With the Colors | Page 5

Swift as the eagle that drives a lamb to death

She whipped a hat-pin
from her dainty hat,
Drove it with steady aim
Into the baby's heart

And handed back to the gulping man
All that was left of what had
once meant joy--
A dead baby with red bubbles on its lips!
THE 'SKEETER FLEET

Mighty little doin'--yet a lot to do--
While the navy's standin' guard,
we are lookin' out;
Patrol boats in shoals, good old craft and new

Hustle here and skitter there--what's it all about?
Speed boats and slow boats
Loaf around or run,
But ev'ry unit of
this fleet
Mounts a wicked gun!
Pleasure craft a-plenty, all dolled up in gray
Grim and ugly war-paint
dress, we're a gloomy lot,
Slidin' in and out, never in the way.
Gosh!
It's wearin' on the nerves, waitin' round--for what?
Some boats are bum boats,
Layin' for the Hun--
But ev'ry boat that
flies our Flag
Mounts a wicked gun!
Stickin' for the Big Show! Will it ever start?
When it does, Good
night, Irene! We won't make a squeak.
"Boy Scouts of the Sea,"
watch us do our part
If a raider or a sub. gives us just a peek!
Tin boats and wood boats--
Ev'ry single one
Longs to get in action
with
Its wicked little gun!
LITTLE MOTHER
_Little mother, little mother, with the shadows in your eyes And the icy
hand of Fear about your heart,
You cannot help your boy prepare to
make his sacrifice
Unless you make yours bravely, at the start!_
He is training, as a million others train;
He is giving what the others
give--their best;
Make him feel your faith in him, though your
troubled eyes grow dim; Let him know that you can stand the acid test!
Because he's joined the colors--he's not dead!
Because he's found his
duty--he's not lost!
Through your mother-love, my dear, keep him
steady, keep him near To the soul he loves--your soul--whate'er the
cost!

You're not alone in heartaches or in doubts;
All mothers feel this
burden newly coined;
Then call your trembling pride to your
colors--to your side-- "Be a sport!" and make him glad that he has
joined!
_Little mother, little mother, with the shadows in your eyes And the icy
hand of Fear about your heart,
There is this that you can do: "Play the
game"; there honor lies. Now your boy and country need you--do your
part!_
SOLDIERS OF THE SOIL
It's a high-falutin' title they have handed us;
It's very complimentary
an' grand;
But a year or so ago they called us "hicks," you know--

An' joshed the farmer and his hired hand!
Now it's, "Save the country, Farmer!
Be a soldier of the soil!
Show
your patriotism, pardner,
By your never-ending toil."
So we're
croppin' more than ever,
An' we're speedin' up the farm;
Oh, it's
great to be a soldier--
A sweatin', sun-burnt soldier,--
A soldier in
the furrows--
Away from "war's alarm!"
While fightin' blight and blister,
We hardly get a chance
To read
about our "comrades"
A-doin' things in France.
To raise the grub to
feed 'em
Is some job, believe me--plus!
And I ain't so sure a
soldier--
A shootin', scrappin' soldier,
That's livin' close to dyin'--

Ain't got the best of us!
But we'll harrer and we'll harvest,
An' we'll meet this new demand

Like the farmers always meet it--
The farmers--and the land.
An' we
hope, when it is over
An' this war has gone to seed,
You will know
us soldiers better--
Th' sweatin', reapin' soldiers,
Th' soldiers that
have hustled
To raise th' grub you need!
It's a mighty fancy title you have given us,
A name that sounds too

fine to really stick;
But maybe you'll forget (when you figure out your
debt)
To call th' man who works a farm a "hick."
THE LADIES' MAN
Billy is a ladies' man; Billy dances fine
(Always was a bear-cat at the
game);
Billy pulls the social stuff all along the line--
But he knows
this business, just the same.
He can march; he can drill
As hard as any rook;
And he knows his
manual
Without his little book.
Maybe he was soft at first--ev'rybody's that;
Golfing was his hardest
labor then;
Now he's in the Service (where you don't grow fat),

Digging, drilling, like us other men.
He can eat, he can sleep
Like any healthy brute--
And the Captain
says that Billy-boy
Is learning how to shoot!
When he joined the Training Camp, Billy says, "No doubt,
I will
draw some clerical position;"
But he's shown he can _command_;
so--the news is out--
He will get a regular commission!
He can talk; he can dance
(He is still the ladies' pet)
But the way he
barks his orders out
Gets _action_, you c'n bet!
COOKIE JIM
The capting says, says he to us:
"Your duty is to do your best;
We
can't ALL lead in this here muss,
So mind your job! That is the test

O' soldierin',
O' soldierin'--
To mind your job, while soldierin'!"
When Jimmy joined the colors first, he knowed that soon he'd be A
non-com. officer,--oh, sure, he had that idee firm;
But Jimmy got
another think, fer quite eventually
They had him workin' like a Turk,
th' pore, astonished worm.

The rest of us, we gotta