"WHAT HAS ENGLAND DONE?"

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14937, 16 June 1919, Page 8

"WHAT HAS ENGLAND DONE?"

_i ... Strange, that m this great hoof, when Righteousness Has won her war upon Hypocrisy, That some there he who, lost m littleness, And mindful of an ancient grudge, can ask : "Now, what has England done to win thfe war?" We, think we see her smile.. that Engh'^h smile. It were so little worth her while to pause - • In her stupendous task to make reply. What has she done ! When with her great grey ships, Lithe, lean destroyers, grim, invincible, -she swept the prowling Prussian from the seas; And, • heedless of the slinking submarine, The hidden mine, the Hun-made treacheries, '/ Hei • : transports plied the waters ceaselessly ! Xou ask what she has done? Have you , forgot That ''neath the burning suns of Palestine 3he fought and bled, nor wearied of the fight Till from "tliat land where walked the Na?ai*ene She drove the foul and pestilential Turk? Ah, what has England done? No need to aak ! . Upon ■'••the fields of Flanders and of France . A million crosses mark a million graves; Upon each cross a well-loved English name. And, ah, her women! On that peaceful isle, ' '-. Where iri the hawthorn hedges thrushes sang, And meadow-larks made gay the scented air, Now blackened, chimneys rear their grutty heads, Smoke-belching, and the frightened birds have fled Before the thunder of the. whirring wheels, Behind unlovely walls, amid tho din, Seven times a million noble* women toil With tender, unaccustomed fingers, toil Nor dream that they have played a hero's part. Great-hearted England, we have foucht the fight -..-'.. * Together, and our mingled blood has flowed. Full well we know that underneath that mask Of cool indifference there beats a heart Grim as . your own gaunt ships when duty calls; Yet warm and gentle as your summer skies; A Nations heart that beats throughout a land Where kings may be beloved, and monarchy Can teach republibs how they may be free. Ah! What has England done? When caihe' the call, She counted not the oost, but gaveiier all ! — Vilda Sauvage Owens, m the New Ydrk Times. .«MaManiMMa-_-_MMl*a*Ml_t.