot in me." Thus Lutie spake as he did take and stuck him tenderly Back on the spot where he was caught just underneath the knee. He was a humble cootie but his courage didn t lag When he came to do his duty for himself and for his flag. [+6] A Mother Speaks I GIVE you my boy I may do no less Flesh of my flesh I give. I give you my boy with his fair young life, I bid him go forth to the bloody strife, My heart it is torn with a two-edged knife Life is so sweet to live. I give you my boy oh thou gracious Christ Pardon these burning tears. I give you my boy in his princely power, My laddie but come to his manhood s flower, With love with ideals of a golden hour Greeting the dawn of years. I give you my boy will you give him back Clean as the lad I knew Or will he return if this thing should be, Coarse-fashioned and brutal estranged from me, Forgotten the dreams and the beast set free He whom I gave to you ? 147 I give you my boy should the reaper call Truce on an alien sod, My strength it will come for the great, dark way, But where is the strength that will ever stay That bitterest grief when men would slay The soul that has walked with God? [41] He Struck HE struck ! So did ten thousand more Mechanics and the like Big burly chaps machinists some They all walked out on strike. He struck ! So did ten thousand more Aye more than that. They struck Because their over-lord and they Had come to grips and stuck. They struck because the ship-yard man Refused to pay them more, Though what they got was big compared With what they drew before. And so they packed their tool-chests up And cursed their rotten luck And marched back to their little homes The homes that had not struck. And all that giant wicker-work Upon the dry-docks there, Was left about just where it stood Somewhat up in the air. While Britain, France and Italy Were holding Teutons back, The ships of hope they waited for Were hanging on the rack. [49] He struck and loitered round the streets, Discoursed with idle men, Until the Union and the Ships Could come to terms again. The soup grew thin so did the kids, The bills kept coming in, And she who bore the brunt just prayed That work would soon begin. * He struck! His brother volunteered. He entered for the strife Gave all his service and threw in A big chance on his life. He took his training went across, Was killed shelled through the cheek. The other brother s back to work They came to terms last week. [50] On Some Tomorrow ON some tomorrow when it comes How soon none may forsee, There will be men and women met In social company. One man will wear an armless sleeve And sitting near to him A comrade blind and still a third With crutch and shattered limb. There will be talk of field and trench, Of battles in the air, Of conflicts and of charges and Of men who are not there. And others will be welcome to That circle with the rest, Who strove through those dark hours of trial To live and give their best. [51 And those who heard and answered not Who gave no jot away Will find but little interest in The talk of men that day. On some tomorrow when it comes How soon none may forsee, There will be men and women met What will your welcome be? 152] f. A 000 9fi4 7 """" ^OH /oy