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CARRY ON!1

ROBERT W. SERVICE (1876- )

It's easy to fight when everything's right,
And you're mad with the thrill and the glory;
It's easy to cheer when victory's near,
And wallow in fields that are gory.

It's a different song when everything's wrong,
When you're feeling infernally mortal;

When it's ten against one, and hope there is none,
Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:

Carry on! Carry on!

There isn't much punch in your blow,

You're glaring and staring and hitting out blind;
You're muddy and bloody, but never you mind.
Carry on! Carry on!

You haven't the ghost of a show.

It's looking like death, but while you've a breath,
Carry on, my son! Carry on!

And so in the strife of the battle of life
It's easy to fight when you're winning;
It's easy to slave, and starve and be brave,
When the dawn of success is beginning.
But the man who can meet despair and defeat
With a cheer, there's a man of God's choosing;
The man who can fight to Heaven's own height
'Is the man who can fight when he's losing.

1 No other poem more forcefully expresses the spirit of the present

war.

From "Rhymes of a Red Cross Man." Copyright, 1916, by Barse and Hopkins, New York. Used by permission of the publishers.

Carry on! Carry on!

Things never were looming so black.

But show that you haven't a cowardly streak,
And though you're unlucky you never are weak.
Carry on! Carry on!

Brace up for another attack.

It's looking like hell, but you never can tell:
Carry on, old man! Carry on!

There are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt, And some who in brutishness wallow;

There are others, I know, who in piety go

Because of a Heaven to follow.

But to labor with zest, and to give of your best,

For the sweetness and joy of the giving;

To help folks along with a hand and a song;
Why, there's the real sunshine of living.

Carry on! Carry on!

Fight the good fight and true;

Believe in your mission, greet life with a cheer; There's big work to do, and that's why you are here. Carry on! Carry on!

Let the world be the better for you;

And at last when you die, let this be your cry:
Carry on, my soul! Carry on!

INDEX TO SUBJECTS

Alien. See Immigrant citizen
America, as a vindication of de-
mocracy, 227, 314–315, 320-323;
inheritance of, 229-230
America first, 222-223, 228-229,
230-235

American citizenship. See Citi-
zenship

American Federation of Labor.
See Labor, American Federation
of
American independence, at stake in
present war, 251-255, 256-257
Americanism, 257; Theodore
Roosevelt on, 91-93; its distinc-
tiveness, 93-94, 97-100; pecu-
liarities of liberty, 100-101; char-
acteristics of, 209-217; responsi-
bilities of, 314–315

Americans, origin of, 7-10; making
of, 200-201 ; of foreign birth,
202-205, 225-226. See Immi-
grant

America's purpose in the world war.
See World war, America in
Anglo-Saxon civilization, 7
Aristocracy. See Privilege
Austro-Hungary,

296-297, 307

272, 279-290,

Colonization policy, 250-251
Columbus, Christopher, 1-3
Commerical greed not an American
trait, 86-88, 158, 221-222
Common man, belief in, a trait of
the American Spirit, 20-22, 26-
27, 45-49, 65-66, 72-77, 91-93,
102-103, 119-120, 123-124, 129-
131, 132-133, 214-215
Cooper, James Fenimore, 21
Courage. See Bravery, personal
Crisis, the present, 239-240, 241-
244, 245-304

Declaration of Independence, 9,
97, 98

Democracy, foundations of country
laid in, 20-22, 25, 28, 43-45, 48-
49, 56-57, 91-93, 95-96, 142; the
goal of history, 93-94; and labor,
108-110, 125; world, 108-110.
320-323; characteristics of, 116-
122; and life, 123-137; educa-
tional influence of, 206-209;
America a vindication of, 227;
the world safe for, 255, 258, 261-
274, 279-283, 289-292, 294-296,
313-317, 320-323; and efficiency,
see Efficiency

Autocracy, 239-240, 254-255, 247- Diplomacy, Old World vs. New

249, 270. See Germany

Belgium, sacrifice of, in present war,
247-249, 253, 263

Bible, influence of, on American
history, 12-14, 19
Boone, Daniel, 21
Boxer indemnity, 215

Bravery, personal, a trait of the
American Spirit, 1, 6-7, 82-83,
160-161

Breadth of view, a characteristic of
the American Spirit, 26, 28-31
Brotherhood of man, a fundamental
belief, 22, 123-124, 140, 161-165,
199-200, 203-204, 284-286
Bulgaria, 301

Cavaliers, 8-10, 233

Citizenship, 91-93, 105-107; price
of, 207-210, 217-219, 230-233
Class distinctions. See Privilege,
special

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Foreign relations of our govern-

ment, 41-43, 74-76
Freedom, 2-3, 67, 70-72, 77, 102-
103, 229-230, 236-237, 243-244,
321

Frontier, influence of, on American
Spirit, 25-28, 112-115
Future, faith in, 2-3, 242-243

Generosity toward enemies a trait
of the American Spirit, 59-60,
62-63, 80-81, 83-84
German-Americans, 222-223, 228
Germany, and the present war,
239-240, 245–255, 256–257, 262-
274, 286-292; barbarity of, 247-
249, 262, 298; long preparedness
for war, 249, 288-292; milita-
rism in control of, 250, 277-278;
menace of, 258, 276-279; present
Germany not the old, 259–261;
the people of, 268, 277, 289–290,
295-297; tyranny of, 280-283;
progress of, before the war, 287-
292

"God's Country," 221

Government, faith in our, 37-38,
73-74, 100-101, 310-311
Grant, Ulysses S., 78-79

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228-229, 272-274; early expe
rience of, 209-210, 223-228;
naturalization of, 217-219
Imperialism, foreign to American
ideals, 85-86, 89-90
Individuality, a trait of American
Spirit, 2-3, 9-10, 33, 53, 114
Industrial efficiency, essential to
America, 107-110, 111
Internationalism, 211-214, 217
International law, violation of, by
Germany, 246-247, 262-265

Jefferson, Thomas, 8
Justice, 204, 257, 274-275, 294-
295, 316-317; belief in, 11-14

Labor, American Federation of,
108-110, 258

Labor and capital, influence of
frontier on, 25; just relations
essential, 108-110; and democ-
racy, 108-110, 125, 258, 314-317
Liberty, 70-72, 77, 181-183, 214-
215, 224; belief in, a character-
istic of the American Spirit, 3-4,
18-21, 28, 100-101, 104, 105, 141,
155, 255, 258; limits of, 104-105,
141-142

Lincoln, Abraham, 256; charac-
teristics of, 43-45, 51-56, 58-61;
humor of, 45-50; sympathy of,
50-51; a typical American, 51-
54; a national idol, 226

Living, standards of. See Stand-
ards of living

Magnanimity, a trait of the Ameri-
can Spirit, 57-60, 62-63, 80-81,
83-84

Massachusetts, 9

Mayflower, the, 14, 16, 19, 243
Memorial Day, 186

Mercy. See Generosity and Mag-
nanimity

Militarism, 210, 250, 268-269, 276-

283, 284-286, 289-292, 293-294
Monarchy and democracy com-
pared, 110-112

Monroe Doctrine, 74-76, 245, 251-
252

Moral character of people, basis of
democracy, 99-100, 111, 154-
157, 232-233
Moral courage, 160-161
Moral ideals. See Ideals

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