POETRY.

DYING FOR THE FLAG.

(AN INCIDENT OF THE WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA IN 1814.) I.

'Twes amid most of the strife When our England risked her life, With but lukewarm friends to aid her, 'gainst Napoleon as

her foe,—

When we quarrelled with our kin, And, unheeding of the sin,

Rebel-child and angry mother dealt each other blow for blow,—

That our ship, the Hermes,' sped Past the point of Mobile Head, Where Fort Bowyer, harbour-guarded, roared defiance from afar. Weak we were, and ill-arrayed For the hest upon us laid, But our orders were for storming and we forced the harbour- bar. Tiers of cannon as we came Belched a cataract of flame ; While the eddy swept our anchors, and we scarce could float our keel.

Vain with odds like these to cope !

Yet we lost not heart nor hope; None could hear a note of flinching in our broadside's tuneful peal ; Tho' they raked us with their fire Till no spar was left entire ; Shrouds were rent and timbers riddled, decks were choked_ with dead and maimed.

Shot-proof were our hearts of oak, Steeled 'gainst Fortune's sharpest stroke ; But our courage ebbed within us when a shaft too deftly aimed Smote the symbol for whose sake We were fain our lives to stake, When the staff whereon our pennant floated proudly overhead Brake and toppled! Then there rose Shouts of triumph from oar foes, And we felt that they had conquered, and our spirit sank like.

lead :— —Till the master's mate outcries, With his manhood in his eyes, (Lads grow ripe in a month of sea-life more than landsmen in a year :) "Twill disgrace our English pluck "If they boast the flag was struck.

"Shall that taunt be left unchallenged? Not while I'm alive- to hear ! "- Nails and hammer thrust in band, Up he clambers hand o'er hand ; Plants and binds the fallen pennant on the mainmast's battered wreck ; Waves his cap in blithe salute, Then with slow and steady foot Clambers downward to his messmates cheering wildly on the deck. And the enemy cheer too, For a deed of derring-do Sets our English blood a-stirring, if we hail from East or West. But the hearts that do and dare Are no lives for War to spare ; And their marksmen quite his prowess by a bullet through his breast !

• • • • • • And our hero found his grave 'Neath the flag he died to save, For the 'Hermes' had her death-wound, and the hull took firer at last; But we few who 'seeped to shore, Till our eyes could see no more,

Saw our pennant where he fixed it, flying proudly from the

mast.

• HENRY G. HEWLETT -