Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/219

 AT LAST. 213

There was &quot;muster&quot; first in the early morning;

Thank God, that they all might answer &quot; Here !&quot; There were troops to fit for the hill of Science,

With many a halt and many a tear.

There were hands and hearts in a skirmish wounded, Waiting the touch of her tender hand ;

Small uniforms out at knees and elbows, And for rations, always a new demand.

There were &quot;shamrock troops&quot; to be safely guided

Out of the bogs into beaten ways, And the &quot;needle-corps &quot; to be armed and ready

For a new advance against coming days.

&quot; Guerilla Care &quot; always hid in ambush To catch her sleeve on his thorny spear ;

While within herself some traitor weakness Whispered at times of failure drear.

Where is the chaplet fit to crown her,

Thus as she halts when day is done, With a day s campaign so wisely guided

Betwixt the dawn and the setting sun ?

��AT LAST.

H^RAIN from the West !&quot; The parted crowd

1 Fell back each side the iron road ; A little hush a moment fell

Just as the engine screamed and slowed.

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