Page:Suggestive programs for special day exercises.djvu/61

MEMORIAL DAY.

 
We deck your graves with flowers today,
O comrades brave and true!
In token of the love we bear.
Our offerings round we strew.

Upon your country’s altar dear,
Your lives were freely paid—
In sacrifice to freedom’s cause,
The ransom price was paid!

The blessings which your ardor bought.
Breathe in the balmy May,
And hallow with a chastened glow
The grandeur of the day.

The halo which around you shines
Shall, as the years go by.
Add luster to the deeds which in
Our memories fondly lie.

We deck your graves with flowers today,
O comrades brave and true!
In token of the love we bear,
Our offerings round we strew.

—Henry A. Lavely.

EMBLEMS OF DECORATION DAY.

BY WILLIAM WOODMAN.

(Child with bunch of red roses recites.)
With slow and reverend tread,
I bring the roses red
To deck the soldier’s bed.
Emblem of blood they shed.
For this our native land.

(Child with bunch of daisies recites.)
And I, white daisies bring
A simple offering.
Emblems of holy peace—
Oh, may its reign ne’er cease
In this our happy land.

(Child with bunch of violets recites.)
I bring the violets blue;
They say, “Be true, be true.
True to God above you.
True to friends that love you
And to thy native land.”

(All three recite together.)
For the brave and the true
We’ll twine them together.
For the red, white, and blue
Are united forever.

ALL HAIL “ OLD GLORY!”

PROF. GEO. W. WAITE, SUP’T OF SCHOOLS, OBERLIN, O.

[Air:—“Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean.”]

All hail! starry flag of the nation,
The boast of the brave and the free;
We hail thee with glad acclamation,
Our hearts and our hopes are with thee.
Yes, peerless on land and the ocean;
Revered by the loyal and true;
We hail thee with steadfast devotion—
Three cheers for the Red, White, and Blue!
 
Chorus:⊣:Three cheers for the Red, White, and Blue!:||
Our Old Glory banner, forever!
Three cheers for the Red, White, and Blue!
 
In days when the war cry resounded,
When Liberty’s name was assailed,
Thy foes were full often confounded.
Thy cause, glorious banner prevailed.
The century past chants thy praises,
And when brightly shall dawn every new,
Each son of Columbia raises
Three cheers for the Red, White, and Blue!