Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.

The American Volunteer

THE TRUMPET sounds, my country calls,

A hostile band our shores invade,

I go to dare the cannon balls,

And dye in blood my battle blade,

And Mary, gentle and sincere,

Weep not, I pray, when thus we part,

Drive from thine eye the falling tear,

And banish sorrow from thy heart.

For, should I, coward-like, await

The foes’ approach in martial pride,

And see them force our farm-house gate,

With lust and rapine by their side,

I could not bear the keen rebuke

Thy screams would speak in that dread hour;

I could not bear thy helpless look,

When struggling with a ruffian’s power.

No! get my war-horse, I’ll away

And meet the invader on the strand,

And they shall surely rue the day

They dared upon our coast to land.

And weep not, Mary, if I fall,

Nor heave thy bosom with a sigh—

Death is the common lot of all,

’Tis for my country I shall die.

And teach our little darling boy

That life is not with slavery wed;

Teach him to yield it up with joy,

At Freedom’s call, on Honour’s bed.

Tell him ’twas thus our heroes fought;

And, Mary, be thou sure to tell

Our little one, that thus he ought

To fight—for thus his father fell.