Country Sentiment

THE LEVELLER.

     Near Martinpuisch that night of hell
     Two men were struck by the same shell,
     Together tumbling in one heap
     Senseless and limp like slaughtered sheep.

     One was a pale eighteen-year-old,
     Girlish and thin and not too bold,
     Pressed for the war ten years too soon,
     The shame and pity of his platoon.

     The other came from far-off lands
     With bristling chin and whiskered hands,
     He had known death and hell before
     In Mexico and Ecuador.

     Yet in his death this cut-throat wild
     Groaned "Mother!  Mother!" like a child,
     While that poor innocent in man's clothes
     Died cursing God with brutal oaths.

     Old Sergeant Smith, kindest of men,
     Wrote out two copies there and then
     Of his accustomed funeral speech
     To cheer the womenfolk of each.