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CANADIAN SINGERS AND THEIR SONGS The Warders of The Seas.-Aug, 4-5 1914

I In the solemn midnight watches, while the land lays fast asleep,
 * And silence broods o'er peaceful fields and farms,

The battleships of Britain ride forth upon the deep,
 * To meet the bristling Titans-the boast of Teuton arms;—

—And Britain's troth to keep! They guard a nation's honour,—an Empire's future hold,
 * Millions of hearts are praying for their prowess and their power,

With human hopes full-freighted for ages yet untold,
 * Of Peace and Freedom wrested from Eagle's fateful hour

—They speed on-stern and bold! "Lord of Nations! Who dids't shatter a proud Armada`s might,
 * Be their shield and unseen Vanguard"—with one voice a nation cries,

—their war-cry-to nerve them for the fight,
 * To win-for Man and Freedom, where'er their standard flies,

The trium of the

II— Four years later. Oh mariners of Britain!—Four fateful years ago,
 * Ye heard the sudden summons to the strife

That sped you to the trackless seas to curb the haughty foe
 * To guard Britannia's honour—and her

Your charge ye took whole-hearted;—one trust before you lay,
 * Great Dreadnought or small fishing-smack— of the sea!

To hearts of struggling nations ye strove for strength and stay,
 * Never failing as the bulwark of the f

On quarterdeck or masthead-fog-bound, or tempest tossed
 * While the mountain waves surged hissing o'er the deck,

Unhasting and unresting-your brave men held their post,
 * Or calmly went down, singing, mid the wreck!

Through moonlight or though starlight, your task was never done,
 * Never-ending was your faithful watch and ward;

From the flush of rose dawn, till sank the golden sun,
 * 'Neath the mighty waste of waters that ye guard.

For you there's no Trafalgar to strike one fateful blow
 * For the flag that braves the battle and the breeze;

Best ye keep, undimmed, the glory of Britain's island story,
 * And—by God's grace,—the freedom of the Seas!

Agnes Maule Machar. 93