WHEN THE BOYS COME HOME.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 272, 4 May 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

WHEN THE BOYS COME HOME.

By JOHN HAY,

There's a happy tunc coming wheu the boys come home; There's a glorious day com'ng when the boys come home; Wo will end the dreadful story (>{ tho battle dark and gory In a sunburst of glory. When tho boys come home.

Tho day will seem brighter when tlio boys come home, And our hearts will be lighter when tho bovs come home, Wives and sweethearts will press them, In their arms and caress them, And pray God to bless them, When tho boys come home.

The thin ranks will be proudest when tho boys come home, And our cheer will ring the loudest when tho boys come home; The full ranks will be shattered, And the bright arms will be lettered, And the battle standards tattered, When tho boys come home.

Their bayonets may I*3 rusty when tho boys come home, And their uniforms be dusty when the boys come home; But all shall see tho traces Of the battle's royal graces In the brown and bearded faces, When tho boys como home.

Our love snail go to meet them when tho !>oys come home. To bless them and to greet them when tho boys come home; And the fame of their'eridearour Time and change shall not diseever. From tho notion's heart forever, When the boys come home.

Colonel John Hay, the author _of the.se stirring verses, which fit New Zealand and tho Great War just as well as they did tho Civil War in America, about which they were written, was a well-known writer and a Private Secretary to tho renowned President Lincol