The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1919-06-27
Peace on earth good viii

coming, we would imprint in the
hearts of those WHO are to come after
US the sublime lesson that they died
to make the world blossom with flow
ers and fruitage of higher civiliza.
ton: we would make that page so
golden that its incense and fragrance
shall never wither away but like the
effulgence that reaches to us from
Cavalry shall bloom perennially
through the ages.
We find Europe torn and bleeding:
we must heal her wounds; we must
minister to her needs. We mast feed
her hungry, clothe her naked and
restore her sick,
What is the picture she presents.
Where poppies bloom in Flanders
field, is told by a Belgian hospital
worker after two years service in
france upon his re-visiting HE
home:
Holes and holes and mud. Since
! the soldiers have left even the birds
/ have deserted the solitary fields
Silence, gloom, devastation and aban-
donment show us death in the NE
turned ground. death in the turbid
yellowish flood and death in the bro.
Ken stones themselves-so strange
and tragical is their shape"
We shall not be worthy of our no
sltlon as American citizens unless we
/ snail feel a deeper love for the conn
try and its institutions which thew
gave their lives to save and a greater
responsibility for the trust imposed
on us that we may make and keen
our country and her benign institu-
lions ever worthy of their sacrifice.
For the youth they gave and the
blood they gave,
For the strength that was our stav.
For every marked or nameless grave
On the steel-torn Flanders way
We who are whole of body and soul
We have a debt to pay.
For the youth they. gave and the
blood they gave,
We must render back the due:
For every marked or name1ess grave
We must pay with a service true:
Till the scales stand straight with
even weight
And the. world is world made
new
"Out of the twilight of the past
We move to diviner light,
For nothing that is wrong cAn last;
Nothing's immortal but right"
\ l feel that / can not better conclueI
thsee words of welcome than by re-
citing the following apostrophe en-
titled, "The Return of Our Heroes"
sent me by a lady friend in Texas
and written for the Fort Worth Rec.
ord by Miss Annie Taylor:
Here's to Americas heroes
F1AlN uCA I'd ~ tu5s lob .LIiCy USct1
Our heart and hand to this stalwart
band,
The bravest and best of any land,
And here's to the scars they wear.
Here's to the nation who gave them
For the sake of suffering world
Her stainless name, her deathless
fame,
Victory crowneth with loud acclaim,
AS the tyrants to death she hurled.
Here's to the hearts who gave them
Life of their life are they,
Yet they babe them to go face the foe
To redeem the world from cursed
woe,
The price with their lives to pay
And here's, (oh, say it softly,
To that still and matchless throng,
Whose bodies sleep where the pop
pies bloom,
In a distant land, in a strangers !
tomb,
the ages long.
our flag will enfold them forever
Upheld by an angel guard,
For heaven will hold every heart OF
gold
That sleeps meath a foreign sWard.
After another patriotic muslcai
number. the following enlivening re-
sponses were listened to: One en-
titled lover Here" by Mr. Alfred
Green, and the other, "Over There,
by Mr.. John Thompson.
Mr.. Green's was catchy because OIL
the peculiar charm of humor running
through it. 1t made a. decided hit.
Mr.. Thompsons was enjoyed be-
cause of the fact that the things ne
described were first hand and were
not camoufiaged.