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-BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919). The Rough Riders. 1899.
Epigram by Bret Harte
HARK! I hear the tramp of thousands,And of armed men the hum;Lo! a nation’s hosts have gatheredRound the quick-alarming drum—Saying, “Come,Freemen, come!Ere your heritage be wasted,” said the quick-alarming drum.“Let me of my heart take counsel:War is not of Life the sum;Who shall stay and reap the harvestWhen the autumn days shall come?”But the drumEchoed, “Come!Death shall reap the braver harvest,” said the solemn-sounding drum.“But when won the coming battle,What of profit springs therefrom?What if conquest, subjugation,Even greater ills become?”But the drumAnswered, “Come!You must do the sum to prove it,” said the Yankee-answering drum.
—BRET HARTE.