THE SLACKER.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 136, 24 January 1916, Page 3

THE SLACKER.

You can stay if you wish, 0 waster, Who are young and free and strong. Thank God there are plenty of Britons

To help the work along. There are others to battle for you, And die, if it must be so.

So stay behind it you have the mindThere is no one to make you gn.

You have lived in a guarded county. Where never a danger come?, Afar from tbe shriek of shrapnel, And far from the roll of drums; Yet sometimes 'mid your pleasures, Must come a tense of shame When you read in tbe scroll ol Honour's Koll An old companion's name.

Ob, yes, thay will guard you safely, Those others who would not shirk, Who chose to bear in a man's own way The brunt of man's own work; You tarry for gain or pleasure, Or a ilie of slothful ease: What would thty do with a thing like you In the trenches overseas? So stay, my friend, if you wish to; There's no one to make you go; Fill, if you chcose. a slacker's shoes—

You will wear then well, I know. Eat and drink and be merryLet others tight and fall, But close your ear that you may not hear The Empire's trumpet call. But when in God's good serson, Victory shall crown tbe day, And they ask you what your part

waa What are you going to say? Will you like to hear the whisper That passes to and fro: "He was afraid, and so he stayed, For they couldn't make him go?"