America, stand up! The time has come
To blow shrill bugle-calls throughout this land.
Drop the white flag of peace from they’re firm hand,
And bid the long, wild rattle of the drum
Quicken the blood of men from shore to shore.
Nations, on our swords gathered is no rust!
Peace if it may be; red war if it must!
For we love peace—but we love honor more.
Fling out again o’er every battle-ship
That old white flag with the inspired device—
The pine-tree springing from the lowly sod
Thrilled big with prayer to its trembling tip!
Then will the old fire melt these veins of ice,
And we will fight—for honor and for God!
“For Honor and For God” printed in an unidentified publication. Clipping courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham Washington.
“For Honor and for God” was printed in the Bellingham Herald on September 17, 1918.