Over Here eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 117 pages of information about Over Here.

Over Here eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 117 pages of information about Over Here.
We are done with little thinking and we’re done with little deeds,
We are done with petty conduct and we’re done with narrow creeds;
We have grown to men and women, and we’ve noble work to do,
And to-day we are a people with a larger point of view. 
In a big way we must labor, if our Flag shall always fly. 
In a big way some must suffer, in a big way some must die.

There must be no little dreaming in the visions that we see,
There must be no selfish planning in the joys that are to be;
’We have set our faces eastwards to the rising of the sun
That shall light a better nation, and there’s big work to be done. 
And the petty souls and narrow, seeking only selfish gain,
Shall be vanquished by the toilers big enough to suffer pain.

It’s a big task we have taken; ’tis for others we must fight. 
We must see our duty clearly in a white and shining light;
We must quit our little circles where we’ve moved in little ways,
And work, as men and women, for the bigger, better days. 
We must quit our selfish thinking and our narrow views and creeds. 
And as people, big and splendid, we must do the bigger deeds.

         The Wrist Watch Man

He is marching dusty highways and he’s riding bitter trails,
His eyes are clear and shining and his muscles hard as nails. 
He is wearing Yankee khaki and a healthy coat of tan,
And the chap that we are backing is the Wrist Watch Man.

He’s no parlor dude, a-prancing, he’s no puny pacifist,
And it’s not for affectation there’s a watch upon his wrist. 
He’s a fine two-fisted scrapper, he is pure American,
And the backbone of the nation is the Wrist Watch Man.

    He is marching with a rifle, he is digging in a trench,
    He is swapping English phrases with a poilu for his French;
    You will find him in the navy doing anything he can,
    For at every post of duty is the Wrist Watch Man.

    Oh, the time was that we chuckled at the soft and flabby chap
    Who wore a little wrist watch that was fastened with a strap. 
    But the chuckles all have vanished, and with glory now we scan
    The courage and the splendor of the Wrist Watch Man.

He is not the man we laughed at, not the one who won our jeers,
He’s the man that we are proud of, he’s the man that owns our cheers;
He’s the finest of the finest, he’s the bravest of the clan,
And I pray for God’s protection for our Wrist Watch Man.

         Follow the Flag

Aye, we will follow the Flag
Wherever she goes,
Into the tropic sun,
Into the northern snows;
Go where the guns ring out
Scattering steel and lead,
Painting the hills with blood,
Strewing the fields with dead. 
But in each heart must be,
And back of each bitter gun,
Love for the best in life
After the fighting’s done.

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Over Here from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.