The One Army
From Sawiki
In whatever country our flag is unfurled,
There's but the one Army throughout the whole world;
There are children in countries far over the seas
Who know not our tongue, yet who pray on their knee;
Their language and habits, their features and dress
Are all unlike ours, yet they're comrades no less.
The bright Japanese sings his salvation song
And flits his small fan as he marches along.
In the land of the jungle, where tigers abound,
The dusky-skinned juniors of India are found.
The New Zealand Maori, in feathered array,
Is proud to be reckoned a soldier to-day.
And what shall be said of the youthful Chinese?
Why, some of the Army's best juniors are these!
From Australian bush and the African strand,
We gather recruits for the salvation band;
And America gives from vast township and plain
The flower of her youth to form links in the chain.
Full many a child in the tropical isles
Has been saved by the Army from heathenish wiles.
And all about Europe, from north to south coast,
There flies the dear flag which the junior loves most.
In the land of the reindeer the little Lapp girl
Has met with the Army, and found the 'Great Pearl.'
The Dutch boy who plays by the watery dyke,
Tries to show by his life what salvation is like.
France, Italy, Germany have young soldiers too,
In bright scarlet guernseys, and bonnets of blue;
And where the Swiss mountains reveal their grand height,
The peasant child warbles our songs with delight.
And, oh, what a wonderful meeting 'twould be,
Could we gather our juniors from over the sea,
And show to the world how the Army can reach
All nations and lands, and claim kinship with each!
Anon
