Decoration Day

'Do yeu hear llie drumB beat, Vapa?" Hear them, iny boy? (Jod fcnows! But the drnms that I hear are other, Far other drama than those Which lead these íresh boy soldiers To the grave wbers lies the rose. The drums that Ihear were beaten E'er you, my boy, were boro, And broken and torn and battered, And battered and broken and torn, In many a midüight strnggle, On manya bloody morn. I hear the drums as thoy rattle Adown the village street; Ihear them now on theCommon; In the hal!, where the levles meet; And above the rough warmusic Is the Bound of coming feet. I see the sticks of the drummers, As they tly in the druminer'u ha i ' ; I see the tears of the mothers, As tliey weeping and sobbing stan And I hear again the cheering, As each man joins the band. I hear th drums that woke us Whenthe dawn uponStiiloh broke; I hear the drums that sounded Through Chickamauga's smoke, Aad the drums that led brave Hooker a Ten thouBand hearts of oak. Tliey are coming nearer, l'apal" Noarer? Forbid it, Lord, That nearer our peacef ui hearthstone Should come the sounds abhorred By all who have seen the harvest Thut falls 'neath tüe warrior'B sword.