So used I, when I was a boy,

To march with military toy,

And ape the soldier's life;—

And with a whistle or a hum,

I thought myself a Duke of Drum

At least, or Earl of Fife.

With gun of tin and sword of lath,

Lord! how I walk'd in glory's path

With regimental mates,

By sound of trump and rub-a dubs—