For the ties so roughly broken, Ties that earth shall join no more- In the ears that loved of yore These that bring our desolation, THE WAR. Faintly, how faintly floats Above our earth the sweet-toned Angel's Song, "Peace on the earth, Good-will," far borne along, How faint those dying notes! For War's loud trump is heard! Thousands rush fiercely to the bloody fray! Gaining, oh! gaining what? A fancied right, a small extent of land, Losing, oh! losing what? Ye mothers tell, who weep your loved ones slain, List for the step that may not come again,— Tell us what war has brought? Tell us what war has brought? Ye who look sadly on your homes laid low, Where stood each smiling cot. Tell us what war has brought? Ye who in sickness, death were forced to fly, While the devouring flames raged fierce and high With dire destruction fraught. Tell us, O earth, whose floor Bore the bright-blushing flower, the rip'ning grain, Tell us who drenched the garden, field and plain, With crimson, human gore? Tell us how far Heaven's walls Recede and shut out God from human sight? When men, like beasts, are trained for brutal fight, Heeding no spirit calls. Faintly, how faintly floats. Above our earth the sweet-toned Angel's Song, "Peace on the earth, Good-will," far borne along How faint those dying notes! OUR MISSION. Is the world better for our living in it? Are flowers more sweet to those who passed them by? Send forth they richer strains, the lark, the linnet? Have we been filled with kindly love to all, If they were high or low, or great or small? May there be some to wander there and love us "LET US HAVE PEACE!" Let us have Peace! Let nations war no more, Let Commerce spread her wings from shore to shore, Let us have Peace, for which our Fathers fought ! Let us have Peace! Lo, hill and valley cry, Let us have Peace! but not till East and West, Till black and white alike it shall befriend! How Nature seeks the worn earth's scars to heal, So where disease lurks in the stagnant air Let us have Peace! but first prepare the earth; Not from ten thousand voices, and the shout Of human lungs, or booming cannon's roar ; But in the deep recesses of the spirit— OUR NEW SOCIETY. We are but small,-so is the seed The kind earth takes within her breast; We are but small, so is the star We are but small,- so was the Word We are but small,- but we can sing We are but small,- but we can break Upon the road that leads to God Can point them 'mid earth's pain and strife. |