The times., 1898-06-19
A Roox of Patriotic Poems.

Book of Patriotic Poems.
Under the Stars, and Other Verses"
by Wallace Rice and Barrett Eastman,
is a paper-covered volume with a battle
ship on the cover, and not much more
than half hundred small pages inside.
The book probably owes its publication
to the war with Spain. for 1t is distinct
ly warlike in tone and not altogether
finished in style. The verses are rather
ragged. and not always musical, but
they have a saving grace of their own, all
the same, and that is the earnestness
with which they appear 10 have been
written. In the ballad called THE Bap-
tism of the Flag" which describes the
hauling down of the old Don't Tread
on Me- rattlesnake flag and the hosting
of the Stars and Stripes, by Paul Jones,
there is a swing and a rhythm which IS
refreshing. 1t may be well TO quote a
stanza.
And when the flag at the manmast was floating
free and clear,
Captain and crew their, voices joined three times
in thundereus cheer
Cheered till the echo came back 10 us from out OF
the rocking shrouds
/ Cheered till il seemed the sound OF cheers
would pierce the purple clouds.
The Cheer Of the Men who Speak Eng
| lish" has the same masterful note, al
! though 1t would be stretching a point 70
! call it poetry. How We Burned the
! Philadelphis'' recalls an almost forgot
! ten but right gallant deed in the early
! years of the century. Stephen Decatur.
Joseph Bainbridge, and others who after
ward became distinguished were in The
party which boarded a frigate off the
! coast of Tripoli in 1904. There is a ring
of wholesome patriotism in verse like
/ this:
! Less than hundred men were We,
And the heather twenty score:
| But Yankee sailor in those old days
Liked odds of one 10 four.
And stumbling over the tangled dead
The deck crimson tide,
| We fired the ship from keel TO shrouds
And tumbled over the side.
Then out to sea we sailed once more,
With the world as light as day,
| And the flames revealed a hundred sail
OF the heather there in the bay
All suddenly the red light paled,
And the rain rang out on the sea;
| Then-a dazzling flash, 4 deafening roar
Between and Tripoii
Then. nothing behind US, and nothing before,
Only the silence and rain;
And the Jaws of the took hold OF our bows
And cast us up again.
| BY the beard OF the Prophet the Bashaw swOrs
He would scourge from the seas;
Yankees should trouble his soul no more
BY the Prophets beard the Bashaw swore,
Then lighted his hookah and took his ease,
And troubled his soul no more.
"The Ballad of the Havannah Taken, -
is modelled on the lines or the old Eng.
lish ballads 1t has a peculiar interest
just at present for it describes the taking
of Havana by the English AlbemarIe and
| ms in,
What lies beeaguered in the town
VIII neither do dare;
Stout Albemarle has hard and fast
The snarling Spaniard there.
Come, now says Israel Putnam, bold,
evolves have / caught before;
Give me sword, give me pistol,
And Will catch one more
The ballad of cambridge. the Bris
and the Blockade stirs the pulse like
a bugle call. and is. from an artist,
point of view, perhaps the best in TIL
book. 1t recounts the exploit of William
cambridge of the brig Norfolk, who il
SO, captured a French privateer. ant
learning that her mate was fitting in Ha
vana harbor, sailed into that harbor al
by himself and captured the vessel. TIL
daring and the sauciness of the Yanke
skipper is rafreshingly pictured:
So William Bainbridge turns about,
Lays for the Hayannah course straight cut,
And says to the Spanard, loud and clear,
81 want that other French privateeri'
(Sng no, for our bold commanderO
The spaniard laughs at the Norfolk brig,
For she is little, and Spain is big
The Norfolk is of the good old sort
And single-handed, blocEades that port
(Sing hey, for the Yankee cruiserD
They can't get in, they can't get out
For Bainbridge stands there, sure and stout
And when he aims Yankee gun
Its bullet straight to the mark will rum
(Sing no, for cur bold commanderD
4 Spanish ship puts out to fight
A Spanish ship puts back in fright;
She learns, from the weight OF the Norfolk's bal
If not big she is not small,
(Sing hey, for the Yankee cruserD
This last ballad is the work of Mr.. Rice
as is the Ballad of the Havannah" TIL
others which have been quoted are b
Mr.. Eastman. A curious feature of tn
book is that without reference to the tabl
of contents ii is almost impossible to tel
which of the co-laborers wrote any ON
of the songs. If these two poets will pu
a little more polish on their rhymes, the
may before the war is over, give t
American literature some poems whic
will live
Chicago: Way & Williams Washing