* *

"The greater sharp will some day find another sharper wit;
It always makes the Devil laugh to see a biter bit;
It takes two Spaniards, any day, to comb a Yankee o'er--
Even two like Don Alonzo Estaban San Salvador."

RETROSPECT

The curtain falls, the plays are done,
To roar of shell and shock of gun;
The scuttled shipping bobs and sways,
In grime and muck of shallow bays.
The tattered ensigns mould'ring lie,
As diving otters bark and cry;
While--in the lee of crumbling piers,
The rotting hulk its decking rears.
Gray, screaming kestrels wheel and sheer,
Above the wasted steering gear.
In moulding kelp and mackerel's sheen,
The blighted log-book hides unseen.
Red flash the beams of northern blaze.
Through beaded clouds of Elmo's haze;
While dim, unkempt, the ghostly crew
Float by, and chant the lesson true!

Sons of the fog-bound Northland; sons of the blinding seas,
If ye would cherish the trust which your fathers left,
Ye must strive--ye must work--without ease.
Strong have your good sires battled, oft have your fathers bled,
If ye would hold up the flag which they've never let sag,
Ye must plod--ye must creep where they've led.
The shimmering icebergs call you; the plunging screw-drums scream,
By shallowing shoals they haul you, to the beat of the walking
beam.
The twisting petrels chatter, as ye drift by the waiting fleet,
In your towering grim, gray Dreadnought,--a king who sneers at
defeat.
While the silken pennons flutter; as the frozen halyards strain;
Comes the growling old-world mutter, the voice of the million
slain:

_Keep to your manly war games; keep to your warrior's play._
_Though the dove of peace is dancing to the sounding truce harp's
lay._
_Arbitrate if you have to; smooth it o'er if you must,_
_But, be prepared for battle, to parry the war king's thrust._
_Don't foster the chip on the shoulder; don't hasten the slap in
the face._
_But, burnish your sword, ere you're older,--the blade of the
ancient race._
_Hark to the deeds of your fathers; cherish the stories I've told,_
_Then--go and do like, if you have to--and die--like a Hero of Old._

Transcriber's Note

Punctuation errors have been repaired. Hyphenation has been made
consistent within the ma