Patriotic pieces from the Great War/Both Worshipped the Same Great Name
BOTH WORSHIPED THE SAME GREAT NAME
Jack Smith belonged to the Y. M. C. A.
Pat Sheehan to the K. of C.
Both marched away 'neath the flag one day
To fight for the Land of the Free.
Jack bowed his head as he said a prayer,
Pat knelt with his parish priest.
Then they stood up square to go "over there"
To grapple the Hunnish beast.
Now their altar rails were not the same,
Though they camped in the same old shack.
But just the same 'twas the same Great Name
They worshiped, both Pat and Jack.
While Jack stood straight as he humbly prayed,
Pat knelt at a candled shrine;
But the same great God heard each whispered word
That harkens to yours and mine.
They didn't agree, did Jack and Pat,
On methods of worship true;
But what of that? They went to the mat
For the old Red, White and Blue.
They knelt apart, but 'twas side by side,
They fought for their homes and right
And the blood-red tide of the kaiser's pride
They battled by day and night.
Each bullet its billet has got, they say,
And always will find some mark.
And Pat and Jack in a trench mud black
Lay side by side in the dark.
Their life's blood ebbed with a failing tide
As they came toward the Great Unknown;
But hand in hand from that far-off land
They knew they were not alone.
So "over the top" to the Glory Side,
Where never is war nor tears;
Where the true and tried in God's love abide
With nothing of doubts nor fears.
And the God they met as they entered in
Where the souls of all men are free,
Was the God of Jack's Y. M. C. A.
And the God of Pat's K. of C.