And the soldier sheds tears
On the face of his foe.
And the drummer is dumb
In the sight of that woe.
Now when the hero lies silent in death,
The end having come
Shorn of its echoing glory, what saith
The dull muffled drum?
"Soldier sleep—
Drum—drum!
Soldier, rest—
Drum—drum!
In the breast of the earth whence we come,
We come!
All your toil
Is done,
And the fight
Is won.
Soldier, sleep—Soldier, rest!" says the drum,
"Drum—drum!"
And this is the song, as we march along.
That the hollow drum sings to the gathering throng;
With the rap, and the tap, and the rolling beat,
With the sound on the ground of the tramp of feet,
Keeping step they come,
With the sounding drum,
With the rolling and the beating of the drum.
I. E. Diekenga
THE BRAVEST BOY IN TOWN.
He lived in the Cumberland Valley,
And his name was Jamie Brown;
But it changed one day, so the neighbors say,
To the "Bravest Boy in Town."
