'Way up on old Bonanza, ere we surveyed out the line,
Where hell was throned in glory, ruby lights and devil's wine,
There stood a sacred cottage, and a home it was for two,
Two little Army bonnets and the uniforms of blue.
They didn't have a fancy church, with organ and a choir,
And didn't always talk about the judgment and the fire,
But, seeking out the worst that were, they started them anew
To climb the ladder where they fell, those angels dressed in blue.
It wasn't long before we saw a change was taking place,
And brutish looks were vanishing from many a hardened face,
And seeds were planted deep in hell, which up to heaven grew,
By little Army bonnets in Salvation Army blue.
We play the game and never tame, and never settle down,
And on our many weaknesses our better brothers frown,
Although we seldom read the Book, we know it must be true,
For once we met its angels, in a uniform of blue.
THE ANSWER
Have you ever cursed at the Master's work, when life's
been a sort of hell?
If so, then perhaps you will understand the story I'm
going to tell;
There are chaps you know who have never seen the
edge of a thing called life,
And have never known of the challenge thrown in the
darkness of the strife.
There's a land we knew in the days of old, when we
trudged the wilderness,
'Twas the land of pain, with the brand of Cain, the
home of the loneliness;
We had cursed it oft with the blackest curse, a
reckless and godless lot,
And headed our letters for going home, "the country
that God forgot."
We had all been out since the early Spring, and things
had been going wrong,
And it seemed misfortune had dogged our trail each
day, as it dragged along;
It appeared to be as an alien land, forsaken by God
and man,
Till we heard the voice of the one who gave it birth
when the world began.
We had cursed that day more than e'er before, as
fellows in anger do,
And a storm that gathered above us broke, soaking us
through and through;
As we tramped it back to the lonely camp, it seemed
that place was banned,
And Brown with an awful curse had said "The devil
controls the land."
Then the thunder rolled, and the lightning flashed,
with its wondrous lurid glow,
And we who had challenged the wilderness wandered
the earth below.
It seemed that a message was from above, the
knowledge of endless things,
The power that quickens the soul of man, and models
the hearts of kings.