Rhymes of the Rookies | Page 4

put to the test,?To "win in the stretch,"--on that you can bet.
So here's to the "Sixteenth Cavalry,"?The youngest of Cavalry "mounts;"?He hasn't a "Past" and a "Pedigree,"?But 's "all-horse,"--and that is what counts!
HIKING IN THE PHILIPPINES
(From a Marine's Diary)
(A ONE-DAY HIKE)
Rise and Shine, the bugle's calling!?Spring up lively from your beds!?Into line we'll soon be falling--?Shake a leg, you sleepy heads!
Better make a hasty toilet,?Like the other fellows do,?For I'll guarantee you'll spoil it,?Long before the day is thru!
Better see the shoes you're wearing?Have a heavy pair of soles;?Or you'll do some awful swearing?When the rocks come thru the holes!
Have your canteen filled and ready?Haversack swung on your belt,?Where it will swing good and steady?And its weight is scarcely felt!
At your breakfast don't you hurry--?Eat another dish of beans;?For you'll need it--don't you worry--?Hiking in the Philippines!
Up the dusty road we've started--?Rout Step--walking at our ease;?Soon the even lines are parted--?All are walking as they please.
Long before the sun has ambled?O'er the green hills on our right,?Far along the road we've rambled?In the early morning light.
Thru the narrow trail we're walking,?Sticking to the narrow path.?Just behind us some are talking,?'Way ahead we hear a laugh.
Now a slender bridge we're crossing,?Over to a "goo-goo" farm--?Where a Carabao is tossing?Up his head, in great alarm.
Here we stop to rest a trifle--?Sip a drop from our canteens.?Gee! It's tough to "pack" a rifle--?Hiking in the Philippines.
'Round the narrow path we're turning;?Tho it's early morning, yet.?Down the sun is fiercely burning--?Bringing out the drops of sweat!
Where the tropic trees are shading?Out the sunlight overhead?Leggings, shoes and all, we're wading?Thru a shallow river-bed.
You can hear the bamboo cracking?Underneath our heavy tread,?While the forest trails we're tackling--?Following, where we are lead.
You have got to be a Hiker?To keep up with these Marines,?Not a big four-flush or piker--?Hiking in the Philippines!
Where the big mangoes are growing,?We have halted--Stacking Arms,?Far away, a rooster's crowing?On one of the native farms.
Under branches of big palm trees,?We are resting easy now--?Welcoming the cooling sea breeze?While we're waiting for our Chow.
Plainest fare is a fiesta?When you've Hiked for half a day;?And a little noon siesta?Helps to pass the time away!
Like a ribbon all unraveled?Starts the line at half past two,?There are new trails to be traveled?Back to old Olongapo!
THE MOUNTAIN BATTERY SONG
1.
Fall in. Fall in. Attention, you red-legged mountaineers, With your gun and pack and box of tack, "non-coms." and cannoneers, Baptized in Mindanao, beside the Sulu Sea.?Here's How, and How, how, how, to a mountain battery.?Here's How, and How, how, how, to a mountain battery.
2.
I'd rather be a soldier with a mule and mountain gun?Than a Knight of old with spurs of gold, a Roman, Greek or Hun, For when there is trouble brewing they always send for me To start the row with a row, row, row, from a mountain battery. To start the row with a row, row, row, from a mountain battery.
Here's to pack and aparejo, the cradle, gun trail,?And that darned old fool, the battery mule, that was never known to fail. So raise your glasses high and drink this toast with me:?Here's How, and How, how, how, to a mountain battery.?Here's How, and How, how, how, to a mountain battery.
THE CAVALRY SONG
Come, listen unto this song, I'm as happy as can be,?I'm masher and dasher in the U. S. Cavalrie;?I stand up straight with legs apart; bowed slightly at the knee, With folded arms across my chest, 'tis the pose of the Cavalrie.
Chorus:
So fill your glasses to the brim?And brace your courage with slow gin,?I will tell you all it is a sin?To serve in the Infantrie.
I'm a cavalryman so fierce and bold, a soldier thru and thru, I ride a horse because of course 'tis the proper thing to do. I wear my spurs both night and day that every one may see. Whatever else I might have been, I'm not in the Infantrie.
We went to fight the China horde with sabre, horse and gun. We'd meet them and we'd beat them just the way it should be done; But we left our horses, corn and hay out on the ships in Taku Bay And consequently had to stay while the dough boys hiked away.
I'm a man of experience, I've been to Fort Monroe,?I've garrisoned Fort Hamilton and the Presidio.?I went out to the Philippines and in the Walled Citie.?I fought the Filipino War in the Coast Artillerie.
Chorus:
So make way for the red stripe man,?The pride of our armee?And let him tell the glories of?The Coast Artillerie.
About another soldier man I'd like to say a word:?He's neither fish nor flesh nor fowl, but he is a bird,?He finds his way o'er foreign seas by sun and moon and star, But he could not find his way across the Island of Samar.
Chorus:
So make way for the