XIX.

They came from mead and mountain-top; They came from factory and forge; And one by one, from farm and shop— Still gravel to the Northman's gorge— Followed the servile Ethiop.

Gaunt, grimy men, whose ways had been Among the shadows and the slums, With pedagogue and paladin, Rushed, at the rolling of the drums, To Philip, and were mustered in!

The beat of drum and scream of fife, Commingling with the thundering tramp Of trooping throngs, so changed the life Of the calm village that the camp, And what it prophesied of strife,

And hap of loss and hap of gain, Became of every tongue the theme; Till burning heart and throbbing brain Could waking think, and sleeping dream, Of naught but battles and the slain.