“In life’s uncertain voyage,
I will some kindness do them.”
. . . epitomized by America sailing to the aid of the French.
“The sea—this truth must be
confessed—has no generosity.”
. . . Indeed! The crossing was plagued by seasickness, the ocean’s vastness, enemy submarines, and a collision of ships.
“We are singing in the ships,
as they carry us to fight.
As our father’s sang before us
by the camp-fire’s light.”
. . . the Marines are singing on their troopships, much as the fathers and grandfathers had sung in their Civil War camps.