3-32 Lesson XXXII: The SOLDIER. - McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader (revised edition)

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LESSON XXXII.

THE SOLDIER.

1. A soldier! a soldier! I'm longing to be:

The name and the life of a soldier for me!

I would not be living at ease and at play;

True honor and glory I'd win in my day.

2. A soldier! a soldier! in armor arrayed;

My weapons in hand, of no contest afraid;

I 'd ever be ready to strike the first blow,

And to fight my way through the ranks of the foe.

3. But then, let me tell you, no blood would 1 shed,

No victory seek o'er the dying and dead;

A far braver soldier than this would I be;

A warrior of Truth, in the ranks of the free.

4. A soldier! a soldier! Oh, then, let me be!

My friends, I invite you, enlist now with me.

Truth's bands shall be mustered, love's foes shall give way!

Let's up, and be clad in our battle array!

J. G. Adams.