From the Grand Forks Daily Herald, April 8, 1915. By Gilbert Fletcher.
He sang and hummed in his workshop,
Whittled and carved all day,
That the children of many nations
Could have his toys for play.
Rank after rank of soldiers,
Wonderfully finished and done,
Stood on the shelves above him,
Armed with their wooden guns.
Company I was finished.
He was carving at Company K,
Dreaming of children who’d love them
In lands that were far away.
Dreamed of a child commander,
Of his wooden soldiers arow,
Facing a Teddy bear peril,
Bent on destroying the foe.
Laughed and sang and was happy,
As he thought of these men at war,
When the bear charged in among them
And scattered them over the floor.
Company K is unfinished,
Unpainted and covered with dust.
Their helmets are tarnished and dingy
And speckled with spots of rust.
They have waited long in this armory shop
For the swing of the workshop door,
Trying to fathom and figure the time
That he will be gone to war.
So they can’t understand why this woman
Cried in this shop today
As she tenderly kissed the dusty men
Who were to be Company K.
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