Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/128

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Y

��Agnes Maule Machar

Miss Agnes Maule Machar ( Fidelis } of Kingston, Ontario, daughter of the late Rev. John Machar, D.D., Principal of Queen s University. Born and educated in Kingston. Author of Lays of the True North The Story of Old Kingston Memorials of Dr. Machar and of the following works of fiction: For King and Country Katie Johnson s Cross Lucy Raymond, Lost and Won, Stories of New France, Marjorie s Canadian Winter, Roland Graeme, Knight, The Heir of Fairmount Grange, etc.

HEARTS OF BRITISH MEN

OU did not know our Britain, proud Kaiser, did not

know Her steadfastness, her staunchness, her firm front to

the foe. Though discord may divide her, while danger stands

afar,

It vanishes, like morning mist, before a breath of war; And British hearts have kept, unchilled through all the

changing years,

The fire that leaped to conquer at Crecy and Poitiers. Hearts of oak! Hearts of men! Rally round the flag again ! O er the ocean rings the call. Gather ! Rally, one and all ! Freedom s bulwark must not fall For lack of British men !

You did not see her stalwart sons, swift hasting to her

side Not surging seas can keep them back, nor distance can

divide,

They answer swiftly to her call, across the western sea, From wild, mist-veiled Newfoundland, from ancient

Acadie, From lake and prairie, spreading far, the setting sun to

meet, And the grim, storm-scarred crags that guard the ocean

at their feet. Steadfast hands of British men,

�� �