322 BRET HARTE
cxix THE REVEILLE
HARK ! I hear the tramp of thousands,
And of armed men the hum; Lo! a nation's hosts have gathered Round the quick alarming drum, Saying, 'Come, Freemen, come !
Ere your heritage be wasted,' said the quick alarm- ing drum.
'Let me of my heart take counsel:
War is not of life the sum; Who shall stay and reap the harvest When the autumn days shall come? But the drum Echoed, 'Come!
Death shall reap the braver harvest,' said the solemn-sounding drum.
'But when won the coming battle,
W r hat of profit springs therefrom? What if conquest, subjugation, Even greater ills become? ' But the drum Answered, 'Come!
You must do the sum to prove it,' said the Yankee- answering drum.
'What if, 'mid the cannons' thunder, Whistling shot and bursting bomb,
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