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I. NATIONAL"HOW ARE YOU, SANITARY?"
Down the picket-guarded lane
Rolled the comfort-laden wain,
Cheered by shouts that shook the plain,
Soldier-like and merry:
Phrases such as camps may teach,
Sabre-cuts of Saxon speech,
Such as "Bully!" "Them`s the peach!"
"Wade in, Sanitary!" Right and left the caissons drew
As the car went lumbering through,
Quick succeeding in review
Squadrons military;
Sunburnt men with beards like frieze,
Smooth-faced boys, and cries like these,--
"U. S. San. Com." "That`s the cheese!"
"Pass in, Sanitary!" In such cheer it struggled on
Till the battle front was won:
Then the car, its journey done,
Lo! was stationary;
And where bullets whistling fly
Came the sadder, fainter cry,
"Help us, brothers, ere we die,--
Save us, Sanitary!" Such the work. The phantom flies,
Wrapped in battle clouds that rise:
But the brave--whose dying eyes,
Veiled and visionary,
See the jasper gates swung wide,
See the parted throng outside--
Hears the voice to those who ride:
"Pass in, Sanitary!"
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