AN ARMY.

An army of children encamped by the sea! What a muster of warriors ’tis getting to be! They are coming in clans, with their mothers and maids; They come in battalions, with buckets and spades; They are coming to make a descent on our coast,— They will alter the shape of it, sure!—such a host! Intrenching and digging from morning till night! What foe would dare scale such redoubts in a fight? Could any invader such parapets take As these forts that the sturdy young champions make? See them shoulder their shovels and march to the fray— See them merrily join the long battle array! Here’s a wave! On their works it begins its attacks! Oh! Alas!—Our brave soldiers are turning their backs! Ah, they rally,—they charge! No more flight, nor affright! They recapture the forts, and they’ll fight until night!