And it says to them:  “Kinsmen, hail! 
          We severed have been too long. 
        Now let us have done with a worn-out tale—­
          The tale of an ancient wrong—­
    And our friendship last long as our love doth and be stronger
                than death is strong.”

        Answer them, sons of the self-same race,
          And blood of the self-same clan;
        Let us speak with each other face to face
          And answer as man to man,
    And loyally love and trust each other as none but free men can.

        Now fling them out to the breeze,
          Shamrock, Thistle, and Rose,
        And the Star-spangled Banner unfurl with these—­
          A message to friends and foes
    Wherever the sails of peace are seen and wherever the war-wind blows—­

        A message to bond and thrall to wake,
          For wherever we come, we twain,
        The throne of the tyrant shall rock and quake,
          And his menace be void and vain;
    For you are lords of a strong land and we are lords of the main.

        Yes, this is the voice of the bluff March gale;
          We severed have been too long,
        But now we have done with a worn-out tale—­
          The tale of an ancient wrong—­
    And our friendship last long as love doth last and stronger
                than death is strong.

ALFRED AUSTIN.

 THE ENGLISH FLAG.

 It is quite true that the English flag stands for freedom the world
 over.  Wherever it floats almost any one is safe, whether English or
 not.

[Above the portico the Union Jack remained fluttering in the flames for some time, but ultimately when it fell the crowds rent the air with shouts, and seemed to see significance in the incident.—­Daily Papers.]

Winds of the World, give answer?  They are whimpering to and fro—­
And what should they know of England who only England know?—­
The poor little street-bred people that vapour and fume and brag,
They are lifting their heads in the stillness to yelp at

                the English Flag!

Must we borrow a clout from the Boer—­to plaster anew with dirt? 
An Irish liar’s bandage, or an English coward’s shirt? 
We may not speak of England; her Flag’s to sell or share. 
What is the Flag of England?  Winds of the World, declare!

The North Wind blew:—­“From Bergen my steel-shod van-guards go;
I chase your lazy whalers home from the Disko floe;
By the great North Lights above me I work the will of God,
That the liner splits on the ice-field or the Dogger fills with cod.

   “I barred my gates with iron, I shuttered my doors with flame,
    Because to force my ramparts your nutshell navies came;
    I took the sun from their presence, I cut them down with my blast,
    And they died, but the Flag of England blew free ere the spirit passed.