[Illustration]
To
THE FINEST GENTLEMAN I KNOW
MY FATHER
"There's a Legion that never was 'listed,
That carries no colors or crest,
But, split in a thousand detachments,
Is breaking the road for the rest.
* * * * *
The ends o' the Earth were our portion,
The ocean at large was our share,
There was never a skirmish to windward
But the Leaderless Legion was there.
* * * * *
We preach in advance of the Army,
We skirmish ahead of the Church,
With never a gunboat to help us
When we're scuppered and left in the lurch.
But we know as the cartridges finish
And we're filed on our last little shelves,
That the Legion that never was 'listed
Will send us as good as ourselves.
* * * * *
Then a health (we must drink it in whispers)
To our wholly unauthorized horde--
To the line of our dusty foreloopers,
To the Gentlemen Rovers abroad!"
--_The Lost Legion._