Poems by Thornton Wells Author:Thomas Williams Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE SOLDIERS. AN INCIDENT. A S through a squalid street I hied One chill and sombre day, Five yards before me I espied Two little boys at play ; Chil... more »dren were they in garments bare— Children of poverty. But, as a mist' in vain essays With its dark pall to screen The rising sun's o'erpowering rays, So neither filth obscene, Nor tattered dress, could e'er deface These children's beauteous mien. Two lovely lads were they, and glad And gay they plied their game; It was a martial one they had, It spake of deeds of fame, And that I might their sport observe, Unto a halt I came. One of the two the lead assumed, The taller lad was he, Yet he was small, I scarce presumed His age seven years to be : Slender his make, his feet and head From covering were free. His eye was large, and oft it flashed, As 'gainst the viewless foe He led his follower in haste; Contemplative his brow : His step was firm, and for a sword, He bore a shaven bough. And marking his manoeuvres brave, So soldier-like in kind, And catching the commands he gave Unto his mate behind ; Deaf to the din, which round prevailed, These musings filled my mind :— " Sweet boy ! I trow that fancy's art Hath lured thee far away Prom squalid street and crowded mart To face an enemy, Mighty in strength, haughty in mood, In battle's wild affray, " Thy one-manned regiment, I ween, Thou thinkest grown into A numerous band of sturdy men, With fearless hearts and true ; Men whose resolve is not to yield Till death shall lay them low. D " And thou, a stately warrior, In gorgeous garb arrayed, Thy breast surmounted with a star, With nodding plume thy head, Art bearing onward, unappalled By living ranks, or dead. " Thou stopp...« less