PING PONG.
Reading edition
By BEATRICE BARRY.
FAITH, hear our soldier boys a-sighin' 'Cause Major General John O'Ryan Won't let 'em dance! The hard-wood floors he's goin' to rip— They may not hesitate or dip; I'm told that he was heard to say They're 'sposed to work and not to play Ping Pong! Ping Pong! Ping Pong! No more about a slender waist Shall arm in uniform be placed. He looks askance At signs of happiness and mirth; Soldiers were put upon the earth To sweat and dig in hard dirt floors, And so prepare 'emselves for war's— Ping Pong! Ping Pong! Ping Pong! I cannot say—I do not know Whether the boys would have it so; But if by chance We should engage in carnage grim, And harm, alas! should come to him— Would they feel sorrow then, or bliss, The while they heard the bullets hiss Ping Pong, Ping Pong, Ping Pong?