Page:Pieces People Ask For.djvu/43

Rh It was hard to part with shipmates so;
 * But standing by would have done no good.

We heard them moaning all day, so slow
 * We dragged along through the weary wood.

McGinnis, he suffered the worst of all;
 * Not that he ever piped his eye,

Or wouldn't have answered to the call
 * If they'd sounded it for "All hands to die."

I guess 'twould have sounded for him before,
 * But the grit inside of him kept him strong,

Till we met relief on the river shore;
 * And we all broke down when it came along.

All but McGinnis. Gaunt and tall,
 * Touching his hat, and standing square:

"Captain, the flag" … And that was all.
 * He just keeled over and foundered there.

The flag? We thought he had lost his head,—
 * It mightn't be much to lose at best,—

Till we came, by and by, to dig his bed,
 * And we found it folded around his breast.

He lay so calm and smiling there,
 * With the flag wrapped tight around his heart—

Maybe he saw his course all fair,
 * Only we couldn't read the chart.

James Jeffrey Roche.

BECAUSE.

"Now, John," the district teacher says,
 * With frown that scarce can hide

The dimpling smiles around her mouth
 * Where Cupid's hosts abide;

"What have you done to Mary Ann,
 * That she is crying so?

Don't say 'twas nothing,—don't, I say,
 * For, John, that can't be so.

"For Mary Ann would never cry
 * At nothing, I am sure;

And if you've wounded justice, John,
 * You know the only cure