The first thing that one notices is the fact that the so-called soldier's songs, written by our multitudinous army of "popular" song-smiths to catch the fleeting-fancy of the patriotically aroused populace, are conspicuous by their absence.
All these are the work of men who were war-smiths as well as song-smiths. Here is a passage from the "murder grim and great":
Before you how many singers not less truly poets than yourself though less versatile not less passionate, though less sensuous not less simple had been born and had died in poor men's cottages! There abides not even the shadow of a name of the old Scotch song-smiths, of the old ballad-makers.