Therefore, down to Armageddon - Let the armies of the old Flags March in silent dread! Death and Life are one to us, Who fight for Quick and Dead! WHAT DID YOU SEE OUT THERE, MY LAD? JOHN OXENHAM What did you see out there, my lad, That has set that look in your eyes? You went out a boy, you have come back a man, "Strange things-and sad-and wonderful· I have been in the sweep of the Reaper's scythe- "I have seen Christ doing Christly deeds; I have grimped to the sod in the hand of God; "I have seen Death blast out suddenly WHAT DID YOU SEE OUT THERE, MY LAD? I have slain like Cain with a blazing brain, "I have lain among the dead, I have seen them killing the wounded ones, "I have seen the Devil in petticoats I have seen great sinners do great deeds, "I have sped through hells of fiery hail, I have heard the whisper of a voice, You've a right to your deep, high look, my lad, And no man looks into His face But he feels it all his days. You've a right to your deep, high look, my lad, 19 Therefore, down to Armageddon Let the armies of the old Flags March in silent dread! Death and Life are one to us, Who fight for Quick and Dead! WHAT DID YOU SEE OUT THERE, MY LAD? JOHN OXENHAM What did you see out there, my lad, That has set that look in your eyes? You went out a boy, you have come back a man, "Strange things—and sad—and wonderful – I have been in the sweep of the Reaper's scythe- "I have seen Christ doing Christly deeds; I have grimped to the sod in the hand of God; "I have seen Death blast out suddenly WHAT DID YOU SEE OUT THERE, MY LAD? 19 I have slain like Cain with a blazing brain, "I have lain among the dead, With no hope but to die; I have seen them killing the wounded ones, I have seen them crucify. "I have seen the Devil in petticoats I have seen great sinners do great deeds, "I have sped through hells of fiery hail, I have heard the whisper of a voice, You've a right to your deep, high look, my lad, And no man looks into His face You've a right to your deep, high look, my lad, AMERICA FIRST1 WOODROW WILSON There is a very great thrill to be had from the memories of the American Revolution, but the American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation, and the duty laid upon us by that beginning is the duty of bringing the things then begun to a noble triumph of completion. For it seems to me that the peculiarity of patriotism in America is that it is not a mere sentiment. It is an active principle of conduct. It is something that was born into the world, not to please it but to regenerate it. It is something that was born into the world to replace systems that had preceded it and to bring men out upon a new plane of privilege. The glory of the men whose memories you honor and perpetuate is that they saw this vision, and it was a vision of the future. It was a vision of great days to come when a little handful of three million people upon the borders of a single sea should have become a great multitude of free men and women spreading across a great continent, dominating the shores of two oceans, and sending West as well as East the influences of individual freedom. These things were consciously in their minds as they framed the great government which was born out of the American Revolution; and every time we gather to perpetuate their memories it is incumbent upon us that we should be worthy of recalling them and that we should endeavor by every means in our power to emulate their example. 1 From a speech delivered at Washington, D. C., before the Daughters of the American Revolution, October 11, 1915. |