THE SONG OF THE DRUM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6090, 29 January 1898, Page 7

THE SONG OF THE DRUM.

Do you hear my summons hammer thro* the cradle and the clamour, Do you feel my throb and thrill ? When I meet the smell of powder, O, my merry note grows louder, A nd my song shail.not be still. Follow, each beside his fellow, 'neath the vapours gray and yellow, Wildly cheering, sternly dumb, And rumble, rumble, rumble, when the smokewreaths toss and tumble, You shall hear the rolling drum. Follow the drum 1 Men forget their fears and follies aa they face the' blinding volleys, And the young recruits they come, With their simple sunburnt faces, from the quiet country places, To the call of me, the drum. Come, ploughboy lad and carter, and your lifeblood freely barter For the bullet sure for some, And rattle, rattle, rattle, through the din and roar of battle, You shall hear the rolling drum. Follow the drum f When the boys that follow fast there, drop aside and fall at last there From the surging lines of red, Then no more of pomp and ruffle ; my notes awhile I muffle, And I moan and mourn the dead. But the losing battle needs me, and the whistling bullet speeds me ; Through the reeling ranks I come, And clutter, clatter, clatter, where the broken regiments scatter, ' Yon shall hear the rolling drum. Follow the drum I —Pall Mall Gazitte.