Poems (Harper, 1898)/A Little Child Shall Lead Them
"A Little Child Shall Lead Them."
Only a little scrap of blue Preserved with loving care,But earth has not a brilliant hue To me more bright and fair.
Strong drink, like a raging demon, Laid on my heart his hand,When my darling joined with others The Loyal Legion[1] band.
But mystic angels called away My loved and precious child,And o'er life's dark and stormy way Swept waves of anguish wild.
This badge of the Loyal Legion We placed upon her breast,As she lay in her little coffin Taking her last sweet rest.
To wear that badge as a token She earnestly did crave,So we laid it on her bosom To wear it in the grave.
Where sorrow would never reach her Nor harsh words smite her ear;Nor her eyes in death dimmed slumber Would ever shed a fear.
"What means this badge?" said her father, Whom we had tried to save;Who said, when we told her story, "Don't put it in the grave."
We took the badge from her bosom And laid it on a chair;And men by drink deluded Knelt by that badge in prayer.
And vowed in that hour of sorrow From drink they would abstain; And this little badge became the wedge Which broke their galling chain.
And lifted the gloomy shadows That overspread my life,And flooding my home with gladness, Made me a happy wife.
And this is why this scrap of blue Is precious in my sight;It changed my sad and gloomy home From darkness into light.
- ↑ The Temperance Band,