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the rebels off
--
With his long brown rifle and bell-crown hat
And the swallow-tails they were laughing at.
'Twas but a moment
for that respect
Which clothes all courage their voices checked;
And something the wildest could understand
Spake in the old man's strong right hand
And his corded throat
and the lurking frown
Of his eyebrows under his old bell-crown;
Until
as they gazed
there crept an awe
Through the ranks in whispers
and some men saw
In the antique vestments and long white hair
The Past of the Nation in battle there;
And some of the soldiers since declare
That the gleam of his old white hat afar
Like the crested plume of the brave Navarre
That day was their oriflamme of war.
So raged the battle. You know the rest:
How the rebels
beaten and backward pressed
Broke at the final charge and ran.
At which John Burns--a practical man--
Shouldered his rifle
unbent his brows
And then went back to his bees and cows.
That is the story of old John Burns;
This is the moral the reader learns:
In fighting the battle
the question' [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]