MY SOLDIER BOY.

When night comes on, when morning breaks, they rise,

Those earnest prayers by faithful lips oft said,

And pierce the blue which shrouds the inner skies:

“God guard my boy; God grant he is not dead!”

“My soldier boy—where is he camped to-night?”

“God guard him waking, sleeping or in fight!”

Far, far away where tropic suns cast down

Their scorching rays, where sultry damp airs rise