Child Songs of Cheer

<h2><SPAN name="DECORATION_DAY" id="DECORATION_DAY"></SPAN>DECORATION DAY</h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">See the soldiers, little ones!<br/></span> <span class="i2">Hark the drummers' beat!<br/></span> <span class="i0">See them with their flags and guns<br/></span> <span class="i2">Marching down the street!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Tattered flags from out the wars,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Let us follow these<br/></span> <span class="i0">To the little stripes and stars<br/></span> <span class="i2">Twinkling through the trees.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Watch them waving through the grass<br/></span> <span class="i2">Where the heroes sleep!<br/></span> <span class="i0">Thither gently let us pass<br/></span> <span class="i2">On this day we keep.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Let us bring our blossoms, too,<br/></span> <span class="i2">All our gardens grow;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Lilacs honey-sweet with dew,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And the lilies' snow.<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Every posy of the May,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Every bloomy stem,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Every bud that breaks to-day<br/></span> <span class="i2">Gather now for them.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Lay the lilies o'er them thus,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Lovingly, for so<br/></span> <span class="i0">Down they laid their lives for us,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Long and long ago.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Heap above them bud and bough;<br/></span> <span class="i2">Softly, ere we cease,<br/></span> <span class="i0">God, we pray Thee, gently now<br/></span> <span class="i2">Fold them in Thy peace!<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</SPAN></span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />