In the Days When the World Was Wide, and Other Verses

<h2> The Glass on the Bar </h2> <p>Three bushmen one morning rode up to an inn,<br/> And one of them called for the drinks with a grin;<br/> They'd only returned from a trip to the North,<br/> And, eager to greet them, the landlord came forth.<br/> He absently poured out a glass of Three Star.<br/> And set down that drink with the rest on the bar.<br/> <br/> 'There, that is for Harry,' he said, 'and it's queer,<br/> 'Tis the very same glass that he drank from last year;<br/> His name's on the glass, you can read it like print,<br/> He scratched it himself with an old piece of flint;<br/> I remember his drink &mdash; it was always Three Star' &mdash;<br/> And the landlord looked out through the door of the bar.<br/> <br/> He looked at the horses, and counted but three:<br/> 'You were always together &mdash; where's Harry?' cried he.<br/> Oh, sadly they looked at the glass as they said,<br/> 'You may put it away, for our old mate is dead;'<br/> But one, gazing out o'er the ridges afar,<br/> Said, 'We owe him a shout &mdash; leave the glass on the bar.'<br/> <br/> They thought of the far-away grave on the plain,<br/> They thought of the comrade who came not again,<br/> They lifted their glasses, and sadly they said:<br/> 'We drink to the name of the mate who is dead.'<br/> And the sunlight streamed in, and a light like a star<br/> Seemed to glow in the depth of the glass on the bar.<br/> <br/> And still in that shanty a tumbler is seen,<br/> It stands by the clock, ever polished and clean;<br/> And often the strangers will read as they pass<br/> The name of a bushman engraved on the glass;<br/> And though on the shelf but a dozen there are,<br/> That glass never stands with the rest on the bar.<br/></p> <p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"></SPAN></p> <br/> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />