<p class="tit-song">HERE'S TO THE RANGER! <span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="page354" name="page354"></SPAN>(p. 354)</span></p>
<p>He leaves unplowed his furrow,<br/>
He leaves his books unread<br/>
For a life of tented freedom<br/>
By lure of danger led.<br/>
He's first in the hour of peril,<br/>
He's gayest in the dance,<br/>
Like the guardsman of old England<br/>
Or the beau sabreur of France.</p>
<p>He stands our faithful bulwark<br/>
Against our savage foe;<br/>
Through lonely woodland places<br/>
Our children come and go;<br/>
Our flocks and herds untended<br/>
O'er hill and valley roam,<br/>
The Ranger in the saddle<br/>
Means peace for us at home.</p>
<p>Behold our smiling farmsteads<br/>
Where waves the golden grain!<br/>
Beneath yon tree, earth's bosom<br/>
Was dark with crimson stain.<br/>
That bluff the death-shot echoed<br/>
Of husband, father, slain!<br/>
God <span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="page355" name="page355"></SPAN>(p. 355)</span> grant such sight of horror<br/>
We never see again!</p>
<p>The gay and hardy Ranger,<br/>
His blanket on the ground,<br/>
Lies by the blazing camp-fire<br/>
While song and tale goes round;<br/>
And if one voice is silent,<br/>
One fails to hear the jest,<br/>
They know his thoughts are absent<br/>
With her who loves him best.</p>
<p>Our state, her sons confess it,<br/>
That queenly, star-crowned brow,<br/>
Has darkened with the shadow<br/>
Of lawlessness ere now;<br/>
And men of evil passions<br/>
On her reproach have laid,<br/>
But that the ready Ranger<br/>
Rode promptly to her aid.</p>
<p>He may not win the laurel<br/>
Nor trumpet tongue of fame;<br/>
But beauty smiles upon him,<br/>
And ranchmen bless his name.<br/>
Then here's to the Texas Ranger,<br/>
Past, present and to come!<br/>
Our safety from the savage,<br/>
The guardian of our home.</p>
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