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8/N5 



THE FOREST PATRIOTS 



WILLIAM HERSCHELL 



An oak tree, tall and stately, came down with mighty crash 



That scared the baby saplings and thrilled the elm and ash. 



"Pray, why all this?" the elm inquired. "What are you leaving for?" 



"My country calls," the oak replied, "and I must go to war !" 



Then, while its neighbors harkened, the oak, with sturdy heart, 



Told how it had enlisted to do its humble part. 



"There's need for ships," the oak began, "to sail the troubled sea; 



A good old wooden fleet they want so they've enlisted me! 



Of iron and steel there's scarce enough, which makes me glad indeed, 



For now I, too, can help convey the stores our Allies need, 



I'll face the foeman's frenzy with a zeal to do or die, 



As did the good old merchantmen in years now long gone by." 



The great oak's loyal ardor sent a thrill through all the trees, 



And soon a call to mobilize was hurried down the breeze 



One volunteered to be a bridge, one would a barracks be 



No slacker bolted from the lines of this brave company! 



The beeches, elms and cottonwoods marched off beside the oaks; 



The hickories said for cannon wheels they'd proudly serve as spokes. 



Soon all the trees but one had gone to muster at the mill 



The one was just a sapling left to guard a lonely rill. 



Yet, while it mourned its lowly state and thought existence hard, 



A schoolboy gladly claimed it for a flagstaff in his yard. 



Which points a wartime moral all of us should keep in view 



That, though we're great or humble, there is something each can do! 



