(IN MEMORY OF THREE RADCLIFFE GIRLS WHO DIED IN SERVICE ABROAD; RUTH
HOLDEN, ’11; LUCY N. FLETCHER, ’10; AND HELEN HOMANS)
Lucy, Helen, Ruth! Sweet names they have,
Our brave young soldiers, womanly and kind!
Sweet as the glorious youth of heart and mind,
The years of promise they so gladly gave.
And they have wound the ribbon of their love
About and through the nations sundered far,
Drawing them close; each with a golden Star
Setting her seal on bonds that time shall prove.
For one, a Briton born and Island bred,
Chose for America to serve, and bless
Our wounded with her strength and steadfastness.
She sleeps in France among her Yankee dead.
One of New England, back to England gave
The treasure of her wisdom and her skill,
To use for hapless refugees, who still
Are weeping by her lonely Russian grave.
And one has won a hero’s _Croix de Guerre_,
“_Morte pour La France_,” so honoring a debt.
Our sister nation never will forget
The foreign Saint who gave her soldiers care.
Oh, greater love hath no man shown than they,
The dear, bright spirits with the radiant eyes,
Fearlessly venturing the great emprise,
Cheerfully pacing down the dolorous way!
So, never deem their golden web unspun,
Blighted the hope, and lost the precious dower!
For Three have died to speed the blessed hour
When Truth and Love make all the nations one.