Joseph Andrews, Corporal Conn, Heavy Artillery

                                                               A Sonnet

Valiant kinsman whom I never saw,

     To thee these lines I dedicate,

     Firmly believing that thou were great,

Tho’ but a humble soldier in the war,

Loving the cause thou perished for.

And any man is great who dies

     Amid fierce battle’s deafening roar,

     To keep his nation pure before

The world’s unjust and piercing eyes.

May he who bears thy honored name

At duty’s call respond the same

     As thou did’st at thy country’s call;

     And then perchance the right should fall

Who would dare say he shares the blame.

June 18, ‘92

  Pub. in

Conn. Valley Ad.