The Vigilantes

“ Is all our world upon a counter laid?
That is their taunt who say they know us well.
Then, like true merchants, let us to our trade;
What wares has God to sell?
A world at liberty, a path made clear
For steadfast justice and enduring peace,
Nations released forever from the fear
Of evil days like these—
A sound investment! but . . . the price is high.
Long-hoarded wealth in ruin, flame and steel,
Death lurking in the sea and in the sky—
What say you? Shall we deal? ”

“ We fight for righteousness alone.
O God, who knowest all the making
Of noble vows—and all their breaking—
Grant that our word be never broken,
Our banner never overthrown.
Give us to keep without misprision
The truth our souls have understood,
Clean above hatred and derision,
Strong through our evil days and good.
To love life's worth, not life's preserving,
More than success to honor serving,
Faithful forever to our vision
Of liberty and brotherhood. ”

“ Jack Poilu he's a true lad, as Papa Joffre has tried;
John Bull he is another, and he marches Jack beside;
And Yankee Doodle joins with them—three brothers, God for guide:
Vive l'Amerique! l'Angleterre! la France!
Vive la—Vive la France!
Praying!—What are they praying, there, for?
Dieu! Seigneur! A ton Esprit la gloire!
The Peace of Justice reign forever more!
Vive l'Esprit de la France!
We are marching in alliance that our faith may be restored;
We are fighting, we are cheering, for a nobler world-accord ”

“ Give no truce nor sign of respite at the binding of the Beast.
He is cunning, he is strong, and the war shall yet be long,
Where the seven thunders wake and the walls of heaven shake.
He is cruel, blind and ruthless; he is boastful, sly and truthless;
By his will the Powers of Darkness are increast;
But the shackle and the chain shall avenge the hurt and slain,
Who have broken bread with heroes at the binding of the Beast. ”

“ You who can sneer
(God pardon you!) at him and at his like,
Walking so proudly in your nobler ways—
Are you as faithful to humanity
As he to France? Do the stern tests of peace
Awake the God in you, as war in him? ”

“ The steadfast will that faces and overpowers fear,
If in the perilous hour of Freedom's mortal fight
He fails to dare his all for God and for the right—
Mother, your love has crippled the soul it strove to shield. ”

“ Yes, let us not weaken, but let us grow bolder,
And rally and sally with—"shoulder to shoulder!"
Shoulder to shoulder! Each man in his might!
Shoulder to shoulder! We fight for the right!
The land of our love—may our courage enfold her! ”

“ Who seeks to poison all of human-kind,
And snarl above a ravaged world alone.
They wait the flag—that sign that shall be shown
To prove that with them—one in might and mind—
Their mates from over-sea, long held behind
Strive with them where the foremost lines are thrown. ”

“ Do we come to our deed at last.
We have weighed our will, we must do our will,
For the doubting-time is past.
We have faced our souls in the sleepless night,
And what shall we fear but sin?
Not for love of the fight, but for love of the right,
In the name of our God—"Fall in!" ”

“ Sides with his children's hope against the wraith
Of his own childhood, hails the Starry Banner
As emblem of his country now, to-morrow;
A patriot by duty, not by birth.
The costliest loyalty has purest worth. ”

“ To smooth the scarred and broken earth, and plant
The fields again. But—if we must—
We'll deal first with those war-lords, break
Their knees and bring them to the dust.
For France's sake
We'll fight until we drop. ”

“ Where death like some mad reaper hacks down the living grain—
They shall see our flag arise like a glory in the skies—
The stars of it, the bars of it, that prove it once again
The new flag, the true flag, that does not come in vain! ”

“ Sword of high righteousness, wrong overthrowing!
Shout we, America hath girt on her sword!
Clear, brave, the echoes dart! Our message is sounding:
Safe be the Rule of the People, O Lord!
Safe through the world, all injustice confounding! ”

“ How we love her and the good she brings
On broad, benignant wings!
And we have clung to her—how close and long,
While she has made us strong!
Now we must guard her lest her power cease,
And in the harried world be no more peace. ”

“ Not for affronted power,
Not for a scurrile hope of gain,
Not for the pride of an hour,
Not for vengeance, hot in the heart,
Now do we swing to war;
Not for a weak mistrust lest peace
Is a shame strong men abhor. ”

“ Hands around the world!
Fling the married colors out,
Never to be furled;
Till the power of Light prevailing,
Vict'ry's heights in triumph scaling,
Sees the power of Darkness, failing,
Down in ruin hurled. ”

“ Tune now your wakening pulses to the throbbing of the drum,
While God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat ”

“ Dare to be great and wise;
Dare to be valiant with the valor still
That echoes from the crest of Bunker Hill;
The valor that gave Grant and Lee their fame
After the battle-flame;
The valor that has kept our country whole
While the clean years unroll;
The valor that has giv'n us all body, and heart, and soul! ”

“ Do we trust these guests today who have known our best,—
These who wrought with us in peace, walked with us in kindness,
These shall never fail us when men's souls are at the test,
These shall guard the honor of the House that gave them rest. ”

“ Sons of America, uphold the right!
Kingdoms may pass away in tumult resounding,
Thrones and dominions may crumble and fall;
Now, while Humanity the great Advance is sounding,
Sons of America, obey the call! ”

“ You cannot change the written scroll
Nor alter the charted plan,
Ever must moaning women quail
And man make war on man;
Out of strength must sweetness come—
Out of sacrifice
We melt the metal and forge the key
To enter Paradise. ”

“ What you gave to the world in your hour of woe?
Born of courage, and doomed to stress,
A man for the tasks of men—no less!
Mothers of women, can you not feel
What all the signs of your life reveal? ”

“ But the inalienable truths of Liberty!
Acclaim your triumph pæan over Might,
Your call for justice, and the overthrow
Of all the hordes that fight against the Right!—
Blow, O ye bugles, valiant bugles, blow! ”

“ Tore at Belgium's throat to reach the throat of France.
No, by Heaven! It's because
They are traitors to all laws
Made by God to curb the Devil's arrogance.
They are traitors to humanity, no less!
They acknowledge nothing nobler than their will
To conquer and subject
All peoples who respect
The Holy Vow man struggles to fulfil. ”

“ To help God's Kingdom come. . . .
And we— (O God,
Thou knowest why!) who have no sons to give,
We lend our gold that shall be paid again
With interest. So small a thing it seems!
And yet—these are the savings of our life,
And there is nothing petty in Thy sight. ”

“ There's a call for him that's louder every minute;
There's a hungry world that he can help to feed.
There's a fight without a gun that is waiting for your son
Where the enemy's the vermin and the weed. ”

“ The Providence that destined we should roam
Gave us wherewith to pay.
We shall arrive if nobly we aspire,
And spending flesh to buy the spirit free,
Pay with our bodies for our souls' desire
For perfect liberty. ”

“ And who can say the Country needs them not?
Not for us all the right to rise and go
To unknown Terror over haunted seas—
Yet all shall reap as We-At-Home shall sow—
And thus we serve—unto the least of these! ”

“ Moneyed men who make big guns
Bribed the Huns;
And when Belgium was invaded,
It was they did
Stir up Belgians to resist,
Just to twist
The Lion's tail—till "War!"
He must roar.
Then the millionaires of
Saw their chance
To make millions making shells! ”

“ There is not any way but this!
I would not shirk the joy of strife,
Nor lose one flash of perfect death
For sluggard years of coward life.
My breath, which is God's gift to me,
Exulting waits His high behest ”

“ She has the strength to suffer and endure.
God's ruthless Questions will not find her dumb;
Her Answers will be noble. Let them come.
"Are you for ease or honor?" "I am for
The rights of living men, in peace or war."
"Will you make good that boast through days of gloom?" ”

“ When the rattle of drums is gone at last,
What is there stays behind?—
Not a thing remains behind.
'Twas our country's very self marched by.
And many a man may fall—
But it's better to live the hour you die
Than never to live at all. ”

“ Then must that rare trombone grow fogged and cease,
That wealth of words lie fallow in his wallet;
There'll be no more Atrocities of Peace
Committed then by Robert M. La Follette.
Then will the eagle o'er the rostrum shriek
While patriots clasp hands in satisfaction,
"The gentleman from Wisconsin cannot speak—
Rejoice, ye nations! Now we'll get some action!" ”

“ Too mild, too patient!—yet once more forgive
Our faithless greed, young folly, old neglect!
For though we perish from you, you shall live—
Mother!—through humbled daughters who respect,
Through chastened sons who serve you and adore you. ”

“ Using his strength destructive things to bind,
Serving the Fatherland—and, so, mankind,
⁠Safe-guarding Peace with Power.
He stood alone? How lone today he stands,
⁠The eyes of all fixed wondering on him! ”

“ By the trail that leads from the depths
Through the swirl of the Winning Score;
So those of you in the way
Hark to the chant we've spun—
"Give us the open road
Till we find our place in the sun." ”

“ Make good your insolent brag,
Who have staked off the waters at will,
And the honored sea-law have defied,
Going forth to plunder and kill!
You have staked off the waters at will—
What! You yet think to forbid? ”

“ Our patience crumbled, and our anger flamed.
The spirit of the Union, never tamed,
Jumps to the cannon 'mid a nation's cheers,
And marches to take part among its peers.
We aim as straight as we have always aimed. ”

“ Great joy has thrilled the mighty wilderness;
The message of the Lord has come to bless
The souls in bondage: broken is the pride
Of the invincible tyrant who doth ride
On human hearts, and thrones him on distress! ”

“ IN TIME OF DANGER
Blind to danger we have been,
Walking on our wonted ways
Through the drifting of the days,
In and out, and out and in,
To our patriot duty stranger,
Wandering as in a maze,
Blind to danger! ”

“ How many thousands in thy light have died,
Radiant and sweet! now from our banners darts
A greater glory! in our bosoms starts
A deeper joy: so swells the long-pent tide
Of full devotion to thy sacred side,
And from impatient millions doubt departs. ”

“ We are the girls that they left behind.
We are the girls that they left behind them,
Not as of old but to weep and pray,
But with ready hands and with wit to find them
Service fit for the part we play. ”

“ Your parcels shall be neatly tied
With red and white and blue,
And Liberty (most charming, she)
Shall hand them out to you.
Columbia has opened shop
As any lady may,
No better ware is anywhere,
(Come buy, good folk, and pay!) ”

“ De Puyster Jones at twenty-three
Is not a pleasant sight to see;
Although his duds cost many dollars,
From silken socks to five-ply collars,
Though shaved and bathed and deftly scented—
One feels he should have been prevented. ”

“ The Ass pleaded humbly with down-hanging ears,
(Addressing a Jury composed of his peers) :
"Dear friends, that I graze in the meadow is true,
But not without warrant. My course I pursue
By right of a Document sealed with a Seal—
King Solomon's firman which none may repeal."
"Ha!" snarled the Hyena; "but where is your proof?" ”

“ Let's revise it so and thus;
We can jumble any issue, if you'll leave the job to us."
So at last the land grew weary and implored with shrieks and sobs,
"Let our welfare be conducted by some men who know their jobs.
Are our railroads run by poets? Or do cobblers harvest hay?
Then in military matters why should windmills rule the day?"
But the question was so pointed and its moral so direct
That it could not thread the labyrinthine hallways, we suspect,
Leading to the Inner Sanctum of the Crooked Wooden Sword,
Of the Roundabout Committee and the Circumlocution Board. ”

“ America has failed in manners. Is it
A trifle that we lack in etiquette?
Surely 'tis time that we returned the visit
Of Lafayette.
Our social calendar is much neglected,
And "busy" is not always an excuse ”