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The Red Cross Girl

The battle o'er a flag of truce, a soldier waved on high,
While 'mid grim war's sad carnage, lay hundred who must die.
Silently from form to form, a gentle creature crept;
It seemed to men fast dying that, an angel past had swept;
To them she seemed an angel, ever hov'ring near;
To cool the burning brow, to wipe away a tear;
The Red Cross girl from home had come, that heroes lying there;
Might have a last kind word to cheer, a friend to say a prayer.

She only went to her duty All praise to the Red Cross girl;
She went not for fame or booty But Love's banner to unfurl.
Bards when you sing heroes praises When for brave your anthems swell;
Spare on line for her devotion Sing how a heroine fell.

She knelt beside a handsome lad, whose life was ebbing fast,
Oh Nell I am so happy, so glad you came at last.
I'm not Nell but just a friend, she said with aching heart;
But your last wish I'll carry to dear Nellie your sweetheart;
Just tell her I loved her, and hoped to make her mine;
I tried to live for her, I guess it was my time;
The brave young hero gasped for breath, but soon his soul had fled;
The nurse pray'd for his sweat-heart there, alone beside the dead.

While thus she stood in silent pray'r, n'er thinking once of fear,
A foe crept in the bushes, he unseen soon draws near.
Silently she bore her fate, with but a muffled cry;
The angel who had ministered, sank to the earth to die;
Beneath a stately palm tree, in tears they dug her grave;
Near her they laid the soldier, whose life she tried to save;
As darkness spread o'er that sad throng, they gathered 'round her pall;
And each one breathed a silent prayer, for the bravest of them all.