Robert W. Woodruff
Library
Kelly Miller Library
EMORY UNIVERSITY
Special Collections & Archives
The German War Lord
and the British Lion
To
His Excellency Theodore Roose¬
velt.
by
Sterling M. Means,
Author of
"The Deserted Cabin" and Other
Poems.
THE SECOND EDITION.
The Pauley Co.
Indianapolis, Indiana
Copyrighted 1918
by
Sterling M. Means
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Preface 5
The German War Lord and Brit¬
ish Lion.
Argument I.
The Great Offensive 11
Argument II.
The Fate of the Lusitania 18
Argument III.
The Near Eastern Drive 22
Argument IV.
The Battle off Jutland 24
Argument V.
The Repetition of History 26
Argument VI.
The Anglo-Saxon Civilization—_—30
Argument VII.
Universal Peace 34
Argument VIII.
The Grand Duke in the Holy Land 38
The Crown Prince 40
The Black Troop at the Battle of
Marne 42
To the Temple of Peace at the
Hague 45
The Fall of Bagdad 47
Kitchener of Khartoum 50
THE TRIPLE ENTENTE AND
THE BETTER ANGELS OF
ITS NATURE.
Our purpose is not to give an accu¬
rate account of the War, as laid down
in diplomatic text; but as a preface to
the Poem, we shall simply give a few
brief outlines, so as to give the read¬
er some knowledge of its argument.
The untimely death of Arch Duke
Ferdinand and his Consort, who were
assassinated in the Province of Bos¬
nia by a Serb student, evoked the
hostilities of civilization to the most
dreadful Armageddon, known to hu¬
man history.
This may be said to be the direct
cause of the war; yet there was an
under-lying cause far more serious
than the death of the Hapsburg Heir.
Russia had been jealous of her Teu¬
ton neighbor for his encroachments
toward the Mediterranean sea, which
threatened to land-lock her empire
5
6
Preface.
with no out-let, save the frozen zones
of eternal ice and snow. For this
cause she fought the sons of Nippon
in a war that made Port Arthur, the
Waterloo of the far East, and made
the Yalu as famous as the Rhine.
Germany, in the days of Chancellor
Bismarck, the Man of "Blood and
Iron," united the petty states of Ger¬
many into a consolidated empire, and
laid the foundation for the greatest
military machine that the world has
ever seen, and in the meantime, he
formed The Triple Alliance with Aus¬
tria and Italy, to stay Russia's ambi¬
tion in the Balkans, and to prevent
France from a war of revenge.
When Wilhelm, the Second, ascend¬
ed the throne, he expelled Bismarck
from his Court, but assumed Bis¬
marck's ideas of State; he organized
the most powerful army of the world,
and for many years he was titled
"The War Lord" of Europe. Like
young Hannibal was to Rome, Wil-
Preface.
7
helm seemed to have grown up with
"hatred" to the British Throne.
Great Britain watching the move¬
ment of the Germans, fortifies herself
with the greatest fleet in the world,
and formed an Alliance with Russia
and France, known as The Triple En-
on Austria; Germany supporting The
le Alliance, that in event of war, these
Alliances would fight to support their
respective sides.
Austria seeking revenge upon Ser¬
bia for the death of her Heir Appa¬
rent, refused the mediation of the
Czar of Russia; Austria declared war
on Serbia; and Russia declared war
on Austria; Germany suporting The
Triple Alliance, declared war on Rus¬
sia ; and France already having griev¬
ances against Germany for having
taken her Province, Alsace-Lorraine,
during the war of '71, and then too,
supporting the Triple Entente cause,
declared war on Germany.
Sir Edward Grey in his Note to
8
Preface.
the Court of Berlin, asked the Kaiser
that in event of war with France to
respect "The Belgium Neutrality,"
this the Kaiser refused to do, then
England drew her sword in defense of
Belgium, for the cause of humanity
and civilization and fights the great¬
est Foe she has had in a hundred
years, Wilhelm the II, who swung the
sword and made all of Europe trem¬
ble with the tread of his victorious
legions.
Italy breaks the Alliance with the
Teutons and refuses to fight her Lat¬
in Sister. Turkey, the "Sick Man,"
lying at the whirl-pool of this death
dealing Armageddon, took up her
"Bed" and walked, and fights for ex¬
istence upon the Map of Europe. Ja¬
pan supporting the Anglo-Japanese
Alliance, declared war on Germany,
and captured her strong-hold in the
far East.
Be that as it may, all great wars
have affected mankind for its better-
Preface.
9
ment the world over. The sword of
Alexander, Hellenized the world with
Grecian language, thought and liter¬
ature; it gave the New Testament a
Speech, that the Gospel might reach
the nations; The sword of Caesar
united all nations under one govern¬
ment and in that Government Christ
was born; the sword of Charles Mar-
tel, drove back the Saracenic invaders
at the Battle of the Tours, and saved
Europe from Mohammedism; the
sword of England conquered the
Spanish Armada in the days of Eliz¬
abeth, and gave birth to Protestant
Liberty; the sword of England con¬
quered Napoleon at the Battle of Wa¬
terloo, and saved Europe from des¬
potism; the sword of Columbia con¬
quered the "Plumed Knight" of the
Southern Confederacy at Richmond,
and gave freedom to four millions of
Negro slaves.
England fights today for the free¬
dom of the world, for the cause of hu-
10 Preface.
manity and for the sake of civiliza¬
tion. In this great War, Mohamme¬
dan Religion will be over-thrown; the
gates of the "Near East" will be un¬
locked to Christian Missionaries; and
the millions of heathens in the jun¬
gles of Africa will be redeemed to
Christ.
The gallant sons of the Allies may
fall upon a, thousand plains, their
bones may bleach in every clime and
their blood may mingle with the soil
of every land, but they will leave an
undying heritage that shall await the
verdict of the world, and the "Scepter
shall not depart" from them until
Shiloh come, and claim the kingdoms
of the earth for his own; not until
"Western empires own my Lord and
savage tribes attend his word."
Sterling M. Means.
THE GERMAN WAR LORD AND
THE BRITISH LION.
Argument I.
The Great Offensive.
Sing now, 0 muse, what direful fate,
provoked the wrath of Thor,.
To hurl from his celestial climes the
flaming bolts of War;
The House of Austria's Royal line is
shrouded now in gloom,
The Heir Apparent to her Throne,
has met untimely doom.
The war gong rang in far Berlin, the
nations rushed to arms,
They heard the mournful bugle blow,
the sound of War's alarms.
The German War Lord swung the
Sword, amidst the awful storm;
The British Lion's roar was heard
across the dashing foam.
11
12 The German War Lord
The Kaiser's host, one million men,
his great embattled line,
"Step by step and hip-ho-ray," they
crossed the German Rhine;
They shunned the wrath of England's
Fleet, anchored in Dover's Strait,
They knew the English dreadnaughts
there, would be their navy's fate.
The German War Lord Kaiser, with
his banner now unfurled,
Will write his name in history, the
Man who fought the world;
He heeded not Sir Edward Grey, who
asked his sword be staid,
He sent his men beyond the Rhine,
and dire destruction played.
His legions swarmed a hundred
plains, he broke his sacred trust,
The Treaty signed before the Hague,
he trampled in the dust;
He marched his troops through Bel¬
gium's soil and broke the Neutral
lawr,
And the British Lion. 13
He fought his way to Paris' forts, and
caused the world-wide war.
With the army of one million men,
Teutonic blood and birth,
Marched their troops through Bel¬
gium and they swept her from
the earth;
King Albert left his trembling
Throne, but drew defenseless
sword,
His armies fought like Sparta's sons,
to check the great War Lord.
In vain they strove with sword and
gun to stay the great advance,
Onward still the Germans swarmed
to pierce the heart of France.
The British Lion crouched and sprang
and leapt the ocean main,
The German War Lord's gallant host
met him upon the plain.
The Czar of all the Russians lets
loose his great White Bear,
14 The German War Lord
His daring Cossack army swore that
they would bring the rear;
France sends her valiant legions
forth, while Zeppelins fill the air,
European capitals quake and tremble
in despair.
The German War Lord Kaiser, with
his banners now unfurled,
Will write his name in history, the
Man who fought the world;
He is like the great Napoleon, one
hundred years before,
Who shook the thrones of Europe
then, and drenched the earth in
gore.
His dream of Eastern, glory while yet
he is drunk with power,
In his wake great cities fall, castle
and ancient tower,
The art adorned walls of Rheims, the
beauty that was Notre-Dame,
He wrecked their splendid structures
to immortalize his name.
And the British Lion.
15
The Gothic style of Notre-Dame; the
paintings of the Rheims,
Within whose walls once organ pealed
the chants of sacred hymns.
But shattered now those frescoed
walls to slake the Kaiser's greed,
Why should the act in verse be sung;
The whole world saw his deed.
The most destructive engines that the
world has ever seen,
He stormed the heights of Liege, Lou-
vain, Brussels, Alsace-Lorraine.
He stormed impregnable Namur, her
fortress, too, gave way,
He there sustained his title as "The
War Lord" of his day.
He gambles for the powers of earth,
his dice are human's bones,
He plays the game for great empires,
his stakes are trembling thrones.
Two hundred miles in length or more,
his great embattled line,
Approached so near to Paris' forts,
her lights refused to shine.
16 The German War Lord
One million men on either side, the
fearless battles raged,
It was the greatest Conflict that the
nations ever waged.
The Germans made an awful charge,
it was a dreadful sight,
The Allies checked their great ad¬
vance, but they were hell to fight.
They fought the Armageddon there,
and countless heroes bled,
The scene along the banks of Marne,
was strewn with gallant dead.
The Kaiser then retreats his men, his
great embattled host,
To land his troops on English soil, he
strives to reach the coast.
He burst the Antwerp forts of steel,
her mighty barriers fell,
He blew them into fragments with
his high explosive shell.
He shook the Throne of England
then, and she beheld her fate,
He essayed to cross the Channel by
the way of Dovers' Strait.
And the British Lion. 17
To strike the English Navy there, he
held the offensive line,
And plowed beneath the waters with
the Submarine U-Nine.
His Zeppelin airy navies swarmed
the distant skies like bees,
He questioned then Great Britain's
right she had to rule the seas.
England deemed for her defense, she
issued stern decrees,
To hold her ancient title as "The
Mistress of the seas";
She strung her dreadnaughts cross
the main, and threw a Blockade
on,
Berlin proclaimed the English seas to
be Belligerent Zone.
18
The German War Lord.
Argument II.
The Fate of the Lusitania.
Berlin commands her submarines to
sink the merchant ship,
They sank the Lusitania on her trans-
Atlantic trip.
This Act alarmed the neutral world,
they wept with neutral eyes,
While dreadnaughts plowed the briny
main, and air-ships rent the
skies.
America mourns with England now,
two mighty nations mourn,
The German War Lord's powers
shake the Anglo-Saxon Throne;
The German sea wolf pirates seek to
cripple England's trade,
To bring Great Britain to her knees,
her mighty sword be staid.
This daring giant liner immortalized
her name.
And the British Lion
19
'Twas once she flew the Stars and
Stripes, 'twas then she flew to
fame;
She hauled her Country's colors
down, The Stars and Stripes un¬
furled,
She flung our Banner to the breeze,
'twas hailed by all the world.
When off the coast of Ireland the neu¬
tral flag, she flew,
And glided through a sea of mines
and saved her passenger crew,
But ere she made her trip again, and
ere she crossed the wave,
The ship that sailed for England's
port, went to her watery grave.
Across the howling billows, across the
briny main,
The Ship that sailed the Irish Sea,
will ne'er return again.
And where no fretted marble dome
may mark her spotless grave,
And where the howling billows roar,
she lies beneath the wave.
20 The German War Lord
Should England's master sire of verse
portray in Epic strain,
Would he describe the Liner's fate
that sailed the Irish Main?
Not Homer's lyre, nor Milton's muse
could paint the tragic scene.
The ruthless demons of the sea, the
hell-born submarine.
The men who fought with General
Grant, the men who fought with
Lee,
And those who marched with Sher¬
man through the Southland to
the sea—
They fought with noble purpose true,
their hearts were brave but mild,
The soldier fought the soldier, but he
spared his wife and child.
Alexander sheathed his sword, though
warrior fierce and grim,
He offered prayers to Daniel's God
and spared Jerusalem.
And the British Lion. 21
Go where the chains of history blends
into the shadowy myths,
The civil nations of the past, were not
the Kaiser's kiths.
He dropped his bombs on Paris, he
shelled the Notre-Dame,
He swept poor Belgium from the
earth, the whole world blushed
with shame.
He fired upon the Merchant Ship, and
caused her awful wreck,
And sent her to her watery grave
with infants on her deck.
For her the mighty sea shall wail, for
her, the tides shall weep,
And when these the warring tribes
have flown, fame will her vigils
keep.
May nations learn the Higher Law of
true Neutrality,
May all their ships fly neutral flags
and dreadnaughts quit the sea.
22
The German War Lord
Argument III.
The Near Eastern Drive.
The Kaiser shook the Russian Throne,
and clutched the great White
Bear,
The subjects of her empire wept, §tnd
knelt in sacred prayer.
On Poland and Galicia's plains his
guns were heard afar,
While cities, towns and hamlets fell
before his conquering car.
He stretched a row of burnish steel
from Dover to the Golden Horn,
And deemed himself the "Scourge of
God" to make the nations mourn.
Bulgaria joined the Kaiser's host, and
helpless Serbia fell,
Ten thousand men were swept away
before the German shell.
He yoked his powers with the Turks,
the Moslem infidels,
And the British Lion. 23
To check the Anglo-French advance
upon the Dardanelles;
Should he fail to reach this goal, he
is locked from all the seas,
Then to London, he must pray for
England holds the keys.
Three thousand grey hounds on the
sea, and there Gibraltar stands,
The sentinel of England's Throne and
fortress of her lands;
Her super-dreadnaughts are the pride
and bulwarks of her power;
They've locked the lanes of seven seas
in the world's most dreadful
hour.
Has England now a foe so grave, the
one she fears to meet,
What navies proud that ride the
waves, would dare to meet her
fleet?
Her fleet in "Action" hell lets loose,
guns ranged a long degree,
Would hit a dreadnaught twenty
miles and sweep it from the sea.
24 The German War Lord
Argument IV.
The Battle off the Jutland.
One morning off the Jutland coast,
the German Battle fleet,
Glided from its native base, to play
the awful fete;
Two mighty civilizations looked each
other in the face,
The war-like Anglo-Saxon Blood; the
proud Teutonic race.
Rome and Carthage o'er again, Han¬
nibal and Scipio,
"Carthage now must be destroyed,"
each of the powers swore.
Two mighty navies of the world, were
now destined to meet,
England's great Armada and the Ger¬
man's Battle Fleet.
The Kaiser dreamed that he could
drive the Briton from the seas,
And the British Lion.
25
And the Crown Prince's stand at
"Dead Man's Hill" would bring
France to her knees.
He attacks the English outer fleet,
that stood as outer guard,
The Germans fired the mighty guns,
that brought home some reward.
The guns roared there like thunder
peals, the seas were filled with
dead,
The mighty dreadnaught, iron clad,
and seamen sank like lead;
The seas were lashed to fury with
bursting shot and shell,
To challenge Britain on the sea, is
just like storming hell.
The English "Mighty Invincible" was
wrecked amid the storm,
And dreadnaughts of the German
crew went down amid the foam.
They fought like monsters of the
wave, and that we all agree,
The Germans claimed the victory
while England held the sea.
26 The German War Lord
Argument V.
Repetition of History.
Did the death of Arch Duke Ferdi¬
nand and his morganatic wife,
Inflame the nations' anger and cause
the world-wide strife?
Why did the Triple Entente Men and
the Triple Alliance,
Paralyze the world's commerce and
trade in this great age of science ?
Shall the dawn of the Twentieth Cen¬
tury pour forth a crimson flood?
And the sun of civilization go down in
seas of blood?
Was it a greed for martial power?
Was it a lust for fame ?
He who draws a reeking sword shall
perish with the same.
Did Chancellor Bismarck sow the seed
from whence this strife has
grown?
And the British Lion. 27
Did Wilhelm swear before great Baal
to hate the British Throne?
Go read the nation's history, the re¬
cords of the past,
The wrecks of human greatness with
their evening shadows cast.
The ancient mounds of battle fields,
the palisade and tower,
Their splendid thrones lie in the dust;
gone is the regal power.
You saw the Grecian "Mad Man," be¬
held his vigorous sway,
His scepter has departed now, his
kingdom passed away.
You saw the war Lord Caesar's host,
fresh from the fields of Gaul,
Thundered at the gates of Rome, and
bids her throne to fall;
Thence from the smother ashes, she
rose a world's empire,
But fell again to fragments. And
where is her noble Sire?
28 The German War Lord
You saw the French Napoleon from
the Baltic to the Nile,
Empires fell before his sword, but he
died in exile.
And then the great Armada, the pride
and boast of Spain,
But England swept her from the sea;,
she never rose again.
Yon solemn and majestic Sphinx be¬
neath the tropic skies,
Still gaze across the desert's sands
with her mysterious eyes.
Has watched the empires passed away
along the ages gone,
With those who went through seas of
blood and slaughter to a throne.
0, where are they? 0, where are
they? the men of royal birth,
The monarchs great with martial
tread, who shook the solid earth;
Who built their thrones of human
skulls and crimsoned earth with
gore,
And the British Lion. 29
Their scepters have departed now,
their kingdoms are no more.
Go walk along the lordly Nile, behold
the Catacombs,
Egypt once a land of pride, now wil¬
derness of tombs,
Behold the tomb of Rameses, his
architecture rent;
Babylon's broken colonades and
crumbled battlement.
The great war lords of every age,
their high and proud estate,
The Four winds swept their thrones
away and time has sealed their
fate,
A monarch drunk with power, for tri¬
umph and domain,
Who draws a dagger or a sword,
shall wear the curse of Cain.
30
The. German War Lord
Argument VI.
The Anglo-Saxon Civilization.
God save the English Nation, the En¬
glish speaking world!
Unless our civilization shall to utter
ruin be hurled.
May England's world-wide Empire,
her great embattled line,
Still hold her subjects true and brave,
beneath the palm and pine.
The British tact and culture now in
every clime are felt,
From Canada's vast dominion to Af¬
rica's burning belt;
Out in the desert's caravan; far down
the lordly Nile,
Where Ethiopia's rivers flow and
many a palmy isle.
The swarthy Ethiopian Race, the fur
man of the poles,
And the British Lion. 31
The tribesmen of the South seas and
where the Ganges rolls;
They know the far famed Union Jack,
they know the British laws,
They will rally to her colors now and
die hard by her cause.
The men who fought with Wellington
on Waterloo's fatal day,
Captured the Great Napoleon, defeat¬
ed Marshal Ney;
The men who fought with Nelson
when on ocean brine;
And fought with Clive in India, be¬
neath the palm and pine.
They fought with Khartoum Kitche¬
ner, and crimsoned Egypt's
sands,
And unfurled tHe British Standard in
Ethiopia's lands;
They stand at Armageddon now. And
what will England do?
She will lead the Allied armies there
as she did at Waterloo.
32
The German War Lord
She will shake the earth with her can¬
non's roar, and then will not re¬
tire,
Until her super-dreadnaughts set the
Seven seas afire.
Thence from a hundred fields of fame,
they come with joy and mirth,
The British Lion roars aloud and pro¬
claims the peace on earth.
London then shall be as now, the
Capital of the world,
The martial drums shall beat no more
and war stained flags are furled.
Then Great Berlin with all her pride
must yield the awful dire,
Shall sink in gloom to rise no more,
like Nineveh and Tyre.
Long live his Majesty, King George!
Long live the British crown!
The sun that shines on England's
Throne has never yet gone down.
The hoary tombs in Abby's Hall, are
like Machpelah's cave,
And the British Lion. 33
The bivouac of her noble dead, the
ashes of her brave.
Who fought for God and Liberty, her
standard they unfurled,
And kindled her celestial sparks, it
flashed around the world.
When drums beat no funeral march
and camps bivouacs cease,
When Ham and Shem and Japheth
signed the Triple Alliance of
Peace.
34 The German War Lord
Argument VII.
Universal Peace.
And when the day of peace shall
dawn, a ruddy morn shall rise,
They shall behold the Lamb of God,
the Kaiser of the skies.
Constantinople too shall fall> the Ko¬
ran Beast must die,
The Star of Bethlehem again, shall
gild the Eastern sky.
The Wise Men of the East shall come,
to worship at His Shrine,
The Nations of the earth enlist "His
far flung battle line";
They come, they come from East and
West, they come from North and
South,
They hang their trumpets in the hall
and spike the cannon's mouth.
The Arab wanderers of the sands,
shall come from lands afar,
And the British Lion.
35
As they behold the distant rays of
HIS redeeming Star.
The death of Hapsburg's Royal Heir,
they'll not remember then,
When they behold the CHRIST who
died to save the world from sin.
The German Von and British Lord,
the peasant and the peer,
Shall meet on terms of lasting peace,
and common justice share;
The British Lion then shall crouch be¬
neath the sylvan grove,
The German Eagle shall not smite the
Belgian little Dove.
The White Man shall no longer claim
the Burden he once bore,
His submarines and hostile fleets shall
sweep the seas no more;
The Yellow Man with Peril grave, the
Black Man' with his care,
All races shall be equal then, the Man
shall be the peer.
36 The German War Lord
The Suffrage cause shall then be
heard,
the mothers too shall vote,
Instead of the thundering cannon's
roar, shall rise the organ note.
The days like Eden then shall come,
the Rose of Sharon bloom,
The Lily of the Valley, then her
queenly place resume.
When the days of strife are past and
Janus closes his Gate,
The English mines and tugs of war,
shall then leave Dover's Strait;
The Eastern Question shall be solved,
the world shall be at peace,
Democratic laws shall then prevail,
and wars forever cease.
Princes shall from Egypt come to
worship Christ, the LORD,
And Ethiopia's swarthy sons shall
stretch their hands to God.
The trade and traffic line shall run
from Cape Town to the Nile,
And the British Lion.
37
The wilderness and jungle place with
love and peace shall smile.
The dry land shall be made a pool
where the desert's hot wind blows,
The Great Sahara shall rejoice and
blossom as a rose.
In pastures green beside the brook,
the flocks of Kedar feed;
The wolf and the lamb together dwell,
a little child shall lead.
38 The German Wwr Lord
Argument VIII.
The Grand Duke in the Holy Land.
The Russian Grand Duke's great
White Bear whose looks are
fierce and grim,
Fights for the Garden of Eden and
the gates of Bethlehem;
Where the shepherds watched their
flocks by night along the Judean
wild,
Where angers once proclaimed the
birth of Christ, the Holy Child.
They sang aloud in hymns of praise
to a world beset with sin,
"Glory to God in the highest" and
"peace on earth to men,"
Behold, in David's town is born the
SAVIOR, Christ, this day,
You will find him wrapped in swad¬
dling cloths, and in a manger lay.
And the British Lion. 39
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou City of
our God,
The wicked Turk profanes the bones
that lie beneath the sod!
Thou City where the bards and seers
clothed with celestial fire,
Where Isaiah mused, and Asaph sung,
and David tuned his lyre.
Armenia's cries have long been heard
before the Throne of God;
He smites her foes before the world
with His chast'ning rod.
The Turk who barred the Holy Land
and stood with flaming sword,
Defied the living Church of God with
his Mohammed's code.
Behold the Armageddon now, shall
wrap the earth in flame,
And all the nations of the earth, shall
learn their Savior's name,
The missionaries shall go through the
gates that stand ajar,
And pour the rays of Gospel Truth
through rifted clouds of war.
40 The German War Lord
The Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince is a warrior born,
As if he were the son of Mars,
A fragment from her bosom torn,
And fought a thousand glorious wars;
Like lightning along the crimson
cloud,
He sends his awful peals aloud.
At Verdun where he makes the
stroke,
With flying bombs and bursting shell,
Like Vesuvius' awful smoke,
Which issues from the bowels of hell;
His Zeppelin dragons of the-air,
Make capitals tremble in despair.
He is a terror to the world,
To th' blood which makes the nations
kin,
His crimson flags of war unfurled,
With colors dyed in hate and sin,
His legions shake the solid earth,
And nations tremble at their birth.
And the British Lion. 41
Belgium is now a battle field,
Her gallant sons arrayed in arms,
Before his sword she had to yield
Her happy homes and fertile farms,
Her opulent cities of peaceful marts,
Her churches proud with Gothic arts.
He wrecked the far famed Notre-
Dame,
Where they offered prayers and
hymns,
Then swept amidst the martial storm,
The glory that was Rheims\
Their frescoed • walls asunder rent,
In spite of forts and battlement.
He gambles for the soul of France,
And stakes his Father's Throne,
And plays the woeful game of chance,
With the dice of human's bone;
He broke the Hague Tribunal Code,
And Belgium fell before his sword.
42 The German War Lord
The Black Troops at the Battle
of Marne.
Etheopia sends her sons to thy call,
To be pierced by the sword and lance,
To give their lives for the Cause
which they love,
To die for the Freedom of France;
They love her because her freedom is
real,
And scorns not the dye of their skin,
Their rights are not barred by the
code of her laws,
They are treated like citizens and
men.
The Country that treats its subjects
alike,
Regardless of color or birth,
Shall live while others shall crumble
to naught,
And be swept from the face of the
earth.
And the British Lion. 43
May the future poets and bards of
thy land,
Come yet with their tributes of
thanks,
And sing of their valor that the world
may know,
That they fought and fell in thy
ranks!
The world remembers the fight at the
Marne,
That foe they helped to repel;
Joffre relates, as he orders their
charge,
That they rushed like the demons
from hell;
Von Kluck retreated, his legions fell
back,
Before their daring career;
The Crown Prince fainted, was re¬
lieved of command,
And was borne by his men to the rear.
When the powers of might and the
mail fist shall die
44
The German War Lord
That treated the helpless unjust,
Thy pride shall perish, their kingdoms
shall fall,
Their scepter shall lie in the dust;
When the Teuton is driven beyond
their confines,
And broken his scepter and lance;
The world shall hail thee, 0 Mother
of Arts,
With the chorus, "Vive la France."
And the British Lion.
45
To the Temple of Peace at the
Hague.
For "Peace on earth," this Temple
stands,
The structure reared by pious hands;
Her Dove of peace has flown away,
The War has caused her long delay.
While anger spreads her sable pall,
And kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall;
Monarchs drunk with haughty pride,
Have her peaceful code defied.
Behold the awful "Die is cast,"
Behold the glories of the past;
Behold the countless victims moan,
And those who die for a monarch's
throne.
The kings who strive for wide do¬
main,
Their lust and pride shall die in vain,
This vast domain belongs to God,
And we are children of the sod.
46
The German War Lord
The great War Lord of all the earth,
Who gave the sons of Adam birth;
Controls the restless tribes of land,
And holds the seas within His hand.
The Yellow, Black and White are one,
And each of us, is Noah's son;
And are we still at Babel's Tower?
Or rather drunk with martial power?
Lord, we are children of the dust,
Our hearts are filled with sin and.
lust;
Help us to rise from savage war,
And bend our hearts unto Thy Law.
While mighty powers meet their fate,
0, will thou guide our Ship of State;
May she not wreck amid the gloom,
While thrones and monarchs meet
their doom.
Still may this Temple stand for
PEACE,
That cruel wars forever cease;
Still may we find in her relief,
And her Dove return with Olive Leaf.
And the British Lion.
47
The Fall of Bagdad.
Thou ancient city of Bagdad,
Once metropolis of the world,
Thou ancient Capital of the East,
Thy Crescent thou once unfurled,
And essayed to rule the earth!
The nations trembled at thy birth.
The gem-set crowns and jeweled
robes,
Thy caliphs and thy sultans wore,
Gone are they with all their pride,
Save the fragments of their lore.
Behold thou art fallen now,
The Crescent to the Cross must bow.
The Arabian Knights of chivalry,
With nodding plumes and sable crest,
Proclaimed from their reeking
swords,
The doctrines of thy high behest,
Gone are the rider and prancing steed
And those who saw and wrote his
deed.
48 The German War Lord
Thou second Babylon in power,
Issued forth thy stern decrees,
Thy kingdom stretching far and wide,
From Bagdad to the distant seas.
And built great castles o'er Spain,
And held the world in thy Moloch's
chain.
Thou mistress of the Moslem world,
Thou serpent with a human head;
Thy head is bruised by England's
sword,
Wounded now and almost dead;
This human reptile now must die,
As the day of Truth approaches nigh.
Like the fallen Lucifer,
Whose splendor was the morning
light,
The great Arch-Angel of the dawn,
Who fell from yonder azure height,
"Where peace and joy forever dwell,"
And lifted up his eyes in hell.
Across the howling, trackless waste,
The Arab wanderers of the sands,
And the British Lion. 49
Would bow before the sacred shrine,
With bended knees and folded hands;
To Mecca he would turn his face,
But Bagdad was the Holy Place.
Go count the bones of human's skulls,
A thousand, thousand victims slain;
But England slays the Koran Beast,
His efforts now shall die in vain,
Behold the day of Christ arise,
Our worship in His sacrifice.
50 The German War Lord
Kitchener of Khartoum.
Blow now your trumpets sad and
slow,
Let the Melodious strains be slow,
And as you sound the mournful dirge,
The billows shall respond with surge.
Far in the bosom of the deeps,
England's greatest warrior sleeps;
The days of his Conflict are o'er,
And for him your bugle blow.
Blow for the Hero of Khartoum,
For he has met untimely doom.
Mourn for him who for England
stood,
And for the nations' brotherhood;
Who fought for France until the last,
But now his deeds are with the past.
Mourn for the Friend of Belgium,
mourn,
A people left without a throne;
For the cause of humanity,
For justice, peace and liberty.
And the British Lion. 51
Now fades the flower of England's
pride,
When her famed Son of Thunder
died.
He was a soldier and a Man,
Where e'er he fought he led the van,
He has heard the cannon's deaf'ning
roar,
While still advancing on the foe.
He bore the British Standard high,
Unfurled it 'neath an alien sky.
Whether in Afric's sunny clime,
From whence he hailed his name sub¬
lime;
Facing there the savage lance,
Or somewhere on the "Fronts in
France";
Whether on diplomatic voyage,
Bearing message from King George,
From th' King of England to th'
King of Greece,
He was first in War, first in Peace;
He was first in danger, first in fame,
Kitchener of Khartoum, his martial
name.
52 The German War Lord
But he the last long message bore,
Ere he reached the Russian shore;
While crossing o'er a dangerous sea,
His spirit fled to eternity.
His soul went to its great reward,
And bore the message to his God.
Where he stands in armor bright,
Where warriors have no need to fight,
Celestial sentinels of the sky,
Saluted him as he passed by;
As he reached the welcome dome,
He was hailed as Kitchener of Khar¬
toum.
When the muse shall sing another
strain,
The world shall catch the refrain:
Of the warrior brave and grim,
And the great God who guided him,
Would not have made a fitter grave,
Than the depths beneath the ocean
wave,
For the soldier, hero of Khartoum,
A Dreadnaught Cruiser for his tomb.
Sterling M. Means.