PATRIOTIC TOASTS
■
By the same author
CREAM TOASTS
BUTTERED TOASTS
OLD ACE AND OTHER POEMS
PICKETT'S CHARGE AND OTHER POEMS
^
Patriotic Toasts
By
FRED EMERSON BROOKS
CHICAGO
Forbes & Company
1917
Copyright, 1917, by
Forbes and Company
CONTENTS
Page
My Country................................... 9
Democracy for All the World.................... 11
The Soldier's Oath............................. 12
Meinself und Gott.............................. 13
The Tramp of Freedom......................... 16
The Navy..................................... 16
The Call of Uncle Sam.......................... 17
The Yankee-Dude-'U Do........................ 19
The Volunteer................................. 20
Liberty's Banner.............................. 21
The Battle Cry of Feed 'Em..................... 23
An American.................................. 24
The Stars and Stripes........................... 25
The Entente Greet Uncle Sam................... 26
5
CONTE
Page
Defending Freedom............................ 29
The American Soldier Lad...................... 30
The American Sailor Boy........................ 31
The Slacker................................... 32
Old Eagle..................................... 33
The Teutons' Banquet......................... 35
America's Prayer.............................. 37
To France .................................... 38
The Ensign ................................... 39
Grand Old Eagle............................... 41
What Has the Butcher Won?.................... 42
"Uncle Sam and Johnny Bull..................... 43
The Goddess of Liberty......................... 45
Old Glory..................................... 46
To Our Own Good Germans...................... 49
Page
Our Navy .....•.............................. 50
The Eagle Bird................................ 51
The Meanest Coward........................... 52
Uncle Sam .................................... 53
Freedom Follows the Banner.................... 54
Soldiers Ready Made........................... 55
To America ................................... 57
The Eagle..................................... 58
Does War Pay?................................ 59
We Love Thee, Old Glory....................... 60
Kaiser Wins in a Walk.......................... 61
The American Boy............................. 62
Freedom's War................................ 63
Pain in Their Belly-gium........................ 65
Liherty Enlightening the World................. 66
7
CONTENT
Page
Pat's Opinion of the Flag....................... 67
The Land of Freedom........................... 69
Whence Came Our Flag?........................ 71
The Dream of Military Glory.................... 72
Freedom's Banner ............................. 73
To the Kaiser.................................. 74
The American Aeroplane........................ 75
To the Russian................................. 77
What Has Germany Earned?.................... 78
Blossoms for the Brave......................... 79
The Blue and the Gray.......................... 82
Abraham Lincoln.............................. 83
Remember the Maine........................... 85
Panama....................................... 88
The Devil's Prayer............................. 91
Patriotic toasts
MY COUNTRY
From every laughing, sunny rill
I drink a toast to vale and hill;
To mountain range and prairies broad,
As from the wine press of our God.
When lightning rips the sky in twain
I drink a toast in falling rain;
And when a star drops in my cup—
A kiss from Heaven—I drink it up.
To all the flowers and elfin crew,
Who come at night a-sprinkling dew;
The forest and the woodland throng
Where Freedom hears her sweetest song.
9
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
The land where Liberty was born;
Where plenty greets the smiling morn;
I love to watch her eagle soar;
And if I could, I'd love her more.
The grandest nation earth can boast;
I love each state from coast to coast;
I love thee for thy freedom most;
"My Country, 'Tis of Thee"—I toast.
10
DEMOCRACY FOR ALL THE WORLD
My Country! My Country!
Where Liberty began!
I love her for her strength and worth;
For what she means to all the earth.
Old Glory's in the van,
To teach mankind was she unfurled;
Democracy for all the world
And brotherhood of man.
PATRIOTIC TOASTS ^
THE SOLDIER'S OATH
I'll suffer fatigue and hunger,
I'll tramp in the mud and the rain,
But never will suffer a mortal
To tear that loved banner in twain!
I'll suffer the wounds of the battle,
And down to my grave bear the scars,
Before I will suffer a mortal
To pull down the Stripes and the Stars!
I'll suffer the pangs of the dying!
The chains of the captive I'll drag!
I even will suffer dishonor,
But not to my dear country's flag!
12
pXtbT
s
MEINSELF UND GOTT
DotyankeeArmy-AberNit!
Dey cannot fight a little bit,
Dey never make dot home-run hit:
I toldt you vot—
Dey vants to drag me from mine throne;
Dot kind of speak vas hot ozone:
I whip dem all meinself alone-
Veil— Meinself und Gott!
Ven I got through mein rear-advance
Und rule der vorld und all of France
I giff der Eitel Fritz a chance!
Yust think on dot!
I got to pass mein glory down—
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
Der Prince got nodings in der crown,
Yust two have got dot world renown:
Meinself und Gott.
14
THE TRAMP OF FREEDOM
How finn the tramp of Freedom,
How stately is her mien—
On her triumphant banner
There's neither blot nor stain;
She never goes to battle
Save to redress a wrong,
A prayer within her bosom
And in her throat a song.
PATBIOTIO TOASTS
n
THE NAVY
Hail, mighty war-dogs dressed in gray!
Huge floating forts of terror!
Great guns are they
Our gunners play,
Who shoot, and rarely count an error.
And here's a fact to keep in sight—
Which is no tittle-tattle—
In any fight
Our ships of might
Have never lost a single battle.
On paper we are rated third—
But that's a doubtful matter—
And seems absurd
For, bless my word!—
We're always first upon the water.
THE CALL OF UNCLE SAM
Oh, the Red, White and Blue,
Is the banner for you—
It stands for home and freedom:
With a million score
And a million more
When Uncle Sam shall need 'em.
And we want to know:
Are you ready to go
1 At the call of Uncle Sam?
When you know you're right
i Are you ready to fight?
If you are then shout—"I am I"
| We don't want war
But we're bound to fight for
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
Our Country and Old Glory;
And when we are through
With a battle or two
They'll find it the same old story.
We'll fight on the sea
For the land of the free
And the freedom of the ocean.
When you hear the eagle cry
There's blood in his eye—
He can fight when he takes the notion.
18
THE YANKEE-DUDE-'LL DO
Our Yankee Eagle's flyin'
To help the British Lion
And pledge our love to noble France anew.
With the famous English dude
In his fighting attitude
We'll show 'em what the Yankee-dude-'ll do!
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
THE VOLUNTEER
Our God shall guard the land we love,
Where dwells the eagle and the dove;
Where none are warriors by trade,
But all are soldiers ready made.
Should foreign foe sound war's alarms,
A myriad freemen rush to arms;
No power defeats the man of toil,
Who fights for home and his own soil.
20
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PATRIOTIC TOASTS
LIBERTY'S BANNER
No despots rule, no tyrants rise
Where Liberty's great banner flies,
And soars that monarch of the skies—
Our grand old eagle, hoary.
Where rich and poor together cling,
And fight for Justice, while they sing
Of Freedom, there's no conquering
The sons of dear Old Glory.
Each star a nation grand and free,
Each stripe a bond of liberty;
Where'er it floats, on land or sea,
It tells the self-same story—
No hand shall wield oppression's rod
Where Progress' gleaming feet have trod,
21
fffffWfrwfif
Where Justice rules, with Freedom's God
Defending dear Old Glory.
And when our eagle, soaring high,
Trails that loved banner through the sky,
The nation hears her battle-cry—
That grand old eagle, hoary—
From North and South, from either shore,
Brave millions gather millions more;
From peerless fleets great cannon roar,
Defenders of Old Glory.
22
THE BATTLE CRY OF FEED 'EM
Yes, we'll rally round the farm, boys,
We'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of Feed 'Em.
We've got the ships and money
And the best of fighting men,
Shouting the battle cry of Feed 'Em.
The onion forever, the beans and the corn,
Down with the tater—it's up the next morn-
While we rally round the plow, boys,
And take the hoe again,
Shouting the battle cry of Feed 'Em.
23
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
AN AMERICAN
Let others boast of clique or clan>
There is no prouder boast of man
Than this: "I am American!"
The nation great in story,
Where one can rise from any grade,
And few are warriors by trade,
But all are soldiers ready made,
To fight for dear Old Glory.
24
^^bTotic toasts
THE STARS AND STRIPES
What though I brag
About the flag;
She well deserves renown:
No enemy
On land or sea
Has ever pulled her down.
25
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
THE ENTENTE GREET UNCLE SAM
I'm Johnnie Bull and rawther swell
With all my children fighting well
'Gainst those who break all human laws!
And with the rampant Lion's claws
Help Uncle Sam in any cause.
I am ze fight-man from Paree,
I like to make ze Teuton flee.
We have good Uncle Sam een France—
We know heem by ze stripy pants—
And now we make ze Teuton dance.
I hardly know just what I am-sky,
But I'm a friend of Uncle Sam-sky,
I am the mighty Russ-covitz,
26
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
I've been in such a muss-covitz,
I've had to stop and cuss-covitz.
Italia-man he like-a yet
Da macaroni an' spaget.
Da Dago like American—
He tink-a since da worl' began
Da Uncle was da great-a man.
And I'm the proper Irish rogue,
Wid me shillalah and me brogue;
I use them both when in a row;
Should any creature wonder how
Here's one for Uncle Sam right now.
I'm glad ye love yer Uncle Sam!
Ye sent for me and here I am!
W
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
The Kaiser started this big fuss
To butcher off the rest of us
And leave himself the biggest cuss.
28
patriotic toasts
DEFENDING FREEDOM
Have no fear of warring nations
With invading banners flown;
Who can conquer freedom's millions
When they fight for what they own?
29
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
^^^b
THE AMERICAN SOLDIER LAD
A health to the American soldier lad!
He's in the war and mighty glad,
A free born soul in khaki clad
With Freedom's oriflamb.
He's got the graceful fighter's swing,
He's ready to march, or fight, or sing,
He knows he's right—another thing—
He fights for Uncle Sam.
SO
PATRIOTIC TOAi
THE AMERICAN SAILOR BOY
We cheer the American sailor boy!
H e's on the sea with a sailor's joy;
At a friendly fleet he shouts "Ahoy!"
And joins in song and story.
But when the enemy appears
He's up against the cannoneers
Whose bull's-eye shots bring home the cheers-
The cheers for dear Old Glory.
_ai_
PATEIOTIO TOASTS
THE SLACKER
A man who won't fight for his country
Should be driven clear out of the state.
A man who won't fight for his homestead
Deserves not the love of a mate.
A country must needs be defended.
The slacker lays back on the shelf
And leaves the defending to others,
But leaves the disgrace to himself.
I
32
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
OLD EAGLE
Fear not, grand eagle,
The bay of the beagle!
No hunter his gun will incline!
i He's branded with shame
Whoever takes aim
At thy freedom, a right divine!
Great bird, thou art king
Of all that bear wing!
And this was thy country of old!
'Way back in creation,
Before 'twas a nation,
Or known to Columbus, the bold.
)
As the dove was the guide
To the ark on the tide,
_________ 33
To freedom thou ever hast been—
Flying out on the sea
To greet Liberty,
And pilot the Mayflower in!
'Twas thy sweeping wing
Did the first breath bring
To the sail of the old Constitution;
And from first to last
Thou didst wheel 'round her mast
In the smoke of the great Revolution.
From thine eyrie, the crag,
Watch over thy flag,
And ne'er let it trail in the dust!
Soaring high in the air
Ever this aegis bear:
"In Freedom and God is our Trust."
34
TBIOTIC TOASTS
THE TEUTONS' BANQUET
The Germans kept on drinking
The nation's toast: "Der Tag!"
"We'll dine on English mutton
And eat the Frenchman's frog."
They'd caviar the Russian
And spy the Russian bear,
But, oh, the indigestion
They got from Belgian hare.
From eating cold blut sausage
They thought to eat the earth.
These Huns got very Hun-gry
Before they filled their girth.
They've picked the bones of Turkey
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
And now they're out of Greece,
But Uncle's ham is coming
They'll have to beg a Peace.
36
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
AMERICA'S PRAYER
Unfurl the banners of the free;
Let every nation gathered be
Within the world's democracy
With its own creed.
Hurl bloody tyrants from their thrones
And hear the prayers and stop the groans
Of those who toil with weary bones
For others' greed.
?Tt^??tio toasts
TO FRANCE
Here's a health to France, and we love her yet
For her Rochambeau and her Lafayette.
Though men pass on, love grows not old,
And generous deeds by history told
Still live in the heart—and we behold
How Freedom repays her old time debt
With money and food and the bayonet.
38
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
THE ENSIGN
Here on the brink of battle
I fondly kiss each fold;
For yonder musket rattle
My destiny may hold!
Dear Flag!
Our regiment is standing
In battle's dumb array—
And waits but the commanding,
To dash into the fray!
Dear Flag!
Like fierce stampede of cattle,
We'll rush where foe besets,
Right in the teeth of battle—
Those glistening bayonets!
Dear Flag!
39
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
And I'm the one to bear thee!
The one to lead the way!
The God of battles spare me,
To bring thee back today!
Dear Flag!
If I shall fall in battle,
Why, thou wilt be my shroud,
When muffled drum shall rattle
Its anthem to the cloud!
Dear Flag!
Then, by the clod and clover,
Hid from the blue on high,
Thy blue sky shall be over,
Thy bright stars ever nigh!
Dear Flag!
&
GRAND OLD EAGLE
The grand old eagle soaring high
To guard the banner in the sky,
A hundred million freemen cry,
"All Hail! All Hail!"
And while she stands for Liberty
Beside the banner of the free
No hostile power on land or sea
Shall e'er prevail.
41
PATBIOTIC
TOASTS
WHAT HAS THE BUTCHER WON?
With all his cruelties and crime
What has the Kaiser won?
The title: "Butcher of All Time"—
This Attila the Hun.
He's won a world of women's frowns,
And henceforth he'll be known
As one who sought so many crowns
He thereby lost his own.
42
UNCLE SAM AND JOHNNY BULL
Uncle Sam and Johnny Bull
Went out one day and got so full
Of friendly admiration,
They swore they'd never fallen out
And ne'er again would brag about
Which had the bigger nation.
Said John: "In Seventeen Seventy-six
We had a rawther nawsty mix
About some bloomin' tea:
We've clean forgot the blawsted row—
Let's talk about alliance now!"
Said Sam: "Have one with me!
"We'll strike that Anglo-Saxon air
The race is singing everywhere;
137
r^HPWFI c T o
ASTS
And sing it while we quaff—
'God Save the Queen!' one stanza be!
The next, 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee!*
That makes it 'alf and 'alf!"
44
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
THE GODDESS OF LIBERTY
She's a regular out and outer,
And there's heaps o' style about 'er,
And you never think to doubt 'er,
With the Peace-dove on her brow.
Though she wears a union wrapper
She's a husky and a strapper;
She's chain-lightning as a scrapper
When she's forced into a row.
45
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
OLD GLORY
Bright mantle of freedom! What beauty
Shines out from each delicate fold!
Man defends it from love, not from duty—
A love that makes valor more bold;
Rushing on to his death
With a prayer on his breath;
And the soul that ascends when the patriot dies
Stops to kiss the bright folds on its way to the
skies.
Those bright colors that fade in the even
Are caught in the sunset on high;
Transferred to the blue field of heaven
Those stars shine all night in the sky!
And the morning's first glory
Tells one simple story,
46
As it brings back each star and bright color
again:
Day and night and forever our flag shall re-
main!
As soft as the great eagle's pinion
It floats on the much softer air;
Where none may dispute its dominion
And none with its beauty compare!
Should the whole world assail
It could never prevail!
Ere its bright folds be trampled by conquering
heel
Every blade in the meadow would turn into
steel!
Bright proof of the patriot's story,
Its legend is ever the same.
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
We may add many stars to its glory,
But never a stripe to its fame!
Over old Bunker Hill
Are its folds waving still,
Like an old Continental come out of the past!
'Twas for liberty born—'twill for liberty last!
48
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
TO OUR OWN GOOD GERMANS
To our peaceful German we give a toast:
A jovial friend—a generous host;
No better citizen have we known
Under the banner we call our own.
He loves our country: In all of her wars
He has shown his love for the Stripes and Stars.
But what of the tyrant who gambled with Fate
And poisoned the earth with a world of hate?
Invader of peace, like a pestilence hurled
To devastate nations or conquer the world.
Our Apache was never a patch to the Hun
With Satan o'er-matched and the Devil out-
done.
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
OUR NAVY
Our Navy! Our Navy!
No better rides the sea,
With Freedom's sons behind the guns
Who fight to set men free.
Our Navy! Our Navy!
Each brave marine and tar
Is glad to go and fight a foe
That breeds a brutal war.
50
PATBIOTIO TOASTS
THE EAGLE BIRD
Here's to the first known aeroplane,
Our grand old eagle proud,
Who bathes his feathers in heavenly rain
And wipes his wings on a cloud.
He can race the hurricane in his play
And pass the thunderbolt by;
And gaze bare-eyed at the god of day
Or pluck the stars from the sky.
For Uncle Sam he's the emblem bird
That laid the eggs of freedom.
A peaceful bird, but when he's stirred
He'll fight 'em all or—feed 'em.
51
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
THE MEANEST COWARD
The meanest coward earth has known,
Whom angels most abhor,
While coveting another's throne—
With no life sacred but his own—
Sets on the Brutes of war.
How one despises such a man
Who starts the others smiting,
And unexposed, because of fear,
Himself keeps safely in the rear;
Away from all the fighting.
52
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
UNCLE SAM
Dear Uncle Sam will seldom frown
Nor has he very much to say,
But once he puts his big foot down
All nations take their feet away.
53
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
FREEDOM FOLLOWS THE BANNER
Lift high the banner
That all may scan her;
The Stars for our friends, the Stripes for our
foes,
Let tyrants fear it
And all men cheer it,
For freedom follows where the banner goes.
54
SOLDIERS READY MADE
Here one may rise from any grade
And few are warriors by trade,
For all are soldiers ready made
Among the free.
When hearts are free the arms are strong,
And soldiers singing freedom's song
Will always bear that flag along
To victory.
Where Justice sets her shining face
Demanding freedom for the race,
There human Progress sets the pace
That all must go.
PATRIOTIC
TOASTS
* ,1
Where schools are crowning every hill
There springs a race of might and skill
To make a nation what they will
And keep her so.
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
TO AMERICA
Were I, great nation, to give thee a toast,
This would I say, without idle boast:
Land of the freeman, to Liberty given,
The pride of the earth and the favored of
heaven,
Broken from Europe by thunderbolts hurled—
Pushed out in mid-ocean to balance the world!
When Father Time writes thine epitaph
The world's great glory is lessened by half.
57
P ATRIOTIC TOA S T&
THE EAGLE
To our Eagle, who soars in the sky;
One country alone in his eye.
His sole occupation
Is watching the nation
Lives at peace till his temper gets high;
But look out when there's Dlood in his eye.
58
P ATBIOTIC TOAS T S
DOES WAR PAY?
Though his army's rather meager-
So they say—
Uncle Sam is getting eager
For the fray.
Foreign wars are rather risky,
Yet he's feeling mighty frisky :
If it only knocks out whisky,
War will pay.
59
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
WE LOVE THEE, OLD GLORY
We love thee, Old Glory;
Hope made thy design .
And Freemen thy story;
Thy tints are divine—
God mated the lily
To wed with the rose,
By the garden of blue
Where the white blossom grows.
May Liberty gather
Mankind in its girth
Till thine anthem of peace
Be the song of the earth.
i
60
ATRIOTIC TOAST
KAISER WINS IN A WALK
"American soldiers would better stay home!"
The Kaiser said, as he blew the foam.
He's had a taste of American grit—
Canadian-Americans furnished it.
But where is the boasted German might
That must be dug out to make it fight?
Begin at the Marne and then retreat—
Their victories roar like a big defeat.
They'll win in a walk—Oh, yes! They'll win
In a big, long walk back to Berlin.
IT
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
THE AMERICAN BOY
Beneath the starry flag we play the host
And give our soldier-sailor lads a toast:
He loves his flag—stands ready to salute it*
Born with a gun, he knows just how to shoot
it*
No better country for a boy to love;
No better stuff to make a soldier of.
He's born a freeman with no rent to pay
To any monarch for the light of day.
He loves his Uncle Sam—God bless his bones—
And when he fights he fights for what he owns.
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
FREEDOM'S WAR -
For years have scheming tyrants planned
To rule the world with iron hand;
And lay what tribute they demand
To fight the others by.
With every damning plot combined
They fling defiance to mankind;
Their marshaled millions make them blind
To every human cry.
Americans, arise and go
To help put down the Freemen's foe,
And let the world-defenders know
Just what Old Glory's for.
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
We hear our soaring eagle call:—
"Help France to break the Invader's thrall!
Who fights for Freedom fights for all"__.
And this is Freedom's war.
64
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
PAIN IN THEIR BELLY-GIUM
Hurrah for the Germans' rear-advance:—
The march-ahead-backwards out of France.
As soon as the Allies can dig them out
Their fighting spirit turns inside out.
They're brave enough inside of a trench,
But not in the open with British and French.
They laugh at the Yankees—but wait till they
come
And they'll give 'em a pain in their Belly-gium.
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE
WORLD
Beneath the azure canopy on high,
While round her brow the winds of freedom
Play,
Upon her granite, towering to the sky,
Stands Liberty between the blue and gray.
Mute priestess standing, Bible in her hand,
She pledges all who enter by the sea,
"Take what you will within this promised land,
But never touch her glorious liberty.
"Drop rancor in the waters of the bay,
Where peaceful rivers meet the turbid sea;
With heaven's dew immersed or ocean's spray,
Take Liberty's baptism of the free."
66
PATEIOTIP TOASTS
>£■■■■■■■■■■■■■
PAT'S OPINION OF THE FLAG
Every man in the world thinks his banner the
best.
And his national song
Is often too long,
Yet in praising his flag he makes sport of the
rest,
Though there's many a truth that is spoken in
jest,
Save wid malice prepense
There should be no offense.
But one of the prettiest flags that I know
Is the great oriflamb
Of our old Uncle Sam
•uiuiu n
ASTS
Wid the red and white bars all laid out in a
row,
And a nice pasture blue for the bright stars to
grow;
Wid the eagle above
And around it the dove.
Of the Star-Spangled Banner alone, it is said,
She has earned this renown—
She was niver pulled down.
With the green on my grave and that flag over-
head
I think I'll rest aisy! But wait till I'm dead!
Wid that flag in the sky
I'm in no haste to die.
68
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
THE LAND OF FREEDOM
Go ask the serf with longing sigh—
Who plows the field he cannot buy
And owns no space except the sky—
Where he would dwell.
Or ask of him within the town
Who lifts his hat, yet fears to frown
On tyranny that grinds him down,
Where he would dwell.
Here's to the land where man is free
To eat the fruit of his own tree;
Where worth counts more than pedigree,
And, strange to tell,
Where one great state has room galore
TkT
PATRIOTIC TOAKTg
itt
To feed the world and something more-
With freedom's banner floating o'er
His citadel.
&
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
WHENCE CAME OUR FLAG?
Up where the white clouds float overhead,
Where the wine of the sunset stripes them red,
That's where we found the bars.
A patch from the blue our eagle tore,
Brought down with the thirteen stars it bore—
In times of need he brought down more
Till the Jack is filled with stars.
To teach one truth are its stripes unfurled:—
That freedom belongs to the big round world
And tyrants should from their thrones be
hurled
And sent straightway to—Mars!
71
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
THE DREAM OF MILITARY GLORY
Why do we fight the fighters ?
Think what they're fighting for!
Fight fire with fire, we answer,
Fight war with greater war.
They are dreaming, they are scheming,
For a military sway,
But their gory steps to glory
Do but lead another way.
Oh, the sorrow on the morrow
When they waken from the thrall
With the Vulture croaking "Kultur"—
What a nightmare after all.
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
FREEDOM'S BANNER
Our banner leads the army!
Our banner rides the sea!
Our army fights
For human rights
To make the whole world free.
Our eagle has been laying
Some eggs of monster size;
And when they hatch
There'll be a batch,
To dominate the skies.
73
TO THE KAISER
O thou devourer of peoples,
To burn, to pillage and rob;
If heaven created thee ruler
The Devil has ruined the job.
Through the world that once crowned thee
with honor—
Like a pestilence poisoning the air,
You have battled your way to destruction;
Your toast is the tears of despair.
74
THE AMERICAN AEROPLANE
A Yankee invention to conquer the air—
Not stopping to mention that U-Boat affair—
Intended for peace, that a mortal might fly,
And not a war-eagle to battle on high.
But now it is used as an aerial spy,
A scout of air—and the general's eye.
Its talons are wheels and it frightens the hawk,
With its two-story wings and its gun-fire talk.
The hawk knows the eagle, the vulture, the
crow,
But what of this terrible spit-fire foe?
PATRIOTIC TOASTS '^^**
Its beak whirls around; and alas and alack__
It carries its young in a hole in its back.
It rests on the ground while its wings are out-
spread,
But when it stops singing it falls down dead.
When up in the clouds it is fighting its foe,
And dropping its eggs to the people below,
Where they soon incubate in the fire and the
smoke
And bring a dire fate to the poor soldier folk;
Causing horrid dismay, while it seems so
absurd—
And a terrible way to hatch a big bird.
76
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
TO THE RUSSIAN
A toast to the Russian who rose in the war
And brought monarchy down with a terrible
jar.
He is free, to be rated
As one God created,
And not as a dog at the heels of the Czar.
rr
PATBIOTIC TOASTS
WHAT HAS GERMANY EARNED?
What has she earned but hate
For all of her murderous deeds?
Some that the Devil can't mate,
Can't even imitate,
Born of her hellish creeds.
78
PATEIOTIC TOASTS
' -■ • * -■■^■HHHHHHHBHI
BLOSSOMS FOR THE BRAVE
We think of you as brave and true,
Grand army of the dead;
You are asleep 'neath sod and dew,
Grand army of the dead;
Thou who didst the nation save,
Here we come to deck thy grave,
Scattering blossoms on the brave,
Grand army of the dead.
No more ye hear the cannon boom,
Grand army of the dead;
Your flag is floating o'er your tomb,
Grand army of the dead;
Here we come with flowers today,
Here our orisons we say,
i
I^MHHBK'
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
Sleep ye there till judgment day,
Grand army of the dead.
Your bivouac tent a grassy knoll,
Grand army of the dead;
Eternal rest your long parole,
Grand army of the dead;
Death-white lips, the blood-red hue,
Staining every blouse of blue,
Show the nation's debt to you,
Grand army of the dead.
Comrades, uncover! Make salute!
Grand army of the dead;
Sweet messengers these flowers mute>
Grand army of the dead;
80
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
| j Precious blood where valor dies, | |
| Hallowed spot | where patriot lies, |
| Gateway up to | paradise, |
| 1 Grand army | of the dead. |
| ;' | |
| i | |
| i- | |
| i | |
| i | |
| i' | |
| . . | - |
| • | |
| • | |
81
^PATBIOTI^OAST^^^ "*
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
Time's greatest armies fought;
Then stood the world amazed,
Forced to digest the thought:
That we both armies raised.
Those onetime foes are friends;
One flag the country through.
The world now comprehends
The Gray fights with the Blue.
So firm the bond is tied
Between these men today,
The Blue would now divide
Their pension with the Gray.
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
From out the common toil was born a man
Within a rude log cabin plainer than
The bible manger where man's faith was
bred:
A man whose fame shall through the ages
spread—
The great immortal of our mortal clan.
Among his forebears who is there of worth
To warrant this great miracle of birth?
No morning stars in gladsome chorus sung
When greatness out of mild oblivion
sprung:—
The hope of freedom, the beloved of earth.
83
PATRIOTIC
TOASTS
Obscurely born and yet he rose to be
The most colossal man of history.
Walking with wisdom, made the heart his
guide;
In every action took the human side
As though he had been bred in Galilee.
Our greater names high on the walls of fame
Are set in letters bold of living flame;
But higher yet, up where our eagles fly,
Where Dawn has flung our aegis on the
sky,
There love, in letters gold, puts Lincoln's name.
84
wsm
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
REMEMBER THE MAINE
When Dewey stole into Manila Bay,
Ere the dawn of the first retribution day,
He was facing a two-fold doubt:
'Twill be war when the forts and fleets begin!
But the channel is mined, will he ever get in?
Once in, will he ever get out?
With a hooded lamp as a stern guide-light,
Like a torch of death for the dying night,
Those darkened hulls up the harbor steal,
With a trail of foam, where the pitiless keel
Has written the doom of Spain!
Soon those guns shall be roaring, from jaws
of death,
85
What each gunner is whispering under his
breath:—
"Remember, remember the Maine!"
While the forts are belching their terrible
bombs,
The Philistines' challenging flagship comes,
Like the great Goliath of old!
But she turns, for a sling-shot smashes her
prow,
While another has ripped her from stern to
bow,
With the flames bursting up from her hold!
Her battered companions are all on fire,
To sink in the blaze of their funeral pyre!
The smoke of the battle made heaven to frown;
86
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
While the battle god, hurling his meteors
down,
Shattered the war-dogs of Spain!
But the signal to Admiral Dewey ran:—
No harm hath fallen to ship or man
Of those who remember the Maine!
87
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
PANAMA
The Optimist cried Hallelujah!
When Progress laid hold of the plow
To cut the huge trench for the nations,
Where Commerce has pointed her prow.
He has broken the spine of the Isthmus
And shattered the ribs of the rock,
And beckoned the steeds of the billows
And halted the tide with a lock.
Through the trail of bewildered Balboa,
Where the mariner's flag was unfurled,
The hemisphere's broken asunder
In the narrowest part of the world.
By plowing the furrow of ages
Each ocean is robbed of a shore
And now go the sea and the sailor
Where neither had traveled before.
The steeds of the sea, long forbidden
To trespass, go galloping through
This palm bordered lane of the tropics
Fast dragging the ship and the crew.
The mariner's compass is altered
And changed is his chart by decree:
They have shortened the song of the sailor
By lessening the breadth of the sea.
This master achievement of mortals
All nations are honoring now:
They have wedded the seas with a hyphen,
Divorcing the land with a plow.
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
Thus man with his earth eating engine
Has dug out an overland sea,
Where the banners of nations in passing
Pay salute to the flag of the free.
90
PATRIOTIC TOA
THE DEVIL'S PRAYER
The Devil made a prayer and said:
Who started hell just overhead?
These war lords set the earth aflame
And rob the devil of his fame;
While Christians slay their fellowmen
And make the earth a slaughter pen.
Aye, let them rave and belch and roar
And millions slaughter millions more;
Mow down the quivering ranks of men,
The shattered phalanx fills again.
Grim Death has laid his scythe away
To harvest by machine, the day.
91
PATRIOTIC
TOASTS
6 M
I hear them falling as they tread:
Count those that live, I'll count the dead!
Turn on the thunder-guns of hate;
Tear men to fragments—call it fate;
Loose poison gas and burning oil;
With dead, in trenches, plant the soil.
"Thou shalt not kill" means thou alone,
But not the legions of the throne.
Though murder retail be a crime,
Yet murder wholesale is sublime.
'Tis slaughter brings the Victor bays:
The dead are dead for all their days.
92
PATRIOTIC TOAS
Like Pharaoh they seem to me
To flounder in a bloody sea.
Kill off the righteous and the wise,
Who would the planet civilize.
Destroy the arts, the poor condemn
And let the heathen finish them;
Turn on the furnaces of hell,
Blow up the globe, 'tis but a shell;
Plant death-bulbs in the hungry sea
And blame the righteous—don't blame me.
Bid submarines to lie in wait;
Sow death and reap a world of hate;
U3
PATRIOTIC
TOASTS
Let monster vultures crowd the skies
And do dark deeds that men despise;
Show heathen what you battle for
And how the Christians go to war.
All peace destroy, all joy and mirth,
And bid me come and rule the earth.
Excuse the lengthy prayer I've made—
'Tis the only time I ever prayed.
94
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
By the same author
CREAM TOASTS
BUTTERED TOASTS
Every toast in these books is new and original
and as charming as all the work of this popular
humorist. None is "dry toast."
"Clever, sparkling toasts by one of the brightest poets
of the day."—San Francisco News Letter.
"These books will bo a blessing to all after-dinner
speakers."—Boston Globe.
"Very clever and sensible."—Boole News Monthly.
"They will make any fellow's mouth water and cause
him to ask for more.''—Seattle Post Intelligencer.
"Brooks is a poet; he is a genius."—New YorTc World.
'' Brooks' poems abound in pathos, wit and humor.''—
Chicago Herald.
Attractive covers in colors.
Price. Each, 50 cents
FORBES & CO., Publishers, Chicago
95
PATRIOTIC TOASTS
OTHER BOOKS BY
FRED EMERSON BROOKS
"Brooks is a great poet and a genius of great ability, i
Humor and pathos abound throughout his poems, and |
many partake of the inspiration of the war-drum, but he i
is thoroughly at home in whatever strain of melody he
chooses to adopt."—Atlanta Constitution.
PICKETT'S CHARGE AND OTHER
POEMS
'' There is in Brooks' poems the dash of the unexpected,
like a cavalry charge."—General Phil Sheridan.
Cloth, 12mo, gilt top, 214 pages, $1.25.
OLD ACE AND OTHER POEMS
"There is a freshness and music and joyousness and
jollity and naturalness in Fred Emerson Brooks' poems
that make them charming. In the handsome volume the
reader can find something for every mood and condition.
He can shed tears or laugh; he can be jolly or sad."—
Chicago Inter Ocean.
Cloth, 12mo, gilt top, 208 pages, $1.25.
FORBES & CO., Publishers, Chicago
DS~