| Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919). The Rough Riders. 1899. | | |
| EPIGRAM |
| HARK! I hear the tramp of thousands, | |
| And of armed men the hum; | |
| Lo! a nation's hosts have gathered | |
| Round the quick-alarming drum— | |
| Saying, "Come, | 5 |
| Freemen, come! | |
| Ere your heritage be wasted," said the quick-alarming drum. | |
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| "Let me of my heart take counsel: | |
| War is not of Life the sum; | |
| Who shall stay and reap the harvest | 10 |
| When the autumn days shall come?" | |
| But the drum | |
| Echoed, "Come! | |
| Death shall reap the braver harvest," said the solemn-sounding drum. | |
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| "But when won the coming battle, | 15 |
| What of profit springs therefrom? | |
| What if conquest, subjugation, | |
| Even greater ills become?" | |
| But the drum | |
| Answered, "Come! | 20 |
| You must do the sum to prove it," said the Yankee-answering drum. | |
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—BRET HARTE. | |
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