With the Colors / Songs of the American Service

E-text prepared by Rick Niles, Rudy Ketterer, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/)
Copyright, 1917, by STEWART & KIDD COMPANY All Rights Reserved Copyright in England


It isn't just colors and bunting— The red and the blue and the white. It's something heaps better and finer,— It's the soul of my country in sight!
There's a lot of ceremony 'bout the Flag, Though many half-baked patriots believe Salutin' it and hangin' it correct Is only loyalty upon the sleeve. But we who work beneath the Flag to-day, Who'll honor it—and die for it, perhaps— Get a slightly different view of the old red, white and blue Than is visioned by th' criticisin' chaps.
It isn't just for decoratin' things, It isn't just an emblem, clean and bright, No matter what its hoist or what its fly, To us it means our country—wrong or right! The sobby stuff that some good people spout Won't help a man to understand this view, But: Wherever that Flag goes, the man who follows, knows That a better, cleaner citizen goes too!
It's not just a banner to look at,— For which we're expected to fight; It's something that represents freedom; It's the soul of my country—in sight!
This is no time to quibble or to fool; To argue over who was wrong, who right; To measure fealty with a worn foot-rule; To ask: Shall we keep still or shall we fight? The Clock of Fate has struck; the hour is here; War is upon us now—not far away; One question only rises, clarion clear: How may I serve my country, day by day?
Not all of us may join the khakied throng Of those who answer and go forth to stem The tide of war. But we can all be strong And steady in our loyalty to them! Not with unfettered thought, or tongue let loose In bitterness and hate—a childish game! But with a faith, untroubled by abuse, That honors those who put the rest to shame!
There is no middle ground on which to stand; We've done with useless pro-and-con debates; The one-time friend, so welcome in this land, Has turned upon us at our very gates. There is no way, with honor, to stand back— Real patriotism isn't cool—then hot; You cannot trim the flag to fit your lack; You are American—or else you're not!