Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/31

Rh  But the eye was bright and glowing, While my troubled thought was told; Yet her voice was clear and steady, Without sigh, or tear, or stops, When she answered, speaking quickly, &quot;'Tis women's work, this picking hops. "Men should be where duty calls them&mdash; Women stay at home and pray For the gallant absent soldier, Proud to know he would not stay." &quot;Bravely spoken, darling Minnie!&quot; Then I kissed her golden locks, Breathed anew a soldier's promise, As we sat there picking hops.

"Now I go away to-morrow, And I'll dare to do or die, Win a leader's straps and sword, love, Or 'mid fallen heroes lie. Then, when all of earth is fading, And the fluttering life-pulse stops, Still, 'mid thoughts of home and heaven, I'll remember picking hops."





PEN your eyes, my darling; Gather the snowy lid Off from the sleeping glory Under the lashes hid.  3