I was planning to post this postcard on President's Day, but I'm a little late. This postcard was mailed in 1917 during the time of World War I. It has a poem by Frank C. Nelson, titled Stand by the President. I was not able to find any information on this author or the original source of this poem. I did find a website with a copy of this card and many more WWI postcards and poems on The Great War. The words of the poem on this card are:
The time is gone for argument, you've heard the Leader's call,
There's a burden we must carry, there's a service for us all.
From Portland Maine to Oregon, the call has now been sent,
Forget the past and get in line, stand by the President.
Apparently there is more to this poem. I saw a nearly identical postcard with the same title, author and number 2185. Only the words were different:
McKinley called in Ninety-eight, Old Abe in Sixty-one,
And years before they heard the call of Grand Old Washington,
We'll answer now as they did then in accents loud and long,
We are coming Woodrow Wilson, a hundred million strong.
Thank you so much for sharing these postcards with the Presidential theme.
ReplyDeleteI am a Canadian postcard collector and I'm unfamiliar with this particular type of postcard but as a history teacher I find them fascinating - and I'm going to be on the lookout for some Canadian ones!
Evelyn in Montreal
I have a post card just like this one, with the same number, 2185, but its poem reads:
ReplyDeleteYes one and all we'll heed the call
and bear Old Glory on
We'll fight for her or die for her
till every man is gone
We'll give our lives, our homes,
our all, down to our last red cent
With flag unfurled, we'll show the
world, we're with out President.
I just found one called "our country's call" number 2184 in a boyscouts book from 1913
ReplyDeleteJust bought a boyscout book with a postcard number 2184 dated 1918. Title of the poem is "our country's call"
ReplyDelete