Well, they try to hold us back by foolish words-- But we go ahead and do the thing we've planned; Then they drive us out to shelter with the birds-- And the ravens bring our breakfast to our hand. So they jail us and we lecture to the guards; They beat us--we make sermons of their whips; They feed us melted lead and behold the Word is said. That shall burn upon a million living lips. Are we fighters?......By our fellows we are fanged. Are we workers?......Paid with blows we never earned. Are we doctors?......Other doctors see us hanged. Are we teachers?......Brother teachers have us burned. But through all a Something somehow holds us fast 'Spite of every beast-hung brake and steaming fen; And we keep the torch on high till a comrade presses by When we pass it on and die--and live again! A LITTLE BOOK OF LOCAL VERSE Author of "The Masque of Marsh and River." Copyright, 1915, by the Author. Pages 13-14. When shall we together Tramp beneath the sky, Thrusting through the weather As swimmers strive together, You and I? How we ranged the valleys, Panted up the road, Sang in sudden sallies Of mirth that woke the valleys Where we strode! Glad and free as birds are, Laughter in your eyes, Wild as poets' words are, You were as the birds are, Very wise. Not for you the prison Of the stupid town; When the winds were risen, You went forth from prison, You went down, Down along the river Dimpling in the rain, Where the poplars shiver By the dancing river, And again Climbed the hills behind you When the rains were done; Only God could find you With the town behind you In the sun! Don't you hear them calling, Blackbirds in the grain, Silver raindrops falling Where the larks are calling You in vain? Comrade, when together Shall we tramp again In the summer weather, You and I together, Now as then? JOSEPH P. WEBSTER. No one who reads this book is unfamiliar with "The Sweet Bye and Bye." But how many of us, as we sang that song, realized that both its words and music were written by a Wisconsin man,--Joseph P. Webster? He was born in New Hampshire in 1819, but he lived most of his life at Elkhorn, where he died in 1875. He was a member of many musical societies, and was the composer of many other songs, the best known of the latter being "Lorena." SWEET BYE AND BYE Composed by Joseph Philbrick Webster, February, 1868. I. There's a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we can see it afar, For the Father waits over the way, To prepare us a dwelling place there. Chorus.