<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Kid Has Gone to the Colors</h1><p class="byline"> William Herschell <br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/><span class="smallcaps">IN The Indianapolis News</span><br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/> Permission to reproduce in this book</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The Kid has gone to the Colors</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">And we don't know what to say;</p><p class="line">The Kid we have loved and cuddled</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">Stepped out for the Flag today.</p><p class="line">We thought him a child, a baby,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">With never a care at all,</p><p class="line">But his country called him man--size</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">And the Kid has heard the call.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">He paused to watch the recruiting</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">Where, fired by the fife and drum,</p><p class="line">He bowed his head to Old Glory</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">And thought that it whispered "Come!"</p><p class="line">The Kid, not being a slacker,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">Stood forth with patriot-joy</p><p class="line">To add his name to the roster--</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">And God, we're proud of the boy!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The Kid has gone to the Colors;</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">It seems but a little while</p><p class="line">Since he drilled a schoolboy army</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">In a truly martial style.</p><p class="line">But now he's a man, a soldier,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">And we lend him listening ear,</p><p class="line">For his heart is a heart all loyal,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">Unscourged by the curse of fear.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">His dad, when he told him, shuddered,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">His mother--God bless her!--cried!</p><p class="line">Yet, blest with a mother-nature,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">She wept with a mother--pride.</p><p class="line">But he whose old shoulders straightened </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">Was Granddad--for memory ran </p><p class="line">To years when he, too, a youngster,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">Was changed by the Flag to a man!</p></div></body></html> · Great War