WHEN THE OLD FLAG CAMEAND OTHER POEMS
ByDOUGLAS DOBBINS
Author of "Quarrytown," "Heart Echoes from Old Shelby"
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR Shelbyville, Indiana
COPYRIGHT 1917
BY DOUGLAS DOBBINS.
PREFACE.
Doubtless you have heard of the artless Irish maid who went to the postoffice and asked:
"Is ther-re anny letther fur me?"
"What name, please?" the polite postal clerk queried.
"Faith, that will be on the letther!" she replied with a slight show of resentment.
If you shall ask us why we should inflict the public with another volume of verse, the answer will be in the book itself. The author believes he has a genuine mes- sage in this book, one which the world will do well to read and ponder over.
It reflects the loftiest sentiments and the noblest aspi- rations of, at least, one humble, human heart. We can climb no higher. We can aspire no further. Many of the sentiments herein expressed may not coincide with your views, your bias, your prejudices. We are sorry for that. We love to be in perfect accord with all of our friends. But the Truth, as we see it, compels us, and we must not be disobedient to the heavenly vision, as poor, old, beaten-up, persecuted Paul might have said.
From our standpoint, the most beautiful ideal of all time, of all history, is the character of Jesus Christ, and the next, that of our beloved country, best typified and -represented by what we call "Old Glory". We believe that no nation under the sun comes as near placing be- fore the eyes of humanity the principles of that first ideal as our glorious union of the States. We are sorry that lthe great guns of this Republic should ever be trained page: [][View Page []]to the destruction of any portion of the human race. We are thankful that our noble President tried every reasonable means of averting this sad condition. But law-violators, truce-breakers, treaty-ignorers must be punished, and we are happy to know that we have a nation and a people that are as unconquerable as God's eternal right itself!
What a pitiable situation had faced crushed, enslaved, outraged Belgium, bleeding, but heroic France, and the land of our fathers, the isles of Britain, had there been no "God's Country", no America! What a message the Old Flag carries across the seas! No wonder the French and the English wept frantic tears of joy when "the starry banner of the free" swept down their boulevards! And a part of the message that the Old Flag bore and is bearing has been caught, we trust, within the pages of this book!
THE AUTHOR.
page: [][View Page []]INDEX.
- Page
- Title Page 1
- Preface 2
- When the Old Flag Came 7
- To Live in Our Fruit 17
- Oh, Wind of the Summer's Sea 18
- The Old Woods Pasture 19
- The Fall o' the Year 20
- Ye Merrie Candidate 21
- The Happiest Hour 23
- A Poem by June 24
- A Pertinent Query 25
- The Little Minister 26
- From Our Brother's Viewpoint 27
- The Patience of the Old 28
- The Angel in the Stone 30
- James Whitcomb Riley 31
- The Snowy Owl 32
- The Crested Hills 33
- Tillus Ruffin 34
- That Old-Time Religion 35
- 'Nour Church 36
- A Welcome to Old Glory 37
- A Puckery Persimmon 39
- Sweetest Thoughts of Jesus 40
- Mr. Bryan's Drink 41
- Ye Owl and Sparrow 42
- The Heavenly Seal 43
- Faith's Sweetest Argument 44
- John Morley 45
- Only Two by Four 46
- Got to Flop 47
- "Old Natchral Selection" 48
- The Power of Love 49
- A Higher Ideal 50
- Error 51
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- Johnny Seldom 52
- Mrs. D. A. Brewer 53
- Pope Pius the Tenth 54
- A Moonshine Meditation 55
- My Savior's Love 56
- The Hero of My Verse 57
- "Discharged" 58
- They Are All Forgotten 60
- It Became Wuss 61
- To Hard Tack 62
- My Soul 63
- The Flowers 63
- A Lesson in Faith 64
- Acknowledgment 65
- Bobby White's Bow 65
- The Words of Lincoln 77
- The Only Sinner 78
- The Bookworm's Belief 80
- Two Worthies Quarrel 81
- The Millionaires' Church 82
- The Defeat 83
- If There Be No Christ 84
- Assurance 85
- My Jeanie and I 86
- The Liberty Bond and the Boy Scout 87
- The Philosophy of Defeat 88
- A Surprising Discovery 89
- Just a Plain One 89
- The Twenty-third Psalm 90
- A Problem in Heredity 91
- Toil 91
- Contrast 91
- The Dreams of Long Ago 92
- The Rare, Old Artist 92
- Stayin' in a Flat 94
- The Doctor and the Dentist 95