Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/106

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A

��William Douw Lighthall

The distinguished King s Counsel, author and publicist of Mont real. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, December 27th, 1857, son of W. F. Lighthall, notary, Montreal, and Margaret, eldest daughter of Captain Henry Wright, Chateauguay. Educated at Montreal High School, and McGill University (B.A. and Shakespeare Gold Medalist in English literature, 1879; B.C.L., 1881; MA., 1885). Married in 1890, Cybel W., daughter of Mr John Wilkes. Advo cate, 1881; K.C., 1906. One of the leaders of the Bar in Montreal. Discoverer of the Indian burying ground at Westmount. Ex- President of the Royal Society of Canada. Author of Thoughts, Moods and Ideals, The Young Seigneur, The Battle of Chateau- quay, Montreal After 250 years A Prehistoric Hochelaga Burying Ground, A Link in Iroquois History, Hiawatha the Great, The Master of Life etc. Edited Songs of the Great Dominion (1889) and Canadian Poems and Lays (1891).

THE GALAHADS

T summer s noon upon the wilds there crept

An evil shadow, and the wind stood still ;

The parks eternal shivered; in the camps

The children s laughter hushed, and round the board

Lurked close that shadow of the Prussian crime.

The great star Lucifer had dropt from heaven

A race, once honoured, boasted in the mire

Of theft and murder ; Goethe s crown of light

Rolled from Germania s brow; Kant s majesty

Of skylike conscience like a sky crashed down;

And in the peace of the remotest woods

Reverberated those foul boasts of shame.

Yet faint above the din, on ether borne, A clear voice rang the ancient battle cries: Freedom and honour ! truth and chivalry ! St. George, defend thy pledges unto death ! St. George, defend the weak, and save the world! And all true sons of Britain felt it vain To live, unless as British knights of old.

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