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
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!
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,
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
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
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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