30 JANUARY 1897, Page 32

POETRY.

A SONG OF BATTLES.

OF fighting stock it is I come,

On many a field my forebears fell ; The Funeral-March, the muffled drum Sounded my father's knell.

Where steel could do or valour dare The Past beheld my forebears there.

Of fighting stock it is I come, A soldier's blood runs in my veins ; What though mounts up misfortune's sum, My heart fresh courage gains.

In sorrow's, sickness, pain's despite, 'Gainst heaviest odds, I still do fight.

ELLA FULLER MAITLAND.