Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/201

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��Captain Theodore Goodridge Roberts

The youngest brother of Major Charles G. D&amp;gt; Roberts (q.v.). Born at Fredericton, N.B., July 7th, 1877. Educated at the Fred ericton Collegiate School and at the University of New Bruns wick. Married, in 1903, Frances Seymore, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Allen, and has several children. Author of many novels of adventure and romance: Hemming, the Adventurer Brothers of Peril, The Red Feathers A Cavalier of Virginia, A Captain of Raleigh s The Wasp, The Toll oj the Tides, etc. A writer of strong, original verse of enduring merit. Also serving in the Canadian War Records Office, London, England.

THE FIFES OF VALCARTIER HUMPS the big drum, Come.

And thin and bitter-sweet the fifes are calling me Come up and serve your country in the red fields over sea.

Come up and serve your King, in this his needful day, On the torn fields of the old world, four thousand miles away.

Rap the little drums,

Come.

And shrill and thin as a child s cry the black fifes call

to me, And wring my heart, and turn my face to the red fields

over-sea Come up and serve your country, in this her needful

day, Where tyrants strike at her great heart, four thousand

miles away.

But soon the drums are silent, the thin fifes cease their

cry, The only sound is the thud of feet as the regiments go

by;

And soft and clear and bitter-sweet a dear voice cries

to me Of the days of peace and love and ease that are not

over-sea.

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