Show THE OLD ARMY HARDTACK How dear to my heart are the wartime mementos Ive cherished in memry of sorrows and joys In tho days when I tramped through the dust of Virginia Or splashed through its mud with the rest of the boys Theres a rusty old sabre I never will part with A faded old cap and a jacket of blue A battered canteen and a haversock holding hold-ing Some squares of the hardtack we all had to chew The ironbound hardtack The mosscovered hardtack The old arm hardtack we all had to chew There was hardtack from wars of a past generation Which remained unconsumed till about 63 It was marked Vera Cruz or was lettered let-tered B Chat C-hat a triumph was this for the skill of the baker Indestructible product defying times tooth But it could not resist the asaults of our grinders The Bunker Hill hardtack The 1S12 hardtack The old army hardtack we ate in our youth Oh youth cn make feasts of the coarsest coars-est of viands And never again shall we veterans feel Such a zest in our lives as way back In the SOs When hsrcltack sufficed to create a square meal Though now we may flfne at more sump tuous tnbes Wed gladly exchange all the dainties they yield For tho hearty enjoyment the youthful digestion I That seasoned the hardtack e ate in the lied The bulletproof hurdtack The ironclad hardtack The old army hardtack we ate in the field Charles E Sprague in the Mall and Express Ex-press |