McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader

Lesson Xxxii.

THE SOLDIER.

1. A soldier! a soldier! I'm longing to he: The name and the life of a soldier for me! I would not be living at ease and at play; True honor and glory I'd win in my day.

2. A soldier! a soldier! in armor arrayed; My weapons in hand, of no contest afraid; I'd ever be ready to strike the first blow, And to fight my way through the ranks of the foe.

3. But then, let me tell you, no blood would I shed, No victory seek o'er the dying and dead; A far braver soldier than this would I be; A warrior of Truth, in the ranks of the free.

4. A soldier! a soldier! Oh, then, let me be! My friends, I invite you, enlist now with me. Truth's bands shall be mustered, love's foes shall give way! Let's up, and be clad in our battle array! J. G. Adams.

THIRD READER. 83