THE FLAG GOES BY.
"The Flag Goes By" is included out of regard to a boy of eleven years
who pleased me by his great appreciation of it. It teaches the lesson
of reverence to our great national symbol. It is published by
permission of the author, Henry Holcomb Bennett, of Ohio. (1863-.)
Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
A flash of colour beneath the sky:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!
Blue and crimson and white it shines
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines.
Hats off!
The colours before us fly;
But more than the flag is passing by.
Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great,
Fought to make and to save the State:
Weary marches and sinking ships;
Cheers of victory on dying lips;
Days of plenty and years of peace;
March of a strong land's swift increase;
Equal justice, right, and law,
Stately honour and reverend awe;
Sign of a nation, great and strong
Toward her people from foreign wrong:
Pride and glory and honour,--all
Live in the colours to stand or fall.
Pages:
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155