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o tent and trench. "To arms!" and Philip heard the cry. Not his the valor cheap and small To bluster with brave phrase, and fly When trumpet-blare and rifle-ball Proclaimed the time for words gone by! Men knew their chieftain. He had borne Their insolence through struggling years, And they---the dastards, the forsworn-- Who had ransacked the hemispheres For instruments to wreak their scorn On him and all of kindred speech, Gathered around him with his friends, And with stern plaudits heard him preach A gospel whose stupendous ends Their martyred blood could only reach. They gave him honor far and wide, As one who backed his word by deed; And he whose task had been to guide, Was chosen by reclaim to lead The men who gathered at his side. The crook was banished for the glave; The churchman's black for soldier-blue; The man of peace became a brave; And, in the dawn of conflict, drew His sword his country's life to save. XIX. They came from mead and mountain-top; They came from factory and forge; And one by one, from farm and shop-- Still gravel to the Northman's gorge-- Followed the servile Ethiop. Gaunt, grimy men, whose ways had been Among the shadows and the slums, With pedagogue and paladin, Rushed, at the rolling of the drums, To Philip, and were mustered in! The beat of drum and scream of fife, Commingling with the thundering tramp Of trooping throngs, so changed the life Of the calm village that the camp, And what it prophesied of strife, And hap of loss and hap of gain, Became of every tongue the theme; Till burning heart and throbbing brain Could waking think, and sleeping dream, Of naught but battles and the slain. XX. With eager eyes and helpful hands The women met in solemn crowds, And shred the linen into bands That had been better saved for shrouds, Or want's imperious demands. And with them all sad Mildred walked, The bearer of a heavy cross; For at her side the phantom stalked-- Nor left her for an hour--of loss Which by no fortune might be balked. For one or all she loved must fall; One cause must perish in defeat; Success of either would appall, And victory, however sweet To others, would to her be gall. To each, with equal heart allied, Her love was like the love of God, That wraps the country in its tide, A
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