Hunger and want was their portion,
The cold pierced the young, and the old;
Fair features were wrought in distortion,
And trembled the limbs of the bold.
It was over at last, and the morning
Sun shone from a blue, cloudless sky;
Smiles were the dear wife's adorning,
And the tear-drop that fell from her eye.
The maimed and the lame came home to them—
Both fathers and sons, worn and brave;
And others came not, but the diadem
Of their lives, they so willingly gave.
Peace and plenty soon followed
These grateful and God-fearing men:
And wives, with a feeling so hallowed,
Knelt with them in thanksgiving then.
Good cheer covered table and hearth-stone,
And the widow and orphan partook,
For soldier and wife would feast not alone
In His presence, who never forsook.
So the Thanksgiving custom descended
To us, who are thankful as they,
For homes that are still well defended
In much the same heroic way.
There are murmurs instead of thanksgiving,
In many sad homes this glad day,
Yet not one but's been blessed in the living,
If he'd look at it just the right way;
The cold pierced the young, and the old;
Fair features were wrought in distortion,
And trembled the limbs of the bold.
It was over at last, and the morning
Sun shone from a blue, cloudless sky;
Smiles were the dear wife's adorning,
And the tear-drop that fell from her eye.
The maimed and the lame came home to them—
Both fathers and sons, worn and brave;
And others came not, but the diadem
Of their lives, they so willingly gave.
Peace and plenty soon followed
These grateful and God-fearing men:
And wives, with a feeling so hallowed,
Knelt with them in thanksgiving then.
Good cheer covered table and hearth-stone,
And the widow and orphan partook,
For soldier and wife would feast not alone
In His presence, who never forsook.
So the Thanksgiving custom descended
To us, who are thankful as they,
For homes that are still well defended
In much the same heroic way.
There are murmurs instead of thanksgiving,
In many sad homes this glad day,
Yet not one but's been blessed in the living,
If he'd look at it just the right way;
—34—
